6th of June and dreams of an alternative white

Today 'should' be the day we celebrate the arrival of the littlest sommelier but unfortunately they don't supply babies with calanders in utero.

So the Bollinger Grand Annee 1999 stays on ice and I stay enormous...

I haven't gotten much further with my list of first wines and the concept of trying to pick a first Pinot Noir seems daunting especially with most of my grey matter given over to birthing, feeding, changing and bathing.

Rich has promised to cook me the traditional meal of 'late' mothers everywhere tomorrow night...

A curry. Quite hot.

Accordingly perhaps I should turn my attention to the first Gewurztraminer.

It's an easy call, marred only by the fact that I probably couldn't get my hands on a bottle even for silly money. The Pyramid Valley Orton Vineyard Hawke's Bay Gewurztraminer 2007 is a special wine and marked my birthday last year with it's generous, powerful, unusual presence (the picture at the top of the blog is of that very bottle). I'd have that again in a heartbeat but given the small quantities and the fact that it was the one and only vintage that will ever be made I'm unlikely to repeat the pleasure.

I feel so emotionally attached to that wine that it seems churlish to pick another first Gewurztraminer simply because the Orton isn't available. However, there is another Gewurztraminer that has been making regular appearances of late (not in my glass obviously) and has captured my attention. The Montana Terroir Series Riverpoint Gewurztraminer 2007 comes from the block once owned by Matawhero Wines, which was responsible for some memorable Gewurztraminer as far back as the 1970's. A little like the Orton in that respect. In this instance, however, one of our biggest players (Montana) has come in and saved the old vines and through their Terroir Series are making the flavours of these unique sub-regional sites available to enthusiasts. It's an ethos worth applauding and the wine itself is worth applauding also.

Soft straw gold and quite savoury on the nose the wine makes a charmingly viscous mixture of cardamon, rose petals and pineapple. That is to say the palate is oily but without apparent sweetness despite the off-dry residual sugars and the phenolics (so often a bitter pill to swallow in Nu Zillund Gewurztraminer) are low. The usual spiciness of this varietal is quite restrained to taste with the freshness of lemon oil lingering on the finish. Overall there is a singular balance evident in the wine. A fine continuation to the tradition of Gisborne Gewurztraminer. a 5 glass wine (that is to say Rich will happily polish off the bottle seeing as I don't really help these days...)

Birthday Wine

Birthdays call for extravagant, memorable wines. They do not, unfortunately, call for note taking in amongst the fun and frivolity. Luckily I had the willpower and foresight to save a little of the Pyramid Valley Growers Collection Orton Vineyard Hawke's Bay Gewurztraminer 2007 to try just now.

If you're not familiar with Pyramid Valley and their dedication to small family blocks around the country through their 'growers collection' then I would recommend them to all.

Mike and Claudia Weersing have preserved little pieces of history by making wines from tiny family blocks that would otherwise go into making up the juice from contract fruit (or not get made at all).

The first and last vintage of this Gewurztraminer, the reasons for which are best explained by the back label which reads:-

In memorium: this unique acre of 30 year old vines was one of New Zealand's first plantings of Gewurztraminer. Once proudly tended by our friends John Orton and Kerrie Cleverdon, this parcel was summarily ripped out by new owners, who deemed so small a block "impractical". We have bottled this wine unclarified, undiminished, as testament to the wisdom of old vines

Not a bad drop to mark 30, odd, years.

Hazy, unfiltered saffron gold. Sunshine and spice. 14.5% but carries it well (as an older dame should). Stonefruit salad and ham hock (sounds weird but very yummy, imagine that great 70's flavour comination of ham and pineapple and you're almost there). Bone dry, so the spicy caraway and ginger notes dominate the palate along with lavender and lime and it all ends up generous and powerful and suggestive which makes me a little bit sad...
A 6 glass wine (how many glasses are we getting out of a bottle these days?)