On Tuesday night come out and taste the new releases from Vinoptima, the only winery in the world dedicated exclusively to the production of gewurztraminer, along with other fabulous gewurztraminers from New Zealand. Vinoptima owner and winemaker Nick Nobilo (in town for this past Sunday's Golden Glass event) will be behind the bar to pour and share his passion for this incredibly aromatic grape variety. Gewurz means 'spicy' in German, while traminer means 'coming from Tramin', a small town in the Tyrol region of Austria where the grape originated. Now, however, the benchmarks for this variety undoubtedly hail from the Grand Cru vineyards in the Alsace region of France.
Nick had long believed that the geographic and climatic similarities between Alsace and parts of New Zealand were remarkably similar and that New Zealand Gewurztraminer could be one day recognized as some of the best in the world. While still at the helm of world-renowned Nobilo wines, Nick identified a site in Gisborne that was planted to Muller-Thurgau. He managed to persuade the vineyard owner to pull the vines up and replant with Gewurz. He felt this site above all others had the perfect terroir for the grape: soil, climate, and typography.
Certainly he has hit the mark as his dry Gewurztraminer is one of the best from any region of the world and his late harvest sticky is out of this world! (Parker's new New Zealand writer gave it 97 points in the latest issue of the Wine Advocate--the highest rated New Zealand wine out of all that were tasted.) Along with Nick's wine, he will be showing you Gewurztraminers from around New Zealand, including the famous Dry River, Shaky Bridge, Lawson's Dry Hills, Brancott and more. Even if you can't pronounce it, you should come by and see what it's all about!
New Zealand Gewurztraminer with Nick Nobilo
Tuesday, June 10th
6pm to 8pm
$10 per person |
San Francisco Bay Area Wine-Gewurz Til It Hurts! New Zealand Gewurztraminer Tasting 
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