Alexander Valley Vineyards "New Gewí¼rztraminer" 2006

[Joe Riley]

For the second year in a row, I've become rather enamored of this little wine, the first white wine from the Northern hemisphere from 2006. It's pretty stuff, very uncomplicated, yet it has varietal character. This may be the best dry American Gewürztraminer I've had in years, since the last time I tried Navarro Dry Gewürztraminer, which is only available in restaurants. And it's under $10, with a Stel-Vin closure to boot!

Here is the winery's spiel: http://www.avvwine.com/scripts/display_pro...p?product_id=31

Appellation North Coast

Grape Varietal 100% Gewürztraminer

Barrel Regimen This wine sees no barrels. We don't even leave them in front of the tanks

Cases Produced 10,000

Release Date 11/1/2006

Alcohol (by volume) 12.5%

Residual sugar 7 g/Liter

"The First Wine of the Vintage! A white counterpart to Nouveau Beaujolais.

New Gewürz accentuates the inherent, unique characteristics of the Gewürztraminer grape. To capture and enhance the lively, spicy character of this varietal, we cold-ferment the chilled juice then immediately bottle the wine.

The Wine Report says -

… to satisfy the passionate winelovers, there’s New Gewurz from Alexander Valley Vineyards, which actually beat Beaujolais Nouveau to the marketplace. This fruity, spicy white has a trace of residual sugar, a tiny bit of spritz and that trademark floral, brown spice, grapefruit zest and ginger personality. It’s crisp and delicious. This wine is sure to please both the wine geek at your table as well as the wine novice.

Try pairing it with holiday dinners or any bold and spicy dish. Chill well, twist the top and enjoy!"

[dmwine]

Navarro Dry Gewürztraminer, which is only available in restaurants.

I've purchased this before at Rodman's, so it is available retail, at least occasionally.

[Joe Riley]

I've purchased this before at Rodman's, so it is available retail, at least occasionally.

Ah, perhaps times have changed. It used to be impossible for a retailer to get any, the people in charge demanded bottle-by-bottle depletion reports, and if any was sold to a retailer, then the distributor risked incurring the wrath of the winery.

[jparrott]

Got a chance to taste the 2006 New Gewurtztraminer this evening. Useful stuff, quite floral and lacy. No smoked meat or serious gewurz funk, but a perfect little standing-around-the-kitchen-inhaling-Thanksgiving-aromas-drop. Ding!

[JPW]

I was lucky enough to have one of my Thanksgiving guests bring a bottle of this over. It's a very funky wine! (funky in the enjoyable sense that is)

[cjsadler]

This is a really nice warm weather wine!