THE PARKERISATION OF PEGASUS

A week or two back I received a telephone call. "Congratulations!" a voice said. "Thanks”, I answered, obviously sounding mystified. "You don't know do you?" the caller added. "No," I replied. "Well, you have just been named as one of New Zealand's 5 outstanding producers in Robert Parker's new wine book."

 

Robert Parker is regarded as North America's, and arguably the world's, most influential wine person. This lawyer turned wine critic has written many books on wine and even has his own magazine, aptly named The Wine Advocate. In his recently released Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, New Zealand's wine producers are rated and we felt humbled to find that Pegasus Bay was one of only 5 to be named as outstanding and given 5 stars, the others being Te Mata (Hawkes Bay), Ata Rangi (Martinborough), Felton Road (Central Otago), and Rippon (Central Otago).
He says that rating producers is perhaps the most important point of the book. “The more one tastes and assimilates the knowledge of the World's regions, the more one begins to isolate a handful of truly world-class growers and producers" ..... "The producers and growers rated outstanding and excellent are as close to a guarantee of high quality as you ore likely to find" ........ "Those few growers/producers who have received five star ratings are those who make the world's finest wines and they have been selected for this rating for two reasons: first, because they make the greatest wine of their particular viticultural region and, second, because they are remarkably consistent and reliable even in mediocre and poor vintages”...... "I suspect few consumers will ever be disappointed with one of their wines".

 

While we value this type of stunning endorsement, you can make sure we will not let it go to our heads. We will be working hard to build on this and improve our quality even further.

 

LIGHTNING BOLT HIT'S PEGASUS BAY RESTAURANT!

They say that lightning never strikes in the same place twice but don't believe it. A year or 2 back the prestigious Cuisine magazine named Pegasus Bay Restaurant as the Best Casual Dining Restaurant in New Zealand. We were thrilled to bits.

 

Since then Cuisine has added another category to its awards, that of Winery Restaurant. Recently were left stunned, electrified and excited when the lightning bolt struck again and they named Pegasus Bay as the Best Winery Restaurant in New Zealand, saying "The Donaldson family runs a very impressive winery and their restaurant stands out as one of the best places to eat in Canterbury. Our judges raved about their meals ….. It stood out as winner in a very tough field". They went on to say "You will find delicious food, a great welcome and some stunning wines. The attention to detail that is obvious in the wine making extends itself to the cuisine........ Oliver Jackson's food is light and tasty, well styled and thought through and attuned to the wine. The staff are skilled, professional, helpful and knowledgeable about the menu and the choice of cellared or young wines..... expect a very special lunch".

 

We feel additional words by us would be superfluous, except to say a big thank you to all our kitchen, restaurant and tasting room staff who will endeavour to give you a great experience while wining and dining at the Bay. The emphasis is on purity of fresh, local, seasonal produce matched to our wines. It is best to telephone 03 3146869, ext 1, to reserve if you are coming to dine but feel free to pop in to enjoy a tasting or the ambience of our establishment and gardens daily from 10am-5pm.

 

Chandelier at Pegasus Bay Restaurant - Photo courtesy Dr Lindsay Haas

 

RAVING ABOUT RIESLING

Without a doubt riesling is Germany and Alsace's greatest grape and they regard it as the "king" of white wine varieties. Their winemakers call it “noble”, a word they do not use for most other varieties.

 

This is because of the sheer quality of the wines it can produce, the best having a complex richly perfumed bouquet, concentration of fruit flavours and palatal weight, but always retaining lively elegance, with a spine of crisp acidity and a fascinating minerality. Riesling is also capable of making a range of wine styles from steely dry to lusciously sweet, something which no other variety can do with such conviction. Add to this the fact that botrytis can complement and enhance the natural characters of riesling, whereas it ruins most other types of grapes, and you have an exceptional winner. The famous British wine-writer, Hugh Johnson, has said "Riesling alone makes pure white wine and it precisely expresses its origin in a spectrum from flowery and feather-light through intense, dry and mineral laden, to the unctuous and creamy, or to a piercing liquor-liked celestial marmalade".

