“The Cadenza” – Late Harvest Gewürztraminer 2026

The Cadenza is an ornamental musical passage usually performed by a soloist at the end of an aria or piece of music. Often improvised but always elaborate, this final flourish is meant to impress!

2026 Vintage

“This late-harvest style has intense muscatel aromas with dried nuts and gingerbread, and an intense palate with notes of honeysuckle and rose water leading to a sweet gentle finish.” Olly Masters (Winemaker)

Vintage Notes

The 2026 vintage was defined by a cool, extended growing season that allowed for slow, even ripening and exceptional flavour development. Following a frosty start to spring, warming conditions and steady rainfall supported a healthy and balanced start to the season. Flowering in early December was even across the vineyard, setting the foundation for consistent yields. While the season brought persistent winds and cooler temperatures,
these conditions naturally moderated vine growth, maintaining open canopies and low disease pressure. A longer ripening period through late summer/early autumn resulted in harvest beginning in early April —two weeks later than usual. This extended hangtime proved highly beneficial, producing fruit with excellent balance, purity, and varietal expression. The grapes were hand-picked at an average of 6.8 T/ha and Growing Degree Days (GDDs) were 913

Food Match

This late-harvest style of Gewürztraminer is a perfect match to fruit-based desserts especially those with apricots, peaches, pears or lychees. It’s also a great match with strongly-flavoured soft cheeses. For savoury matches, try foie gras or any mild curries featuring ginger, cinnamon or lychee flavours.

Details

Winemaking

After a couple of low yielding vintages, we are pleased to report we had a good crop and still achieved the desired sugar levels (28.7 Brix). The fruit was gently crushed and left to soak for 1 day in bins to maximise the flavour and sugar extraction from the desiccated fruit. The majority (85%) of the juice was settled clear and inoculated and then cool tank fermented (~15-17°C) with commercial yeast in order to retain varietal freshness with 15% being wild fermented in old oak. The ferment was halted by chilling at what was determined to be the optimum residual sugar level (100 g/l)