Tolleys Pedare Gewurztraminer 1989 Wholesale Price $70.00 approx. Yet more evidence of the skill of Australia’s present winemakers comes with the release of the Tolley Gewurztraminer, made from the difficult 1989 vintage which saw many sleepless nights in the Barossa Valley. Its Gold Medal at the Melbourne Show is a considerable confirmation of Tolleys’ ability. Winemaker Chris Tolley believes it to be the best released to date, which puts it above some mighty company. Tolleys are one of the longest established family wineries in Australia, which will celebrate its centenary in 1992. The company crushes around 3,000 tonnes each year, of fruit sourced from its vineyards at Dorrien in the Barossa Valley, Padthaway and Qualco. Select purchases are made on an annual basis from Coonawarra, Eden Valley and the Adelaide Hills. This is a wine to look forward to each year. Always fresh, clean and attractive, the Tolleys Gewurztraminer is a fragrant and elegant example of a variety that few Australians have mastered. It is all too unfortunate that of the huge plantings in Australia of this variety, only a handful of the wines they produce actually make a good varietal wine. Of the short list of traminers to reach world class each season, the Tolley name always seems to be an inclusion. Ordinary traminer is coarse, broad and flabby, with a hardness and roughness that winemakers may try to conceal with sugar or rhine riesling. Good traminer is surprisingly light and elegant, although quite mouthfilling and full in intensity of flavour. Its freshness, spiciness and pungency suits it to many foods, from veal and pork to many of the stronger seafoods and spicy Asian cuisines. Too many of the public have, unfortunately, written the variety off as a result of an unfortunate encounter with the standard Australian traminer. The Tolley wine represents excellent flavour, quality and value. A medium-pale straw yellow, it has appealing colour and brightness. The nose is straight gewurztraminer, with pungent spicy floral aromas with lychee and citric fruit. The palate is round and soft, with depth and intensity. The fruit lasts all the way down the palate, where it is finished with clean, fresh acidity that provides the perfect balance for the subtle degree of residual sugar left by Chris Tolley and team. The finish is long, the flavour persistent. You certainly have a choice to make when deciding when to drink this wine. At present it makes the perfect accompaniment to late summer or autumn salads and seafood. When more mature it will gain in richness and weight as its colour deepens and darkens to a stately gold and the palate dries out. By then it will be perfect for the fruit cheeses and spicy loaves brought out on Sunday afternoons. This wine is additionally significant for Tolleys, for it marks the first major label change in my memory for this hitherto conservative and low-key family brand. Jon Tolley deserves all the credit he can get for pushing hard for an original and distinctive label change which will set the company’s name in good stead for the new decade and more. From the commercial point of view, the new labels and logo will help the brand’s identity and encourage new buyers to experiment. Different colours are used to highlight the different varieties and styles. If their first purchase of a Tolley wine is the 1989 Gewurztraminer, the public are unlikely to be disappointed. Distribution enquiries to Douglas A. Tolley, (08) 264 2255.
