Mt Difficulty Station Block Tinwald Burn Gewürztraminer 2022

Description

• Off-dry style
• Lychee & ginger
• Vanilla bean
• Lovely acidity

"Medium-dry Gewürztraminer with classic Turkish delight, pot-pourri and lychee flavours. Youthful wine with the potential to become even more complex and integrated with bottle age" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Jan 2023

A delicate nose of rose water, ginger and hints of lychee opens to a powerful palate redolent of a Gewürztraminer from Alsace. Ripe tropical fruit and turkish delight initially before a phenolic texture comes in, giving great width and structure to the wine. A nice line of acidity through the palate, finishes the wine with rose petal and vanilla bean notes. Optimal cellaring conditions will allow this wine to age over five years.

The Growers Series allows us to showcase the terroir of different sub-regions. Station Block Gewürztraminer comes entirely from Station Block, a 30 hectare vineyard situated in the Pisa Range area to the north of Cromwell on the western side of Lake Dunstan. Station Block takes its name from Mt. Pisa Station, and is planted in Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. The soil at Station Block is classified as a high terrace Ardgour gravel, generally considered very suitable for viticulture. This gravel is regular in both physical and drainage properties and is easy to manage soil, low to medium in fertility.

The 2022 season swung the pendulum again for Central Otago. This season was characterised by a very warm summer, punctuated by vital rain events, culminating in a bumper crop that was harvested 1-2 weeks ahead of long term average. The benign, warm flowering conditions in December resulted in excellent fruit set and healthy canopies that galloped through a dry January. They were replenished by rain in February before harvest began in mid-March and was wrapped up by mid-April.

Station Block Gewurztraminer is crafted to highlight the lovely aromatics and textural richness that Gewurztraminer is capable of. We hang the fruit out for an extended period to achieve optimum aromatic expression. The grapes were handpicked on the 5th of May, the last fruit for the vintage! It was in excellent condition so we decided to treat in a couple of different ways. We crushed two thirds of the fruit and pressed directly to tank, this helps retain the purity and freshness in the wine. The remaining third was crushed into picking bins and let to soak on skins for 3 days to help extract more flavour and phenolics that provide the important counterpoint in Gewürztraminer. The two juices were then blended and fermented together to about 20g/L residual sugar, where we felt the balance was right. The wine was then bottled in August.