 

"If riesling is so good, why has it not been more popular?" I can almost hear you say. Well, riesling used to be highly sought after until about 25 years ago when it quite suddenly became unfashionable. Its international fall from grace coincided with a drop in quality associated with some German producers illegally blending in cheap Italian wine. The variety's name was further sullied by misleading labelling. For example Müller Thurgau was commonly labelled Riesling Sylvanner, although it is a completely separate variety, which has no riesling in its origins. Also, in Australia it was perfectly legal to call a wine riesling when is was made out of something completely different, such as semillon. Thus, riesling became synonymous with a style of wine, usually cloyingly sweet and of lower quality, rather than a grape variety.

 

Over the past decade or so these wrongs are being rectified and there has been a big resurgence in riesling, not only at home, but abroad. When we first started exporting to the USA our agents wouldn't take the variety as there was "zero interest in riesling". Times have changed and we now have trouble in filling their requests for this variety. This not only reflects the general riesling revival but also positive press about New Zealand rieslings. Five Pegasus Bay Rieslings were recently awarded scores of greater than 90/100 points (equivalent of 5 stars) in Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.

 

Matthew Donaldson (2nd left) with wine writers Sam Kim, Bob Campbell MW, Paul White WM and John Hawkesby at the inaugural in praise of riesling event.

 

But as Hugh Johnson said, "riesling precisely expresses its origin' and the origin of ours is the Waipara Valley. We believe this produces a very pure and distinctive wine due to its mineral rich soils and special micro-climate. Last autumn we held at Pegasus Bay New Zealand's first conference and wine tasting devoted exclusively to riesling. On the 7th March 2009 the 2nd In Praise of Riesling event will be held at the Pegasus Bay Winery and Restaurant and, as with the last one, it will be in conjunction with other local wineries and the Waipara Valley Winegrowers. You will be treated to a spectacular line-up of top international wines as well as the local product, in association with fine fare from our restaurant. There will be commentary and discussion by experts. The wines will go from steely dry to lusciously sweet, enabling you to see all shades of colour in the wide spread of the peacock's tail of this amazing variety. Come and have your eyes opened and be part of the Riesling Renaissance that is going on. Book early on : www.inpraiseofriesling.co.nz as last years event sold out very quickly.

 

A CHANGE TO ORDERING WINE OVER THE INTERNET

Up until now if you have wanted to order over the internet you had to go to a special web page that was not available on our main site. This has changed & now if you would prefer to place your mail order via the internet simply go to www.pegasusbay.com/shop and follow the instructions from there. In order to get privileged mail order pricing you simply need to register for the online shop which should be a very quick and easy process. You only need to register once for the shop and you will be given a login to use for future purchases. Our Pegasus Bay as well as Main Divide wines can be ordered from the same on-line shop.

 

WINE GIFTS IN THE UK

You are now able to have friends or relatives in the UK receive Pegasus Bay and Main Divide wines without any effort on your part. Simply contact service@mustwines.co.uk and they will be delivered. What a great idea for Christmas, the New Year and beyond.

 

 

BEL CANTO: THE NEW FOAL OF PEGASUS

Pegasus has just given birth. It's a stallion called Bel Canto (beautiful singing) and its well known elder sister is Aria (operatic solo song). Bel Canto is as muscley, firm and dry, as Aria is soft and luscious. They are both made from essentially the same fruit, late harvest riesling with a proportion of shrivelled noble botrytis, but there the similarity ends.

 

Bel Canto has been partially fermented by its indigenous wild yeasts in barrels (previously used and old to avoid oak flavours, but to allow greater fullness and texture). Aria, on the other hand, is fermented completely with selected neutral yeasts at cold temperatures in stainless steel to preserve its varietal purity. Our experience is that dry rieslings do not age quite as well as those with some residual sweetness. Thus while Aria can be expected to improve over 5 years and last a decade or more, Bel Canto should perhaps be drunk within 4-6 years.

 

FROM THE PRESCRIPTION PAD

Close your eyes and think of your favourite smell. Then imagine one that is really unpleasant. Neuropsychologists, the people that study such thoughts, will tell you that memories of odours are often formed in youth and frequently have a strong emotional content. That is to say, how much you like or dislike smells can be influenced by emotionally important events which occurred when you experienced them. Perhaps you remember the perfume the love of your life had on the night you first dated? This is in keeping with the fact that smell and taste are amongst the most basic, primitive and important sensations. Discriminating between what is good and harmful to ingest is vital in helping any animal survive and multiply. In spite of this, smell has been called the Cinderella of the senses in humans, because of our apparently poor ability to identify odours, especially compared with man's best friend. Because of this many trust the advice of wine experts who have better noses and palates than ours; or do they?

