Lost Angel 2008 Gewürztraminer

Winemaker Notes

This was a curiosity in our cellar from the beginning; one of our growers had a small amount of Gewürztraminer remaining in their vineyard, at very high sugar.  We brought it in as a potential aromatic blender for one of our Late-Harvest programs, but decided to hold it separately.  As it was a tiny lot, we were forced to barrel ferment the juice, choosing neutral and once-used French oak barrels.  With no temperature control, we could not stop the fermentation, and so the wine finished at a naturally high alcohol and with a moderate level of residual sugar.  We were not sure what to make of it at first, but it grew on us, and we decided to bottle a few barrels sepa-rately.

The closest traditional analog to this bottling might be an Alsatian ‘Vendage-Tardives’ (literally ‘Late Harvest’, but not usually as sweet as that implies in California.)  Powerful, high in alcohol, and with entirely exotic aromatic characters, they are a somewhat acquired taste.  Neither overtly sweet nor entirely in the table-wine genre, they command high prices, and are superb with the rich cuisine and pungent cheeses of that region.