As a lover of all Alsatian-styled wines, winemaker David Paterson has been hankering to make a Gewürztraminer since he arrived in the Okanagan back in 2009. In 2022 the stars finally aligned, and we encountered a tiny South East Kelowna parcel of “Gew” that we couldn’t resist. The vines have since been transitioned out, so this is truly a once in a blue moon bottling.
Sunlight in a glass. The aromatic profile of this release is quite something with ripe mango, peach, Turkish delight, lychee purée, paired up with a lovely floral quality and a pink peppercorn note. The palate has poise, it has weight, but it also has a fresh, cleansing acidity. Mango, pear, dried apricots and a touch of orange pith feature. Lovely white wine tannins from the skin contact add to the florality, texture, and endless length.
WINEMAKER'S NOTES
Just up the road here from our estate vineyard, is a small grower property that we’ve had the pleasure of working with for a handful of years. On site, was one tiny acre of Gewürztraminer that was unfortunately suffering from the effects of winter damage and the acreage eventually was destined for replanting. But the vines had one valiant crop before meeting their final fate.
This final crop comes from the incredible 2022 growing season and consisted of tight, small concentrated clusters. Half the grapes were whole bunch pressed while the other half were crushed by way of gentle pigéage, and left on their macerated skins for 24 hours before pressing. The juice was split into stainless steel and old Chardonnay puncheons for fermentation. Inspired by the great Alsatian Gews we’ve had the pleasure of encountering, the wine was finished completely dry and bottled in the winter of 2023 with the intention of laying down to rest to develop complexity before release.
TECHNICAL INFO
100% Gewürztraminer
Alcohol: 13.7%
Residual Sweetness: 4.5 g/L
pH: 3.71
Total Acidity: 6.2 g/L
-
VINTAGE NOTES
2022 was a challenging season, but it produced some exceptional quality grapes and resulting wines. The winter of 21/22 was harsh, with many vines exhibiting primary bud damage following a cold snap of -26.5 around Christmas. Above average rainfall in May charged the soil with water and gave the vines everything they needed to hit the ground running after a long winter and late bud break. The rain continued into June meaning no irrigation was needed for the vines till much later than average and allowed the cover crop to flourish.
Summer was mild though some hot spells in late July and early August helped push the season along. September and October were perfect for developing flavours in the grapes while not having too much sugar produced. This resulted in balanced wines with moderate alcohol. A cold snap in early November just after all the sparkling and still wines had been harvested meant that we were able to produce our first icewine since 2017.
