Hunter's Marlborough Gewürztraminer 2019

Description

This Gewürztraminer shows classic lychee and ginger characters on the nose. The palate is dry to taste and very focused. Hunter's avoid the typical oily varietal characters thanks to the alluvial soils of this vineyard. This wine reward cellaring for the next 10 years.

The 2019 growing season was very warm and caused drought conditions in some parts of Marlborough. As Hunter's vineyards have good water security, they were able to avoid any issues arising from water stress. The vintage itself was very enjoyable. The rain stayed away, allowing winemakers to pick the grapes at optimum ripeness. Quality will be very high across all varieties from the 2019 vintage.

This is a single vineyard wine made with fruit from Hunter's Rapaura Road vineyard, next to the winery. The vines were planted in 1995 and while the planting plan is long since lost, we believe there are up to seven different clone and rootstock combinations in the block. The fruit is machine harvested in two passes. The picks are fermented separately and then blended back together as wine. The early pick lends acidity to the wine and also a strong ginger flavour. The later pick has more classic Gewürztraminer characters – lychee and lemongrass. In 2019 the Gewürztraminer yields were the lowest winemakers had ever seen. This has resulted in a wine with great concentration and depth.