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The 2009 growing season in Gisborne was very settled with plenty of sunshine and heat. This ensured exceptional flavour development in the grapes. The fruit was hand-harvested and processed with minimal transportation and handling at the Vinoptima Estate winery in Ormond.
Description
This wine exhibits luscious yellow-gold hues with the slightest tint of pink. There are aromas of ripe pear, mandarin zest and nectarine integrated with fine mixed-spice and delicately perfumed notes of Turkish delight. The palate is broad, rich and weighty with strong classical Gewurztraminer characters to the fore. The wine envelopes the tongue and displays sumptuous tropical fruit, citrus and dried apricot flavours. An excellent luscious Gewurztraminer similar in style to the great wines of Alsace.
Wine Description
The Story
Producing a wine worthy of comparison with the best in the world requires detailed research and planning. But to create a wine of true distinction, the day-to-day commitment of an experienced and dedicated winemaker is absolutely vital.
That’s why every stage, from initial bud-set right through to the harvest is carefully monitored by Nick Nobilo. His over 40 years of experience governs even the tiniest detail and this belief in the superiority of a ‘handcrafted’ wine impacts on every step in the winemaking process. The harvesting and handling of the grapes is done entirely by hand to ensure the precious, ripe bunches arrive undamaged at the winery and in optimum condition for the start of the winemaking process. Each batch of grapes is processed individually and only when the winemaking is complete does the final blending take place.
Welcome to Vinoptima, the world’s best Gewurztraminer.
Wine Information
Gewurz means 'spicy' in German while traminer means 'coming from Tramin', a wine‐growing district of southern Tyrol, Northern Italy, where Gewurztraminer originated. Now however the benchmark Gewurztraminers are, without doubt, the great Grand Cru Gewurztraminer’s from the Alsace region of France. I had long believed that the geographic and climatic similarities between the Alsace region and parts of New Zealand were remarkably similar and that Gewurztraminer from New Zealand could become recognised as being amongst the best in the world.
In 1972 I pioneered the variety commercially at Huapai and later in the 70's I had used the principles of terroir to identify a location at Ormond, Gisborne as a perfect site for aromatic grape varieties. I persuaded the owner, who was growing Muller Thurgau for Nobilo Wines at the time, to re-plant with Gewurztraminer. As lovers of wine will know, the term ‘Terroir’covers a multitude of factors; surrounding typography, soil type and local climate all come into play together, and this place had them all!
The perfect location that years later I eventually selected to become the future Vinoptima Estate isn’t far from that original vineyard and benefits from the same unique microclimate that I knew could produce outstanding Gewurztraminer. It’s protected from the extremes of weather by low-lying foothills to the South, East and North of the property. The climate is also hotter and drier than the cooler growing climate of the coast, producing an unusually high intensity in aromatic wine varieties, which of course, is perfect for the Vinoptima Estate’s Gewurztraminer grapes. While the alluvial soils, high in magnesium and boron, provided the final piece in the terroir mosaic.
