Pegasus Bay 50 Items

Pegasus Bay was established by the Donaldson family who were pioneers of the Canterbury wine industry. Professor Ivan Donaldson, a consultant neurologist, planted one of the region’s first vineyard in the mid 1970’s. Ivan quickly saw the huge potential for grape growing in the region and in 1985 established what is now Pegasus Bay’s home vineyard in the Waipara Valley of North Canterbury along with his wife Christine and their four sons.

Three of their four sons have since joined the business. Matthew, their eldest son is wine making. Their youngest son Paul is General Manager while another son Edward is Marketing Manager and along with his wife Belinda runs the highly acclaimed winery restaurant which has been awarded NZ’s top winery restaurant for 5 consecutive years in the Cuisine Magazine NZ restaurant of the year awards, and has been awarded a coveted Chefs Hat in 2015.

The estate’s primary focus is Pinot Noir and Riesling. The home vineyard was planted on the north facing terraces of the Waipara Valley on free draining river gravels. The site is ultra low yielding and produces fruit of rare concentration. Structure and texture however are hallmarks of the estate’s highly individual wines. The home vineyard is now 30 years old where the fruit is exclusively sourced.

Recent accolades include receiving a 5 star rating by Robert Parker where he named Pegasus Bay one of New Zealand’s top 5 estates, rated by Matthew Dukes as one of the worlds most iconic 100 wines estates, named Canterbury’s top producer by Michael Cooper.