"How did you meet", I asked. And I was not too surprised when they answered "at a wine tasting".

For Matthew Donaldson and Lynnette Hudson, the highly talented Pegasus Bay winemakers of the Waipara New Zealand winery, Pegasus Bay, are the rock stars of the NZ wine industry and are passionate about their wine. All wine, not just their own.

Matthew Donaldson was born into wine. His father, Dr Ivan Donaldson, a consultant neurologist, was a pioneer of the local grape growing industry and is a highly respected wine judge and writer. And Matthew, who can't remember tasting his first wine because "it was always there" was always going to make a career in wine. After leaving secondary school he travelled to Roseworthy in South Australia where he gained a Oenology degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Viticulture.

Lynnette Hudson, however, first remembers 'thinking' about wine when she was 17 or 18. It was a Deinhards Green Label, which she quite enjoyed. It was about this time when she was attending the University of Auckland. And because of her new vinous interest, she did a six-month course on wine at the adjacent Auckland Institute of Technology. After graduating from Auckland with a Bachelor of Science double major in zoology and botany, Lynnette went to Lincoln University just out of Christchurch, where she graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Oenology and Viticulture.

I read somewhere that Matthew and Lynnette were married, so I asked them "Are you married?". No, said Lynnette. Although they do live together when they are both in the country. The relationship started when Lynette was doing a vintage with Daniel Schuster whose vineyards are nearby those of Pegasus Bay, and Matthew came to the rescue when she needed a place to stay.

"What's your most memorable wine experience that you've had together", I asked.

"Drinking a 1945 Bonne Mare with Christophe Roumier at his vineyard in Burgundy", says Lynnette. "I remember Christophe giving us this wine and we were amazed by it. He asked what we thought the vintage was and we were saying, 'Oh maybe it could be mid-80's' and then he told us it was a '45 and we were like 'Wow'". It was from the awesome vintage at the end of the war and the wine was just awesome".

"What is it about wine that embraces you.?", I asked.

Lynnette answers, "So many new examples to try every year from every vintage. Everything is so out there, so changing and especially in New Zealand, there are so many young people who are into it, there is lots of enthusiasm and interest and just the drive from everybody to produce some really awesome things that can give so much pleasure. It is just so incredible".

"It certainly never feels like a chore to go home and open a bottle of wine even though we have had wine all day in the winery. That's what we can't wait to do each evening, to go home and have a bottle and enjoy it. It just gives so much stimulation. And if we didn't have wine we wouldn't know what else to talk to each other about. Thank God for wine. It is such a great conversation starter. And it can bring people together. It opens so many door and provides so many opportunities".

"Is it travel as well?", I asked.

"Definitely", says Lynnette. "The nice thing about being a winemaker is to taste so many fabulous wines that many people wouldn't see in a life time and you get to eat so much beautiful food. Just the opportunities to eat and drink and to travel all over the world. Winemaking is not a hugely profitable business on its own but the other things it has to offer are pretty nice".

And the couple has certainly done a bit of travelling.

Matthew travelled to Australia, of course, for his studies. Then as well as vintages at Pegasus Bay, there was Tyrrells in the Hunter Valley and Leaconfield in Coonawarra, Australia in 1991, Cruickshank in the Upper Hunter and Lesnick in the Lower Hunter in 1993, Brokenwood in the Hunter in 1994 then over to Domaine Daniel Rion in the latter part of the same year. Then on to Romania to take over from Lynette. In 1997 Matt just travelled and tasted and talked and ate and got to relax while watching others hard at work.

Lynnette, after starting her career at Daniel Schuster's, travelled to England for a vintage in 1993. In 1994 it was to the Hunter Valley and the Peppertree Winery before returning to NZ for her first vintage at Pegasus Bay. At the end of the year she travelled to Hungary to work at Alis Cavin, then on the Romania to work at Recas. She couldn't cope with all the work, so asked Matt to come over and help her. In 1995 she returned to Recas. In 1997 she got to work at Domaine George Roumier in Burgundy with Christophe Roumier. 1998 saw a vintage at Chahalem in Oregon.

In 1999 the Pinot Noir Celebration took place in Oregon and the couple travelled together to represent New Zealand at this prestigious event.

"What is your favourite wine to make", I asked, knowing I knew the answer.

"Pinot", they confirmed. "It is the biggest challenge. There are always new things to try. Very exciting, very dynamic".

I wanted to know how they perfect their delicious Pinot Noir - I was besotted with the 1998 Pegasus Bay Pinot - the best I'd tasted from the vintage. The smoothness, the silky, satiny, velvety textured wine all rolled up into a creamy seductive package that fulfils the palate like no other before it. How on earth did they learn to make wine like this?

Lynnette: "I think it has taken us a long time to perfect our style, definitely. The Pegasus Bay Pinot always has a intense amount of colour, a huge amount of tannins as well but the thing that we've most lacked is sweet generous soft round fruit. So what we have learnt to do in the large few years is how to handle the fruit so that we develop the luscious soft round fruit and pull back the tannins. That is why we have moved to a lot of barrel fermentation so we press the vat before it is has actually finished fermented and put it into new French oak. It ferments to dryness in the barrel so there is no residual sugar but that just softens the tannins unbelievably and accentuates the really sweet fruit. I think that is a really big key for us in our particular vineyard down here. This method has really helped to bring out the sweet fruit and nice silky tannins without them being big and over extracted. We've got lots of colour and we can afford to press earlier. Colour is never usually an issue for us".

Matthew: "It is just a matter of finding out how to let our vineyard express itself in the nicest possible way. And because it has such naturally big tannins in the vineyard we have been pulling back on the extraction in the last 3 years to let the vineyard express its fruit. Our 93, 94, 95 and 96 are really only starting to drink nicely just now, whereas the 1997 was much more approachable and 1998 and 1999 are a little softer and maybe a bit better balanced".

We tasted many components of the 1999 from barrel, and at a later event I tasted a blend of selected barrels. This wine is going to be as good, if not better than the 1998. I can't wait for it to be released.

It is is no wonder that with such passion and commitment, that this young couple are dubbed by many, myself included, as 'The Masters of Pinot".

Update: December 2007 Since this interview, Lynnette spent a year in Burgundy working the 2001 vintage with Nicolas Potel in Nuits St George and the 2002 vintage with Pascal Marchand of Domaine de la Vougeraie, and worked in the vineyards of the Cote d'Or in between. She returned to Pegasus Bay with her new found expertise to finally marry and settle down with her long time partner Matt. They married in February 2003. They continue to do great things with Pinot Noir but also excel with Riesling. In 2007 they have added a 'dry' Riesling to the range to complement their 'classic' off-dry, late harvest 'Aria' and botrytis 'noble' styles.