“The Gallery” – Gewürztraminer 2025

Whether in a theatre gallery or art gallery, it’s a place where one’s senses are aroused. A flamboyant variety like Gewürztraminer also makes an emphatic appeal to the senses with its exotic and perfumed bouquet and lingering finish.

2025 Vintage

“A medium-dry style with classic rose petal and ginger aromas and notes of exotic wild herb and aniseed, the palate is full and gentle with lingering sweet spice notes”.  Olly Masters (Winemaker)

Vintage Notes

A cool wet start to the season provided good moisture for early season growth. On the 3rd November, we experienced our 2nd frost in over 20 years! It impacted just certain blocks and occurred prior to shoot thinning so we could mitigate losses. The rain eased and flowering and fruit set went well but we did have relentless spring winds lasting into January. The rest of the season was ideal without any super-hot days, so we retained good acidity and freshness in the whites and avoided shrivel in the Pinot Noirs. Vineyard vigilance ensured no incidence of disease and with leaf-plucking we ensured good ripening in this overall cooler season. The frost damage meant a slightly wider range of ripeness in white varieties, but they show good varietal expression. Fruit quality overall was excellent but a slightly reduced crop. The grapes were hand-picked at 5.3 T/ha and Growing Degree Days (GDDs) were 1040.

Food Match

Gewürztraminer is an extremely food-friendly wine that’s perfect with spicy food (Thai, Indian, and Mexican) as well as rich German-style schnitzel and sausages. It is also a particularly good match with pungent and soft cheeses, (oily) wild game, foie gras, and smoked salmon.

Details

Winemaking

Phenolics (tannin) are an important consideration with Gewürztraminer, hence 100% of the fruit was whole bunch pressed to minimise their extraction. We fermented the majority (83%) the wine in older French oak barrels to help extend the palate weight and length. Wild yeasts were used for 50% of the barrels and the remainder inoculated with commercial yeast. All the ferments proceeded well until we stopped them to leave an off dry finish(10 g/L). The wine from the 2025 vintage shows intense varietal expression and has a gentle palate.