After the meager 2010 and 2011 vintages, where we bottled less wine than needed, it was a relief to have a decent Gewürz crop in 2012. The bountiful harvest put us in such a confident mood that we decided a big-time gamble was in order. We harvested enough Gewürz to produce the desired quantities of 2012 Estate Bottled Gewürztraminer and Edelzwicker but we left about twenty tons of grapes on the vine, hoping the fruit would rot. We visited the field frequently and although botrytis was spreading, so were the undesirable molds. Our gamble seemed increasingly reckless with each review. In late November, four days after Thanksgiving, we began harvesting; after tossing fruit with undesirable rots on the ground, we harvested less than seven tons of botrytised fruit to produce this honeyed beauty. We began entering this wine in national and international wine competitions in March 2013 and with each Gold medal, or more select accolade, we were convinced we had produced a very special wine. Recently, at a family celebration, we pulled out a 1983 Navarro Cluster Select wine, one of our first dessert wines to garner a horde of Gold medals. Everyone at the table swooned. This clean, peachy ambrosia will be delicious decades from now, so save some in your cellar as these age worthy, golden nectars are ideally suited for remembering and celebrating special occasions. Winner of thirteen Gold Medals. Best of Class. Best of Show.
Alfredo Bucio getting ready to pump Gewürz juice into an oak cask for fermentation and aging. The bucket of stainless steel fittings are used to connect hoses, measuring devices, pumps, venturi devices to any tank, destemmer or press in the winery.
Manuel Eligio, Navarro's cellar-master, cleaning the spouts of a bottling machine. Producing sound white wines requires that equipment must be squeaky-clean, especially if the wine contains any fermentable sugars.
Navarro garners a lot of Gold medals, but this is our first wine with a perfect score of thirteen Gold medals out of thirteen entries. Seven times Best of Class and four times Best of Show.
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Alfredo Bucio getting ready to pump Gewürz juice into an oak cask for fermentation and aging. The bucket of stainless steel fittings are used to connect hoses, measuring devices, pumps, venturi devices to any tank, destemmer or press in the winery.
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Navarro's cellar-master, cleaning the spouts of a bottling machine. Producing sound white wines requires that equipment must be squeaky-clean, especially if the wine contains any fermentable sugars.
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