PEREGRINE

With auspicious beginnings, Peregrine’s inaugural 1998 Sauvignon Blanc won the Champion Trophy at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards. Since then the winery has continued its winning ways, amassing a hoard of domestic and international goodies for the trophy cabinet. The ultimate goal of owners Lindsay McLachlan and Greg Hay has been to produce hallmark Central Otago wines off their own organically-certified vineyards, augmented with fruit from selected growers.

The wines are crafted by Otago native Nadine Cross in a stunningly designed winery complex featuring a dramatic canopy evocative of a falcon’s wingspan.

Nadine: ‘Our approach is along traditional lines, with minimal intervention and judicious use of oak to allow the unique flavours of Central Otago to shine through. Individual vineyards provide different characteristics, from which we are able to produce elegant, intensely flavoured wines.’

With their eyes locked firmly on sustainability, Peregrine are major sponsors of the Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust, an organisation dedicated to preserving endangered species, including New Zealand’s native falcon, the karearea.