Mission Estate Hawke’s Bay Gewürztraminer 2020

Mission Estate Winery is the oldest surviving wine producer in New Zealand. The branch in Hawke’s Bay was founded by French Missionaries of the Marist Society in 1851. The Society itself had been active in New Zealand since 1838. And commercial winemaking had been continuous since 1870s.

Today, after nearly two centuries, Mission Estate is in the hands of Marist Society, carries on some most noble traditions of Old World. The winery owns vineyard in several places of Hawke’s Bay, as well lower Awatere Valley of Marlborough. Despite their history, the new winery was built in 2012, capable of operating some most modern wine-making techniques.

For the Gewürztraminer, the fruit was sourced from three vineyard sites in Hawke’s Bay: Ohiti, Maraekakaho and our home block vineyard at Mission Estate (Taradale). The grapes were gently pressed with minimal skin contact and the juice was inoculated with specially developed, aromatic yeast strains to intensify varietal character development. A cool fermentation to retain aromatic intensity was stopped by cool-crashing to achieve the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity.

It’s indeed a very decent Gewürztraminer. For its price, the value is unrivaled.