Brandborg Cellars Gewurztraminer 2008
-
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
595 cases Bottled cork free September 2009 Alcohol 12.7% by Vol. RS 2.38% 3.07pH 0.80TA – off dry to semi-sweet
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Fragrant, fascinating and flat-out delicious, this is one of the top offerings of Gewürztraminer from anywhere in Oregon. Scents of rose petals, citrus oil, pine needle and lime skin pour forth; the flavors are crisply defined, elegant, lingering and in perfect balance. Technically off-dry, this has the acidity and focus to be most flexible with a wide variety of Asian foods
Gewürztraminer, an expressive and aromatically distinctive white grape variety, is considered a noble variety in the Alsace region of France, and produces wonderful wines in the mountainous Alto Adige region of NE Italy. Generally this grape grows well in cooler regions and its natural intensity makes it a great ally for flavorful cuisine such as Indian, Middle Eastern or Moroccan. Somm Secret—Because of a charming perfume and tendency towards slight sweetness, Gewürztraminer makes for an excellent gateway wine for those who love sweet wines but want to venture into the realm of drier whites.
Three substantial mountain ranges intersect to create a region of great diversity, not only in soil and topography but also climate and as a result, grape varieties.
Where the Klamath Mountains, Coast Range and Cascades converge, is the rather small AVA, the Umpqua Valley, which boasts over 150 soils in a total growing area of merely 1,500 acres. The soils range from sedimentary, metamorphic or volcanic where valley floors are deep alluvium and heavy clay and hillsides are typically silt or clay.
In the Umpqua Valley AVA, vineyards in the north are cooler and wetter; cool climate grapes such as Pinot noir, Pinot gris and Riesling do well. In the warmer and dryer south mainly Syrah and Tempranillo thrive. But growers here are not afraid to investigate new grape varieties; the region is home to over forty types.
There are two sub-AVAs within the boundaries of the Umpqua Valley: Red Hill-Douglas Country, established in 2004 and Elkton, established in 2013.