Going Gaga for Gewurz Forget those flabby, sweet and sifty experiences of old, todays gewurztraminer’s are pure, precise and packed with punch-in-the-face flavour…
Soljans Estate Gisborne Gewurztraminer 2016 $19.90
You’ll be wanting to move the Monaro and the Commodore to get to the Cortina so you can take this little bottle from West Auckland out to the local BYO Thai. With classic musky notes on the nose, ginger, lychee and all that gewürztraminer good stuff, stylistically it’s grown on the East coast, schooled out west, and a bit of a contradiction. A power perm in shoulder pads, wearing crocheted sandals and Karma Sutra love oil.
Sip with: spicy satay prawns.
www.soljans.co.nz
Kaimira Estate Brightwater Nelson Gewurztraminer 2016 $25
Certified organic, this wine is one huge high-five as to why Nelson is considered New Zealand’s spiritual home of the aromatic white wines. ‘Kaimira’ is named after an old flour mill built near the site of the original winery, but today it’s all about the grapes. Perfumed with nectarine and jasmine and sultry, dusky, musky magic, I also love the lychee, ginger and peachy plushness alongside good acidity and generosity.
Sip with: Cambodian Samla chicken curry.
www.kaimirawines.com
Natural Wine Co. Organic Gisborne Gewurztraminer 2015 $17.99
This is about as natural as it gets for gewurztraminer production. Nicola and Geoff Wright are organic pioneers in Gisborne and alongside not adding any herbicides, insecticides or fungicides, they’re also not adding any yeast, opting instead for wild, ‘natural’ yeasts to conduct the ferment. Here’s a funkier, smokier, drier style, laced with lychee and classic spices, better than most other (rather blousy) examples out there at this price.
Sip with: Lemongrass and chilli squid salad.
www.wrightswines.co.nz
