Huia Marlborough Gewurztraminer 2001

Whoa…baby! An amplifying nose of lychee, mango and rose petal mingle with a core of pure dry fruit that can only be described as entrancing. An exotic array of mouth-filling flavors then permeate the palate and explode in the mouth, releasing complex floral and fig tones that hone the wine's long, dry finish. Indeed, winemakers Claire and Mike Allen have fashioned a truly dry, world class Gewurztraminer in their 2001 Huia Marlborough offering. Sourced from two great Marlborough vineyards (the Hassan and Fell vineyards), the 2001 Huia Marlborough Gewurztraminer is a tour de force in dry Gewurztraminer, bearing witness to the greatness of this noble varietal in New Zealand and the winemaking acumen that abounds at Huia. P.S. This Gewurztraminer packs a wallop, sporting an alcohol level in excess of 14%.

Food or no food…it's your choice! The 2001 Huia Gewurztraminer is more than sufficiently endowed to captivate a wide audience, even without an accompaniment. Yet, the Huia's sensual tantalizing flavors make it a natural partner for most highly charged dishes, most notably Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese specialties, especially those with a long array of flavors, spices and textures. Crispy fish, with crushed pecans and ginger, makes for a rewarding meal alongside the Huia. Lemongrass flavored salads with grilled shrimp and chicken are other fine choices, but we found that more standard Alsatian fare, like pork chops smothered in apples, caraway, and fresh sauerkraut, to be just as rewarding as the more flamboyant, highly charged cuisine of the Orient. However, as you like it…as always. Enjoy!

Mike and Claire Allan bring some of the finest winemaking credentials to their budding 20 acre estate along Rapaura Road in Marlborough. They also have the distinguished honor of being one of the very few husband and wife teams to have studied at Roseworthy in South Australia, that continent's leading school of oenology. Furthermore, they helped the legendary Cloudy Bay estate establish itself as the leading winery in New Zealand before founding Huia, and we haven't yet mentioned the sample's tenure at Veuve Clicquot and Taittinger respectfully, where they mastered the art of producing first-rate bubbly. So when it comes to making expressive, individually styled white wines with flavor and panache, no one knows how to do it better than Mike and Claire Allan. Strung along a series of hill slopes and terraces cut by an old riverbed, Huia produces award-winning Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer and an excellent Champagne Method Brut. All of Huia's wines receive kid glove treatment, from hand harvesting to the final packaging. Yields are kept low to garner deep, rich flavors and the utilization of Seguin Moreau French oak vats and puncheons add considerable dimension to the estate's wines without smothering them in "oak". All of this adds up to excellence at Huia (you ah), an estate appropriately named for the unique, now extinct, New Zealand bird known for its luminescent tail feathers that were said to signify great dignity and wisdom to all who wore them.