Te Whare Ra has a longstanding reputation for producing one of New Zealand's finest Gewürztraminers and much of the credit must go to the vineyard here. This wine is produced solely from 14 rows in the old block which were planted in 1979 and are some of the oldest vines in Marlborough at 41 years of age.
Part of the reason for our conversion to organic and biodynamic farming was to rescue these old vines and coax them back to life. We saw huge potential in this old block and successfully rejuvenating them has been one of our greatest achievements. They are very low-cropping, which is not great for the accountant's numbers, but this is worth it for the amazing complexity and concentration we get from the fruit and the exceptional quality of the resultant wines.
All fruit for this wine was hand-picked and then hand-sorted. The fruit was de-stemmed and gently crushed, then given some good skin contact time before being slowly and gently airbag-pressed. The wine was fermented in stainless steel. The juice was fermented very slowly, at cool temperatures to retain aromatics. All parcels spent post-ferment time on lees, for added texture and complexity. This wine has not been fined and is suitable for vegans and vegetarians and anyone else who loves authentic, hand-made wines.
It's intensely perfumed with notes of lychees, mango, ripe oranges and cloves. These lead into luscious varietal flavours of lychee and quince, with underlying characters of ginger and exotic spice. The palate shows intense fruit concentration and weight with a fine, soft texture and excellent persistence of flavour. This wine is off-dry and continues the outstanding quality of previous vintages of our Te Whare Ra Gewürztraminer. - Anna Flowerday