Gertie Gewurztraminer 2018

Gewürztraminer or Gertie refers to the spicy Traminer grape.

It's history was recorded in the village of Tramin from the first century, then spreading to Alsace where Gewürz (spice) was added to its name and Gewürztraminer was used in Alsace from 1870. In 1973 the name Traminer was discontinued in Alsace where the grape is simply known as Gewurz or Gertie.

Tasting Notes

Highly aromatic lychee nut developing into aromas of roses, passion fruit and floral notes with just the illusion of sweetness but it is a dry wine with medium to low acidity. Great for pairing with hot Asian, Indian and Caribbean foods, like stir-fries and curries.

Chilled, this wine serves well by itself as an aperitif and will pair with zesty-flavored fare like BBQ chicken wings and will certainly go well with Indian, Turkish, Morrocan, Mediterranean and Lebanese dishes using either chicken and fish. It is also the all-time-classic pairing for Thanksgiving turkey and all its customary fixings.

Production Notes

851 gallons after racking which should provide approximately 300 cases.

Winemaker Notes

Soil and climate are crucial to Gewürztraminer. Vigorous, even unruly, it dislikes chalky soils. Budding early, it is very susceptible to frost, needing warm, dry summers, and still it ripens erratically. Its natural high sugar content means that in hot climates it can becomes overly sweet but picking early to retain the acidity, means that the varietal aromas do not develop and these aromas may be further diluted by over cropping in an attempt to overcome its historical low yields.

Gertie is not an easy grape to grow with a quality wine result in mind. It shares some characteristics of other tough customers like Pinot Noir and Viognier, both of which we have mastered.

Being one of the Noble Grape Varieties it deserves to be produced as a quality wine so we selected Russian River Valley to grow Gertie with sandy soil, warm and dry but never hot climate and attention to the exact moment to pick so the aromatics develop without the cloying sweetness often found in Gewurztraminer wines.

Cooperage Notes

Barrel fermented In neutral French Oak barrels