Crossroads Hawkes Bay (Origin Vineyard) Gewurztraminer 2007

It’s a shame more people don’t know about this variety and embrace it here in Australia. Growing up in the restaurant industry at a time when NZ’s wine industry was (quite rightly) mocked for its wines like Montana’s Cold Duck (Australia’s wasn’t much better, I should add) we naturally, mostly, drank French.  And top of my list as a young man were the wines of Alsace – still the best region in the world for gewurztraminer, in my opinion, although NZ is doing its best to change that.  I highly recommend you give gewurztraminer a try if you haven’t already, particularly if you’re having Asian food as the ginger, spice and lychee characters make it a natural partnership.  Otherwise, it’s simply a great, fruity quoffer that is versatile with a good many bar snacks and tapas style foods.  Give it a swirl!

Bronze – Decanter World Wine Awards (UK) 2010

“A gorgeous nose displaying tropical fruit, floral and subtle spice characters. The palate is luscious and richly textured with lovely sweetness and nicely integrated acidity. Still looking youthful and beautifully poised with plenty of delicious Gewurz flavours. At its best: Now to 2012″ – Wine Orbit, May 2010.

Scenic Cellars Autumn Harvest Newsletter, May 2010
Drop dead gorgeous. The best of varietal flavours; lychee, ginger, lemon and rosewater, balanced with delicious ripe fruit sweetness. Smooth texture and wonderful intensity.

THE WORD FROM MILES:

The superb 2007 vintage illustrated just how well suited Gewurztraminer is to our Fernhill Home Block. Fertile loams on an ancient, silty riverbed, so prized in New Zealand viticulture, characterise this special vineyard. Planted to a complimentary range of ‘Colmar’ clones from France’s Alsace region we favour the vertically shoot positioned trellesing technique. Strictly managed this method yielded just three tonnes per hectare. Flowering during cooler than average temperatures made for a naturally smaller crop. These bunches thrived, ripening gradually, in the warm and dry conditions that followed. Rainfall was lower than the regional average while the GDD* measure at 1391 was substantially above the long-term average. These factors culminated in a vintage of ripe, perfectly balanced fruit with marvellously concentrated flavours. The health and quality of the fruit allowed us to hand pick the majority of the harvest. With their distinct deep pink hue the bunches almost cried out to our winemakers “pick me, pick me”.
WINEMAKERS COMMENTS
The Individual batches were cool fermented in separate, small batches, to coax the spicy, classically varietal aromas and flavours from the juice, which was delicate and very low in phenolics. We used several different yeast strains to increase complexity. Fermentation was chill-stopped once the sugar and acid balanced reached optimum ‘deliciousness’. Bottled early after a winter resting on lees, with periodic stirring to enrich the palate weight and texture.
FOOD PAIRING SUGGESTIONS
We have taken great care to ensure that our wine displays the soft pungency that is the signature of Crossroads Gewurztraminer. Boasting the best of varietal flavours: lychee, ginger, lemon and rosewater and balanced with delicious ripe fruit sweetness. Our gentle touch has delivered a wine of smooth texture and wonderful intensity. This is a very food versatile Gewurz, equally at home with tarte fambée (a pastry filled with bacon, cheese and onions) as it is with spicy South East Asian curries. *GDD is an international measurement of the number of hours that the temperature is above a baseline figure over a growing season.
For more information visit www.crossroadswinery.co.nz
VINTAGE INFORMATION
Vintage 2007
Region Hawkes Bay, NZ
Winemaker Miles Dinneen
Viticulturist John van der Linden
Variety 100% Gewurztraminer
Clones: Colmar 1106, 456, 457, 1148. GM 14
Harvested 20th – 23rd March 2007
Oak Treatment Nil
Alc/Vol 13.5%
Titratable Acid 4.5g/l
pH 3.41
Residual sugar 15.9g/l
Bottled 27th August 2007
Cellaring now – 2015 in ideal conditions

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