Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Gewurztraminer
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Old Vine Gewürztraminer offers classic aromas of lychee, musk and ripe peach fruit with spicy undertones. The full-bodied palate is dry and oily, with a deep core of fruit and generous floral perfume on the long finish.
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James Suckling
This is a serious gewurz with smoky, spicy, gunpowder and lemon-rind aromas that follow through to a compact, medium-bodied palate with citrus, steel and slate character. Real deal here.
Gewürztraminer, an expressive and aromatically distinctive white grape variety, is considered a noble variety in the Alsace region of France, and produces wonderful wines in the mountainous Alto Adige region of NE Italy. Generally this grape grows well in cooler regions and its natural intensity makes it a great ally for flavorful cuisine such as Indian, Middle Eastern or Moroccan. Somm Secret—Because of a charming perfume and tendency towards slight sweetness, Gewürztraminer makes for an excellent gateway wine for those who love sweet wines but want to venture into the realm of drier whites.
Stretching southwest from the city of McMinnville, the AVA with the same name covers about 40,000 acres across 20 miles until it meets the Van Duzer Corridor. This corridor is the only break in the Coast Range whose gap allows the cool Pacific Ocean air to flow eastward into the Willamette Valley.
The Pacific's moderating winds hit McMinnville’s south and southeast facing slopes where cool-climate varieties—namely Pinot noir and Pinot blanc thrive on ridges at between 200 to 1,000 feet in elevation.
Soils here are primarily uplifted marine sedimentary loam and silt, with alluvial formations; McMinnville receives less rainfall than its neighbors to the east because it is situated in the rain shadow of the Coast Range.