In this edition of Delatite's Journey we are talking about GEWÜRZTRAMINER: the German grape variety with a funny name that has been associated with Delatite from its very earliest days.  

Why? Well for a couple of reasons....

Firstly, Delatite loves aromatics. Aromatics are the delicate white wines grown in cool regions of Europe, such as Germany and France. They include Riesling, Sauvignon blanc and Pinot gris and are characterized by fresh fruit and low alcohol. 

And secondly, because we can. More than most varieties, it’s fussy. Luckily for us it loves  our sub-alpine position, especially in that ripening period when the sugars are starting to rise; those beautifuldiurnal temperatures, from very cold nights to really warm days. 

So what do we do with them?  

Heaps! Four of our table wines, two of our sparkling wines and all of our three schnapps are made of gewürztraminer.  

If you are on to a good thing, why not? says David Ritchie. “Right from the start our gewürztraminer got a lot of attention, so we just kept on seeing what we could do with it.”  

Our traditional, dryEstate Gewürztramineris a balanced wine with beautiful acid. It is one of the best wines to develop with age and after 15 + years it is simply delicious! We have made this wine since the first vintage in 1982 before branching into making our sparkling Gewürztraminer.

The Cuvée Gewürztraminer was the first experiment. Made in the methode Champenoise way, it was the first sparkling gewürz in Australia. Unlike the usual chardonnay and Pinot noir, the gewürz is picked earlier for a more intense fruit flavour. Like a Prosecco on steroids. 

In more recent years we have used it in theHell’s Window, our 100% natural wine. Fermented on skins with Pinot Gris and Riesling, it’s the Gewürz that is responsible for it’s lovely pink colour, as well as the strong aromatics.  

In 2017 we developed our MansField Five White Field Blend: a blend of Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc and Viognier. Here the gewurztraminer adds lovely musk and rosewater.  

Our latest wine with Gewürztraminer in it is ourEstate Pet Natand is a blend of a blend of Riesling and Gewürz. It is one of our natural wines and is made like our estate Gewürztraminer but we add sugar and yeast at bottling so it goes through a secondary fermentation in the bottle. This has become one of our most popular wines and in 2022 we doubled production.

And finally there is theReserve Catherine's block. An Alsatian style sweet wine that in 2021 was named one of the James Halliday’s ‘best of the best’ in its category.  

This only goes to prove, it’s not a bad grape and we aren't too bad at making it...