Pegeric: Asias best wines and spirits awards

Best wine in the world with braised abalone

Equal best Pinot Noir in the world with braised abalone

2011 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition

More information: Asias best wines and spirits
Pegeric: Woodend, Australia, Victoria

History

PEGERIC wines was founded in 1987 by Chris Cormack and named in honour of his parents Peg and Eric. Eric Cormack was a top Australian sportsman in the 1920s. He played VFL football for St Kilda and was also a champion Australian swimmer, regarded as one of the best water polo players in the world. Eric took Waler horses to India for the Indian army in the1930s and was the leading racehorse auctioneer in Victoria till the mid 1950s, selling millions of pounds of thoroughbreds each year. A career change in 1958 saw him start one of the first licensed grocery stores in Melbourne. Chris started work in the store, and an interest in wine began.

He enrolled in the Applied Science Viticulture course in 1980 at R.C.A.E. at  Wagga  NSW, now known as Charles Sturt University and was the college trainee Viticulturalist. He was the second person to graduate and after study trips to the worlds great wine regions, he selected land in the Macedon Ranges. He worked at Daimaru and Crown Casino to help pay the bills while establishing the vineyard! From 2004, Chris has worked as a Qantas flight attendant and helped design and teach the Qantas "Sommelier in the Sky" wine program.

Viticulture

Inspired by his teacher Max Loder - the "Father of Pinot Gris" in Australia, Chris went against the trends of the time and established one of the first close planted (1.5m X 1.5m ) dry grown, mulched vineyards of the modern era. He was even told that he would not ripen grapes there - so that was the challenge! The vines are hand pruned and grapes hand picked.

Vintage is around mid to late May for reds and grapes have been picked in July for sweet wine. PEGERIC vineyard is one of the coolest sites in Australasia and has a similar climate to Central Otago N.Z. The vineyard is managed using Integrated Pest Management system (minimal sprays etc) PEGERIC makes around 1200 bottles annually from the estate vineyard. Riesling has also been  planted but has not produced a commercial crop yet. That is the next challenge!

Winemaking

The highly skilled team of Llew Knight and Ian Gunter at Granite Hills winery help Chris with the winemaking. The wines are aged in premium French oak, usually Seguin Moreau and receive minimal or no filtration. They get extended bottle age before their release, which is another unusual practice.

Labels

Wines under the PEGERIC label are single vineyard wines and made from estate grown fruit. TUMBETIN and ESCARGOT  labels are used for multi region, special blends or alternate varietals that we don't grow.

Wine with food

Our wines are designed to be had with food rather than drink on their own and will benefit from decanting. Good food matches are Mediterranean styles and many Asian dishes as can be seen by our recent awards.

Wine show awards

PEGERIC is one of the smallest wine producers in Australia. Since 2007 PEGERIC has entered international wine shows and had immediate success winning a GOLD medal in Japan for  the 1999 PEGERIC Pinot Noir.  

In 2011, PEGERIC won awards in London, Japan, Shanghai and now at the 2011 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition, won 1 Trophy, 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 5 Bronze medals!

2002 ESCARGOT Barbera

  • TROPHY:  Best Wines With Braised Abalone (grapes from Lillypilly wines  NSW)
  • GOLD:  Best Wines With Braised Abalone

1999 PEGERIC Pinot Noir

  • SILVER:  Best Wines With Braised Abalone
  • BRONZE

2003 PEGERIC Pinot Noir

  • BRONZE: Best Wines With Braised Abalone
  • BRONZE: Best Wines With Peking Duck

2005 PEGERIC Late Picked Pinot Noir Sweet Style

  • BRONZE: Best Wines With Kung Pao Chicken

2008 PEGERIC Late Picked Pinot Noir Sweet Style

  • SILVER: Best Wines With Kung Pao Chicken

1998 TUMBETIN Cabernet Shiraz Pinot Noir blend

  • BRONZE

Pegeric:  P.O.Box  227 Woodend, Australia, Victoria 3442

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