2025 Main Divide Chardonnay, Waipara

The singular, unconforming style of Chardonnay wines from the team at Pegasus Bay comes through in this wine, but in a fresher package.

The wine opens with rich flinty aromas of roasted pineapple and lemon curd, with notes of warm buttery brioche, hazelnut and wood spice woven in for good measure. Richly textured, creamy and lively, the reductive palate is refreshed by grapefruit like acidity.

The rich creaminess, flinty reduction and high-toned citrus acidity partner well with dishes that combine fat, starch, and smoky char. Charcoal-grilled snapper with hazelnut brown butter and burnt lemon would be a good fit, or go for Cantonese-style crispy skin chicken with Sichuan pepper salt.

More about this wine

The Main Divide Chardonnay carries a strong resemblance to its Pegasus Bay siblings, but in a streamlined and early drinking style.

The 2025 season was a mixed bag weatherwise and required vineyards to remain vigilant from early spring to harvest. At Pegasus Bay, this culminated in rigorous fruit selection and picking on flavour instead of the relatively low sugar ripeness.

The fruit for this wine was picked over several weeks. The pressed un-clarified juice fermented with indigenous yeasts in French oak puncheons and left on lees. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation started in the following spring, and this was stopped when the sought balance had been achieved.

About Main Divide

Main Divide is a local name for the Southern Alps which form the backbone of Te Wai Pounamu, the South Island of Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The wines are made by the team of the renowned Pegasus Bay winery from fruit grown in the alluvial gravels of the Te Hau vineyard in Waipara Valley, with complimentary fruit sourced from select fellow North Canterbury growers.

The wines are made to drink well on release.