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Wine Details
Price:
$14.00 per bottle
Description:
We make this dessert wine in the ice wine style except we picked the Gewürztraminer grapes at "normal" sugar levels that we would to make our table wine. The grapes are then quickly frozen to 0°F, which removes much of the water while preserving the grapes' natural sugar and acid. The grapes are then pressed while still frozen. This unusual technique allows us to pick while natural acidity is relatively high and we can precisely dial in the desired sugar level of the juice to be fermented. This way we avoid the potential of leaving defenseless grapes on the vine well into the rainy season, where rain, rot and rapidly degrading acidity can take their toll.
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Varietal Definition
Traminer:
Parent grape of the popular Gewurztraminer clone. Still grown in France and in California but almost everywhere has been replaced by its much more intense and spicy offspring clone.
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Gewürztraminer:
Cultivated for over a thousand years, this white-wine grape (sometimes referred to simply as Traminer) is thought to have originated in the village of Tramin (or Temeno) in Italy’s Alto Adige region. Gewürztraminer grapes are planted in Alsace, a French region between Germany and France that specializes in excellent dry Gerwürztraminer wines. They’re also cultivated in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Ukraine. Because they perform better in cooler climates, Gewürztraminer grapes have not done well in many of California’s warmer growing regions. However, they thrive in cooler California areas such as Carneros, Anderson Valley, and Monterey County, as well as in parts of Oregon and Washington. The German word ‘gewürz’ means ‘spiced,’ and these wines are known for their crisp, spicy attributes. They’re highly fragrant, with flavor characteristics of litchis, roses, and spices such as cloves and nutmeg. Gewürztraminer wines are available in varying degrees of sweetness -- dry, medium-sweet, and late harvest. Because of the grape’s pinkish (sometimes yellow) pigment, Gewürztraminer wines are some of the more deeply colored of the whites, many have gold or peach tones. The distinctive color and aroma of these wines make them easily recognizable by those familiar with this varietal wine.
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