2018 Hurly Burly Gewürztraminer $N/A

Alas, poor Gewürztraminer, I knew him… (apologies to Will Shakespeare).

This wonderfully expressive Germanic variety was the 1980s 'go to' equivalent of today's Pinot Gris. Rich, floral/spicy in nature, it readily found a place in the small number of restaurants in Australia that took southeast Asian cuisine beyond Cantonese to include Thai and Malaysian.

The Alcorso family's Moorilla Estate – along with Dr Andrew Pirie's Pipers Brook Vineyard – produced some of the country's most respected cool-climate examples through the 1990s and 2000s.

But the variety's brief moment in the limelight has faded. While the Australia's vineyard area increased by more than 40 percent between 1998 and 2018, Gewürztraminer's plantings remained static.

Vintages 1998 and 2018 both produced around 6,000 tonnes nationally.

Sadly, the variety can be troublesome and unpredictable in the vineyard here. In particularly challenging seasons, poor fruit set and low yields can make it unprofitable and unsustainable. Moorilla pulled out their block at Berriedale several decades ago.

That noted, Gewürztraminer can also produce very expressive wines that are a joy to drink, with or without bottle age.

Former health and pharmaceutical professional Di Aldous is the driving force behind Hurly Burly Wines. Her small-batch, handcrafted label was launched in 2016 and specialises on elegant cool-climate wines, produced from select parcels of fruit grown on the East Coast.

The 'Hurly Burly' brand was inspired by the rowdy behaviour of guinea fowl that roam her family's Topeka property at Little Swanport.

Vintage 2018 produced a barnstorming Gewürztraminer from Cranbrook's Spring Vale Vineyards, and this Hurl Burly release from a few year's back is right up there in the quality stakes. Now eight years of age, its glowing gold green hues telegraph a white that's rich in aroma and flavours. Indeed the lychee-like mid-palate is quite unctuous, despite finishing dry with its remarkable length of flavour.

Gewürztraminer – especially from the Big Island – often receives short shrift from consumers these days. Undeservedly so, when it means well-made examples like this one from the East Coast are overlooked in favour of dull and overcropped Pinot Gris, for example.

Sure, the name of the grape seems like it might have once appeared in a bowl of alphabet soup. But you can certainly get away with calling it Traminer ('Tra-mee-ner'). Or make light of it, as Brown Brothers patriarch the late John Brown would say: 'Gee-whiz-tram-driver.'

Just drink and enjoy it. After all, what's in a name? (Sorry Will.)

Source: Vineyard cellar door at Little Swanport

Last page update: 29 October 2026