WTN:2007 Pyramid Valley Orton Vineyard Hawkes Bay Gewurz, NZ

$A51 is a bucketload of cash for a gewurz from NZ, and it’s a lot for an experiment too. This wine is both.

This vineyard was apparently ripped up just after this fruit was picked. Shame really, this is a quirky, interesting beast that deserves some contemplation. The first thing to notice is the bottle, an a tall heavy alsace shape, with a small punt in it. The next thing is that the wine is cloudy. I understand the proprietor, Mike Weersing, is a fan of wild yeasts, no cold stabilisation and all things natural and good. I hadn't even smelled it and it was quirky already. So onto the smell, which is all about apple cider. Sweet, spicy and interesting. maybe musky, maybe lychees, but definitely apple cider. damn, tastes like apple cider too with some lifted aromatics over its oily, almost creamily textured palate. Gewurz it is, and almost devoid of acid, but its phenolics make it interesting along with its fruit flavours. I couldn’t recommend this for ageing, but served with pork and apple sauce or middle eastern cuisine (like my wife's fabulous Chicken Tagine) it is a winner. The 14.5% will slow you down but not stop you completely.

Cheers

Andrew

Interesting to read your note, Andrew, but this is expensive at the price especially for a cloudy wine that you say tastes like apple cider and will not cellar. Translated back to NZ dollars, using the exhange rate I was given on a recent foray to Australia, that makes it about NZ$69 a bottle. If I was going to spend that much, I rather go for Dry River or Vinoptima's VT style. At least we know they cellar.

Actually it costs only $30 a bottle in NZ (from the Pyramid Valley website) so someone on your side of the ditch has made on both exchange rate and markup.

Cheers,
Sue

Actually it costs only $30 a bottle in NZ (from the Pyramid Valley website) so someone on your side of the ditch has made on both exchange rate and markup.

Cheers,
Sue

Do Pyramid Valley qualify for WET exemption? If not then that might account for some of the difference.
regards
Ian

Probably. I had to look it up but it says
"To be eligible for the (WET) producer rebate, you must:
produce wine in New Zealand that is (or is likely to be) exported to Australia, and
be approved as a New Zealand participant."
It sounds like it is a matter of filling in the right forms.

The first thing to notice is the bottle, an a tall heavy alsace shape

Is that rare for gewurztraminer from New Zealand?

The first thing to notice is the bottle, an a tall heavy alsace shape

Is that rare for gewurztraminer from New Zealand?

I'm not sure about the heavy, but many GW producers here use a tall bottle. The wines I've seen from Alsace have not been in memorably extra heavy bottles, btw.