Pegasus Bay ENCORE Noble Riesling 2008

The wine has intense aromas and flavours of ripe peaches, nectarines and apricots. Behind these lie hints of tropical fruits, such as oineapples, guavas and lychees. It has a core of citrus fruit characters with impressions of lemons, limes and grapefruit, that flow through the palate and linger as a tingling minerality, perfectly balancing its lusciously, honeyed structure.

 

Region: Waipara

Variety: Dessert Wine

Producer: Pegasus Bay Winery

Merchant:

Chronology

Winemaker Notes: When the fruit arrived at the winery they were further hand selected so that only the most perfect were retained. These were gently pressed and a small amount of very rich, syrupy juice was obtained. It was allowed to settle and the clarified portion was fermented slowly at low temperature to help retain its unique aromas and flavours. The juice was so concentrated that when the fermentation stopped it still had a rich natural sweetness.

Viticulture Notes: The spring and early summer were warm and so exceptionally dry that we felt the vines might suffer from the effects of drought. In February we had the unexpected; a torrential downpour set in the dry streams gurgling merrily and totally replenished the ground water reserves. Late in autumn we had humid conditions which led to some botrytis developing in the riesling. Many producers picked early to minimise the effect of this but fortunately we braved it out until the weather cleared and the patches of botrytis became beautifully shrivelled and noble. For Encore we selected only riesling that was fully botrytic with berries that had shrunken down to raisins.

Alcohol: 11 %

Residual Sugar: 125g/l