Natural Wine Co Organic Gewurztraminer 2014 product reviews

I'm a casual kind of wine drinker... I don't pretend to be an expert, nor do I roll screeds of confusing and contrary-sounding gibberish about the acid bite on the grip or the rolling after-taste of oak and stonefruit... if that's even a 'thing' in the wine trade. I dunno... so if you like real-speak wine reviews, this one might be to your taste... because this wine certainly was to my taste.

It has been said that food (and drink) is first tasted with the eyes... if it looks like watered down Berocca, it's not going to be all that appealing. This is a pale gold wine, with some colour to it here and there, which makes it very attractive when you pour out a glass of it and present it to someone in candlelight or by the fire. It actually looks really tasty and almost syrupy, which gave a great first impression to my co-taster, who had never tried a Gewurtz before.

The acidity of a wine acts on the mucus layer in your mouth, and washes it away leaving your mouth feeling crisp and a little "squeaky clean" almost. If the wine is too acidic, too "dry", then your mouth stays this way for a while. If it's too "sweet" - has too much sugar and very little acid - then your mouth remains feeling "smooth". I like white wines with a hint of "dryness" to them, meaning it has a slight acidic tone to it that dries your mouth out just a little, but not too much. This wine had the perfect balance for me - enough sharpness to cleanse the palate, but not so much as to leave my mouth feeling dry and acidic - something that has been known to trigger heartburn for me.

Sniffing the wine is a great way to pick up a lot of the subtle flavours, and is more polite that sucking in a mouthful and slurping air through it in a backwards-gargle in the manner of some "wine reviewers" I have met along the years. If you happen to like taking a nose of the wine's perfume, be prepared for a delightfully light fruity aroma that starts your mouth salivating at the thought of the impending glass of top-notch grape-squeezings. There's something sweet in the aroma, and also a little spicy, like crystallised ginger and natural honey. Taking your first sip, the fruitiness comes through with something like peaches or nectarines, followed by the slight acidic sharpness that keeps your mouth feeling refreshed, and encouraging you to take another sip or three.

As you finish swallowing, if you haven't already started your next sip, you might notice a slight tartness, almost like that slightly chalky taste you can get from grape skins. That's the tannins, and they can be a little unpleasant for those very sensitive to them. It's minor, hardly noticeable really, but worth noting for those who really prefer a sweet wine with no tannins.

Overall, this was a very pleasant drop, and one that I enjoyed with a BBQ'd steak, but it would also complement spiy flavours well too, helping to tone down some of the piquancy while enhancing the aromatics of the warmer spices. Getting as bottle of this now will have it coming into it's best, and if you are the sort I think it could be worth holding a bottle or two for 1-3 years to let it mature and develop a little more for the best flavour.