 

Researchers from Lincoln University in Canterbury have shown that wine judges' snouts are no more sensitive than novices in detecting wine related smells, but judges are better at recognising and naming them. In fact, they found when novices talked about what they were smelling, it impaired their ability to discriminate and concluded that with them “Some things maybe better left unsaid”. This may not be news to you as you may have worked out that all the talking that politicians do impairs their ability to recognise what is happening in the real world!

 

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning can show up not only brain anatomy, but which parts become active when you appreciate sensations, think, or do tasks. In an Italian study a group of wine experts and casual wine drinkers were fed liquids through a tube while having their heads scanned. The brain's response was more complex and wide-spread to wine than to non-alcoholic, sugary drinks. In addition, areas known to be involved in appreciating smells and tastes were activated differently in wine experts and casual drinkers. In both groups the front part of the brain, particularly the frontal lobe, was involved, but in casual drinkers it affected primarily areas which receive the signals for smell and taste as well as other areas known to be involved in processing emotions, including a structure called the amygdala. In them activity spread into the right frontal brain region. In wine experts there was a much wider spread of activity in the left frontal lobe of the brain into regions particularly involved in the integration and analysis of smells and tastes. Brain regions which lie just above our eyes in the frontal lobes, and are thought to be involved in the reward value or pleasure of these sensations, lit up in both groups. The researchers concluded that with experience and training, the brain works differently. In other words, the appreciation of an expert differs from that of an amateur. Similar processes probably underlie the phenomenon of acquired taste in everything from art to music.

 

Now, as interesting as though this is, you and I know that drinking a glass of our favourite wine is a holistic experience, usually in pleasant surroundings with good friends and frequently as part of a meal. We don't normally sit around in scanners sipping wine blind out of tubes. Even if we are not wine experts we know what we like and are drinking. We don't need anyone to tell us; or do we? There is evidence that your brain may actually alter your appreciation to give you a consistent holistic experience, even when this is in conflict with reality. Take for example, an experiment carried out at the Bordeaux University where experienced tasters were asked to describe the aromas and flavours of white wine. They used descriptors typical for white wines, such as citrus fruits, peaches and honey. They were then asked to evaluate a red wine, which was in fact exactly the same white wine with a tasteless food colouring. They then used words typical of red wines as their eyes had fooled them and their brain reinterpreted the sensations.

 

Come back to our MRI scanner and subjects sipping wines through tubes. When given a series of wines to taste after being told how much each one cost, a group of US subjects not only said they preferred the dearer ones, but with these their brains became more active in that region which I said is involved in experiencing pleasure. In fact, all of the wines these people were drinking were the same. They didn't just say they enjoyed the “expensive” wine more, but their brain altered their experience of reality so that this was actually the case. Take the opposite situation where something is discounted to a basement bargain price. Another group of US scientists sold people an “energy” drink before they did a series of puzzles. Even although the drinks were the same, those who had paid the full price regularly solved more puzzles than those with discounted drinks. In other words, their brains changed reality in line with their expectations.

 

Well, you might say, this might be the case with airy fairy things, like smell, taste and solving problems, but what about something really definite, like pain. As a medico I am well aware that placebos are very effective in many patients. These not only include fake medications but sham manipulations and the like. In fact, it is generally accepted that at least a third of patients will report benefit. Now, it turns out that people don't just say they are better, they actually are. People given fake pain relieving cream before electric shocks not only say the shocks are less painful but in an MRI scanner, the activity of pain sensitive brain regions is decreased. The brain has modulated their experience of reality to fit their expectations.

 

This why “blind wine tasting” is so valuable. You don't know what you are drinking so your brain can not fool you into thinking one thing or another. You can form an independent evaluation without being detracted by preconceptions. We make our wines in small batches and blend these together in different proportions to make the final wine before it goes to bottling. It's much more work but we feel we get a better result. Batches are blended together in different proportions to produce a number of different possible wines and these are always assessed blind. It means that some batches, or parts of them, maybe eliminated so you end up with a smaller final volume than you wanted. Our aim, however, is to produce the best blend and not just one which would give us the largest volume. We don't want our brains to start playing tricks on us just because it might be commercially convenient.

 

I would encourage you to assess wines blind if you evaluating them. On the other hand, when serving a glass to your friends, knowing what the wine is might actually make them enjoy it more, depending on its reputation. Call it snob value if you like, but it seems a scientific fact.

 

Cheers,

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