The Wine
During the grape growing season, eastern Washington boasts warm summer days followed by cool nights, ensuring that grapes ripen fully while retaining ample natural acidity. “Gewürz” means “spice” in German. True to its name, our Gewürztraminer offers up varietal spiciness, along with intense aromas and flavors of lychee, tangerine, orange, peach, melon, apple, honey, and cream. It has an excellent balance of acidity with a slight minerality. Restrained and off-dry, our Gewürztraminer is excellent with Thai cuisine, especially curries and sweet peanut sauces. It also pairs well with sauerbraten and sausage dishes.
Vintage and Vineyards
2017 brought another very warm growing season to eastern Washington. The grape- vines budded and began ripening very early, which led to a slightly earlier harvest of fully ripened fruit. Hogue’s Gewürztraminer comes from deep-soil Yakima Valley sites. These sites generally harvest mid-season and an early variety like Gewürztraminer benefits from the additional hang time. The Gewürztraminer was grown on gently sloping vineyards where low vigor and deep, well-drained soils produce smaller berries with concentrated flavors. The fruit for this wine was grown primarily in Yakima Valley (99.5%) with a small amount from Horse Heaven Hills (0.5%). We selected fruit from vineyards that, year after year, produce outstanding Gewürztraminer, including Art DenHoed, Hogue Ranch, Flying M, and Andrews & Rowell.
Winemaking
Gewürztraminer is at its best when the grapes are fully mature to develop the spicy, fruity flavors that make this varietal so unique. A slow, cold fermentation helped to preserve the fruitiness. We ferment all our Gewürztraminer in stainless steel at temperatures ranging from 48°-57°F. To maintain the fruit focus, the wine goes directly from stainless steel tank to bottle.
88 Points Best Buy Top 100 Best Buy Wines for 2015 Wine Enthusiast, November 2015