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!
2018 Vintage
“A medium-sweet dessert wine with intense and complex aromas of caramelised ginger, Turkish delight and wild thyme which linger with a sweet muscat grape and floral finish.” Olly Masters (Winemaker)
Vintage Notes
The 2018 vintage was one of the hottest on record with some extraordinary weather patterns resulting in a very compressed season. Early in the season, there were searing temperatures for days on end along with record low rainfall. The winds finally came later in the season and then heavy rains hit in early to mid-February. The challenges of the season were in trying to manage rapid canopy growth and keep on top of the constant threat of disease. In spite of the issues, we ended up with a very healthy vineyard and a lower crop than normal due to lower average bunch weights and smaller berries. This has resulted in very good fruit concentration and very expressive wines. Our Growing Degree Days (GDDs) were 1356. For this late-harvest wine, we manage our fruit on a Scott-Henry trellis and cut the canes on the vine to help concentrate the fruit and flavours and let the bunches hang for an extended time. The fruit was then carefully hand-picked at 10.8 tonnes per hectare.
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
| Region | Central Otago, New Zealand | Vineyard | Estate-grown, single vineyard |
| Sub-region | Bendigo | Variety/ Clones | 456 |
| Planting | 2005, Altitude: 288 – 313m | Harvested | 16 April 2018 |
| Harvest Analysis | Brix: 29.5 / pH: 5.5 / TA: 5.5 g/l | Bottled | 14 August 2018 (Stelvin closure) |
| Wine Analysis | Alc: 9.0% / pH: 3.53 / TA: 5.5 g/l | Cellaring | 1 – 5+ years |
| Residual Sugar | 128 g/l | Style | Medium-sweet |
Winemaking
The late harvest fruit (~16% botrytis infected) was hand-picked into bins which were gently foot stomped and left to soak overnight to maximise flavour and sugar extraction from the desiccated fruit. Pressing occurred the next day. The juice was settled clear and inoculated and then 100% cool tank fermented (~15-17°C) with commercial yeast in order to retain varietal freshness. The ferment was then halted by chilling at what was determined to be the optimum residual sugar level (~128g/l).
