Reviews
Michael Cooper, Top 40 Best Buy: 4.5★
Richly fragrant, exotically perfumed wine, estate-grown at Mangatahi. Weighty (14.5% alc/vol), it’s a medium-dry style with concentrated stonefruit, spice and ginger flavours and loads of personality. Still fresh, it’s drinking well now.
FM Gew 09
Bronze – New World Wine Awards 2010
FS Gew 10
Pure Gold – Air New Zealand Wine Awards 2011
FS Gew 11
Bronze Medal - 2012 Spiegelau International Wine Competition
Regional Characteristics
No single region has claimed the high ground with Gewurztraminer, with the warmer Gisborne climate and soils producing a complex, beautifully balanced wine. Hawkes Bay tends to be the wonderful combination of exotic complexity and fragrant aromatic. Cooler climates such as Marlborough deliver the wonderful aromatics as they do in other varieties, but sometimes lack the wonderful texture and complexity of the warmer regions
Winemaker's Intention
Exotic is the best word I can imagine to describe the kind of gewürztraminer we’d like to make. Ginger, lychee, musk, and pear aromas delighting with their intensity and purity. Gewürztraminer is a slightly unpredictable vine to grow, with yields and seasonal ripening characteristics all over the place. Like Gisborne, we have a warmer climate than is needed to ripen so it’s picked quite early in the season. I believe that plays a big part in explaining the kind of complexity we can achieve. Yes, it’s floral, yes it exhibits cool-climate characteristics but we also achieve a balanced palate, rich texture with a refreshing rounded finish and a hint of minerality.
