Lawsons Dry Hills,Gewurztraminer2007,Marlborough,New Zealand

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Lawsons Dry Hills,Gewurztraminer2007,Marlborough,New Zealand

We are really taking a change in tack here with this grape variety which is called Gewurztraminer.

 Pronounced:Gurr-vurts-tram-in-er

Very difficult to pronounce and very pronounced in flavour.!

Gewurztraminer is originally a European grape variety. Gewurz  actually translates as spice or perfume  and Traminer is actually a place in Alto Adige in Northern Italy. From there it was transplanted in 1870 to Alsace and its current more aromatic style is the result of a mutation of that original clone and this is the version now found in Alsace,Germany and  indeed around the world .Interesting enough because it is an aromatic variety it performs best in cool climate thus its sucess in Germany,Alsace and indeed New Zealand. 

I have tasted many examples of Gewurztraminer from the Southern Hemisphere and Lawsons Dry Hills is,in my opinion,the only producer that has managed to capture the true style and fundamental qualities of this grape variety.

Founded in 1992 by Ross and Barbara Lawson when they decided to make their own wine, rather than just  selling  on their Gewurztraminer grapes which they had been growing on  their Alabama Rd vineyard since the early 80s.

The business has grown from that original 15 tonnes which Ross managed from the old tin shed (now the cellar door), on the property to processing close to 800 tonnes.

Their Gewurztraminer has gone on to be recognized as one of the country’s finest and has firmly established Lawson’s Dry Hills on the national and international wine stage.


When you take a sniff of this wine you notice it is very fragrant almost perfumed in style with lovely rose petal,lychee and Turkish Delight(as pink turkish delight is made from rose) and it is also a little spicy …like sausages are spicy.

On the palate it is off dry with the abundant flavours that we find on the nose spilling into your mouth with balancing alcohol and a rich finish.

This is a style of wine that some people adore yet others find too distinctive in flavour, so one has to be careful about serving it to a large group as some people will not be happy to drink this wine style for an entire evening.

This to me is the perfect wine to go with Chinese food. I am personally one of the people who fall into the “I find this too aromatic to enjoy on its own" camp,however its pungent lychee flavours perfectly suit the underlying sweetness of many Chinese dishes. It also goes well with smoked salmon and rich fatty game dishes.

In its original area of Alsace you are dealing with a lot of ham, gammon etc.which is generally cured or smoked, not to mention Munster cheese which is produced locally.

This picture is of Tomi  a lovely Labrador of 12 years of age who is a very valued member of the Lawsons team.Tomi  enjoys her ripe grapes during vintage and being very selective only eats those high in sugar and low in acids so she is a great  indicator  of when the grapes are ready for  harvesting!

She reminds me of our old family labrador Simon who used to love to run along by the car on the drive back from the beach because he would be too wet to be allowed in!

Gotta shoot through so I’ll catch ya later.

Evelyn 

  CONSUME AND ENJOY IN MODERATION

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