2020 Pegasus Bay Maestro, Waipara

Deep crimson with aromas of blackberry, dark cherry and dark berry fruits with hints of smoky wood spice, roasting meats, brown spices, turned earth, cedar and dark chocolate nibs. Fruit-pure with earth, a roll of black fruit, a rush of dried herbs and fine, powdered riverstone tannins. Finishes savoury and as dry as a bone. Drink to 2036.

94 points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, September 2025

Complex and brooding, spicy and smoky flavours of plum, leather, cedar, black olive and blackberry take turns centre-stage as they crest over the medium-bodied palate. Toasty notes of development weave through the wine, juxtaposed against the fresh acidity and etched framework of tannins. As each wave of flavour yields to the next, the wine retains its overall sense of restraint, tension and balance, giving confidence that it will continue to develop in bottle for added complexity as it smoothens. Drink to 2033.

93 points Stephen Wong for The Real Review, July 2025

A restrained yet rich blended red with lots of red berry, dark chocolate and graphite aromas and flavors. Full and layered with fine tannins and a long and poised finish. Needs time to open. Better in a three or four years. Drink after 2025.

93 points James Suckling, March 2023

Maestro is reserve wine that represents the best of Pegasus Bay’s red Bordeaux varieties in any season and is only made in exceptional years. The 2020 is a 45/40/15 blend of Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The fruit was handpicked mid-April and the grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel with regular pump-overs. The pressed wine then spent two years in French oak barriques of which half were new before the final blend was assembled after a taste selection of the available barrels.

About this producer

Planted from 1985 onwards, the Pegasus Bay vineyard sits in Waipara Valley, a 45-minute drive north of Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island. It enjoys protection from the Pacific’s easterly breezes, a prolonged ripening period with substantial diurnal temperature variations. The alluvial Glasnevin gravel soils here are free draining and low in fertility, resulting in naturally reduced vine vigour.

The Donaldson family, viticultural pioneers in the region, remain the owner-operators of Pegasus Bay. Minimal intervention at all stages from vine to bottle typifies the winemaking approach: sustainable viticultural management, low crop levels, minimal handling of fruit, natural malolactic fermentation and clarification by settling, without the use of fining agents. All wines are made from estate grown fruit.