The Winemaker: Navarro
"In Vino Veritas" (Truth in Vine)
Updated 04/06/2007
If you have additions/corrections/comments to the information, please contact me with your information Thank you, Mike Reilly
Navarro has been making vintage dated, varietal Gewürztraminer grape juice for twenty six years.
"Ted Bennett and Deborah Cahn are the heart and soul of Navarro Vineyards, overseeing an operation that specializes in hand-crafted wines made in such limited quantities you’ll hardly ever see them on retail shelves. While a vast majority of California wineries focus on Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay because “that’s where the money is,” Navarro’s signature wine is, of all things, Gewurztraminer.
Bennett says that in the three decades he’s been making Gewürztraminer at Navarro, it has changed. “Just like our humor,” he says, “it’s drier than it used to be.” It may well be the best Gewürztraminer made in the United States." Source
Choosing between cane and spur training is an important decision for a farmer since grapevine buds formed one year produce the following year's shoots, leaves, flowers and new buds. Navarro's Gewürztraminer is cane pruned.
For years we have left our latest ripening field of Gewürztraminer unpicked in the hopes of making sweet wine from rotten grapes late in the season. Admittedly this is a strange objective in life but what makes it even weirder is that we consider awards on the vintages from 1998 until 2000 as mere consolation prizes. Not that the dessert wines we produced were losers; the 2000 and 1999 late-harvest Gewürztraminers were both sweepstakes winners and combined, won over a dozen gold medals. It’s just that if we get the grapes really rotten then we can make a wine that’s really concentrated and we are able to bottle a cluster-select rather than a mere vineyard-select. 2001 is our grand prize champion.
Navarro
Vineyards · 5601 Hwy 128 · Philo, CA · 95466
Phone: 1-800-537-WINE/707-895-3686 · Fax: 707-895-3647
Customer Support Hours: 8 AM to 6 PM PST Weekdays, 10 AM to 6 PM PST Weekends
All Material Copyright © 1997 - 2004, All Rights Reserved.
Vintages
Edelzwicker 2002, Anderson Valley; Pinot Gris is the major component of this pet blend, forty four percent to be exact. Pinot Gris provides the base flavors; citrus and nut-like with a distinct oily texture. Twenty eight percent of the blend is Riesling adding high acidity, taut green apple flavors and a bouquet of springtime blossoms. This vintage we've added nineteen percent Muscat which supplies ample floral, tropical notes against a sea of orange-lime marmalade. Nine percent Gewürztraminer spices up the blend, reinforcing the tropical elements in the wine.
Gewürztraminer 2001, Cluster Select Late Harvest, Anderson
Valley, Mendocino
In the last three wine competitions of 2002, this wine was the Sweepstakes
and Gold Medal winner in each.
Gewürztraminer Dry Estate Bottles Anderson Valley 1999, Aromatic honeysuckle nose, dry and silky on the palate, with mineral notes coming on in the mid-palate and spice in the finish. $14.00
Navarro Anderson Valley Estate Gewurztraminer (13.6%; RS: 0.45%) '99: Med. yellow color; terrific spicy/GWT/lychee bit hair oil very aromatic/perfumed nose; soft spicy/lychee attractive floral/GWT bit hair oil flavor; long bit off-dry spicy/lychee/GWT light hair oil perfumed finish; terrific nose but a bit dilute on the palate. The Tom Hill Archives
Gewürztraminer Anderson Valley Vintage Select Late Harvest (10.0%; RS: 14.2%) 1999: Med. dark gold color; beautiful aromatic/floral/intense/lychee/hair oil light peachy/botrytis nose; very sweet intense lychee/hair oil/spicy/GWT slight raisened/oxidized flavor; very long intense lychee/hair oil loads of GWT fruit slight oxidized/raisen finish; not much botrytis evident; tastes like GWT that set out on the leavless vines into Dec dehydrating; pretty terrific dessert wine at a great price. The Tom Hill Archives
Gewürztraminer Anderson Valley Late Harvest (11.1%; RS: 7.1%) 1998: Med. gold color; strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty very grapey/lychee/very ripe nose; tart strong lychee/Gewürztraminer some peachy/botrytis very ripe grape lots of fruit fairly sweet flavor; very long very ripe fruit/ lychee/Gewurztraminer some peachy/apricotty/botrytis finish; loads of ripe Gewürztraminer fruit w/ a light hit of botrytis; a steal for this price. $9.98/375ml.
Navarro Estate Gewürztraminer 1998; (13.6%; RS: 0.48%): Med. gold color; very fragrant/spicy/cinnamon/ cloves aromatic/Gewürztraminer/lychee nose; off-dry soft spicy/floral/lychee/Gewürztraminer clean bit cinnamon/ clove flavor; med. long spicy/floral/Gewürztraminer/lychee bit cinnamon finish; would like it a bit leaner & drier but a very nicely-made near-Alsatian-style Gewürztraminer.
Gewürztraminer 1994, Anderson Valley ($9); leans more to citrus and peach-like fruit buoyed by crisp acidity and accented with varietal clove spice. Very slightly hot in the finish. Source: Sally's Place
Navarro Cuvée Traditional Dry Anderson Mendocino Gewürztraminer 1990; (13.1%), Med. gold color; rather strong/piney/PineSol bit spicy/complex/cinnamon bit dusty/wet pavement slight oxidized nose; dry lean/tart/bit metallic light dusty/wet pavement rather piney/PineSol low fruit/ spicy flavor; med. short rather piney/PineSol dusty/wet pavement bit spicy/Gewurztraminer slight oxidized finish; time has not been kind to this wine but some interesting things therein; nose becomes very petrol/old Riesling/piney as it warms. $nc
| 83RP | Gewürztraminer Mendocino 1987, Mendocino; according to website - have been producing Gewurztraminer juice for 26 yrs (2004-26=1978) |
Gewurztraminer Cluster Select Late Harvest 1987 - This lacks the unctuous and powerful aspects of some of this fine estate's late harvest offerings. The color has gone completely amber, the wine seems farther along than perhaps it should be and a lot of the sweetness has blown off.
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