PEGASUS BAY PRIMA DONNA PINOT NOIR 2015

The 2015 Prima Donna will continue the successful lineage of this outstanding Pinot Noir from Pegasus Bay. Sourced from 30+ year old vines. Like the others in the reserve range, this is only made in the top years to produce a wine that they describe as having  'a heavenly voice, a shapely body and a velvety nose'. 

Winery notes (2015 Vintage)
"Prima Donna is part of our reserve series which we only make in exceptional years, provided it does not compromise the quality of our estate wines. It is a selection from the best barrels, coming from some of the oldest plantings in the vineyard. As with all our Pinot’s, we use traditional Burgundian winemaking methods.

It is deep ruby in colour. The nose is packed with vibrant red fruit suggesting strawberry, raspberry and pomegranate. Beneath this is a savoury underlay, evoking impressions of roast game, spicy pepper and black olive tapanade. The palate is mouthfilling and rich, balanced with velvety tannins and a seam of refreshing acidity that helps draw out the wine’s lingering finish. While ready to drink on release it can be expected to cellar well and evolve gracefully for many years."

5 Stars & 97/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, February 2019 (2015 Vintage)
"This is stunningly beautiful; the complex bouquet shows sweet cherry, dark plum, vanilla, hazelnut and smoked game characters. It is sumptuous on the palate with rich texture and flowing mouthfeel, offering awesome power as well as elegance, superbly complemented by velvety mouthfeel and polished tannins. At its best: now to 2025."

5 Stars & 96/100 Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review, March 2019 (2015 Vintage)
"Rich, concentrated and quite savoury pinot noir with plum, dark berry, violet and spicy oak flavours among the more obvious descriptors of this very complex wine. Firmly structured but accessible. Worth cellaring for a few years to integrate flavours and develop texture."

96/100 Cameron Douglas MS, March 2019 (2015 Vintage)
"An immediately alluring bouquet of ripe fruit and sweet oak, a core of minerality with crushed rock and limestone, even a little chalky note. Complex, fruity, oaky, gently savoury and dry on the palate. Flavours of dark red berries, sweet vanillin oak a mix of red flowers and earth flavours. Fine velvet textured tannins, supported by acidity a vibrato of textures; quite a lengthy complex finish. Enjoy this wine today and through 2026++."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2015 Vintage)
"For its top Waipara red, Pegasus Bay wants 'a heavenly voice, a shapely body and a velvety nose'. Based on the oldest vines, it is matured for 15 to 18 months in French oak barriques (50 per cent new). The deeply coloured 2015 vintage is a powerful young red, full-bodied, rich and smooth. Still very youthful, it is fragrant and savoury, with concentrated, well-ripened cherry, plum and spice flavours, a hint of liquorice, fine-grained tannins, and the structure to age well. Best drinking 2021+."

19/20 Joelle Thomson, Drinks Biz Magazine, June 2019 (2015 Vintage)
"North Canterbury Pinot Noir is often eclipsed by its southern neighbour Central Otago, but not in this case. This outstanding Pinot Noir from Pegasus Bay is one of the best Pinots made in New Zealand. Dry, full-bodied, silky and almost light in mouthfeel but with intensely concentrated savoury flavours and a long finish, thanks to its zesty acidity. A delicious drink now (decant first) or cellar for 10 years plus."

5 Stars Yvonne Lorkin, July 2019 (2015 Vintage)
"From the second the first whiff of cocoa-covered cherries, black tea, wild berries, truffle and spice assail your nostrils, you know there’s no escape from its clutches. It’s a dense, deliciously structured, statuesque example of what Waipara is capable of. So lush, plush and poised, it’s a pinot noir that unveils something new, something exotic, something incredibly sexy with every sip. Hints of black tea, chocolate and a lovely layer of earthiness to finish, makes this a pinot noir with a long life ahead of it. Stunning stuff."

94/100 Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, June 2018 (2015 Vintage)
"Medium weight, concentrated yet elegant pinot noir, though you can’t help like the slightly wild edge playing here. Savoury notes, herbal, earth, undergrowth are all getting around the sour cherry-fruit profile. Tannins pull the wine up well, the frisky acidity a pool of Campari-like tang to close. Compelling."