TWR Toru 2023

Reviews

Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 95/100. The wine shows lychee, cut pear, green apple, lemon oil, beeswax and brine. Since 2007, the wine has been co-fermented, which is crucial to the final integration of the wine. The composition of the wine changes each year depending on the seasonal conditions, and this is done with consistency of style in mind. The wine is an excellent Alsatian-styled blend: it combines phenolic structure, acidic intensity and enveloping fruit. It’s all in balance and is very good indeed.

Stephen Wong MW (The Real Review): 93/100. & Wine of the Week. Lifted perfumed aromatics of sweet herb, citrus blossom, apples, savoury complexity and underlying earthy minerality streaked through with a very primary estery sweetness. The palate is surprisingly weighty with progressively layered flavours of citrus and apple fruit, roses, savoury quinine phenolics and liquorice. Unquestionably concentrated but also refreshingly balanced, the acidity hits early on the palate before melting into the structure and fruit, finishing with just a sliver of off-dry honeyed richness. Happily poised part way between hedonistic and restrained, it is a chameleon of a wine which will be great with a wide variety of food.

Tasting Note

This 2023 Toru has an intriguing nose with notes of mango, fresh citrus, white florals and exotic spices. These lead into a multi-layered palate with flavours of mango, citrus, red apple and lychee with a lingering spiciness. The palate has excellent fruit concentration and fleshiness with lovely creamy texture, plus a mineral edge which gives it great length of flavour and interest.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: White wine

Grape varieties: 53% Gewürztraminer, 34% Riesling, 13% Pinot Gris

Enjoy with: All kinds of pork dishes, chicken, pâté or aromatic Asian cuisine., porchetta with lemon, rosemary potatoes and chard.

Vintage 2023: Over the spring we experienced great conditions over flowering which led to a nice, even set which always bodes well for very balanced, harmonious wines. We had no issues with frost and the summer that followed gave us some regular rain events to retain good soil moisture, so no irrigation was required. The latter half of summer was very warm and dry which meant that the lead up to harvest was nice and gentle. Our harvest began on track with our long-term averages starting in mid March and was completed by the first week in April. The resultant wines are very impressive with great depth of flavour and fleshiness whilst still exhibiting lovely purity of fruit, bright aromatics, and ripe, juicy acidity. This 2023 release of our “world famous” Toru field blend is delicious to drink now, and will also benefit from careful cellaring for 3 to 5 years.

Winemaking: The Toru is a co-fermented "field blend" of three varieties. This means that the varieties are much more integrated with each other. All fruit for this wine was hand-picked and then hand-sorted. All parcels were destemmed, lightly crushed and then pressed, some parcels had lengthier skin-contact time. The wine was all co-fermented. This wine has not been fined and is suitable for vegans and vegetarians and anyone else who loves authentic, hand-made wines.

Production: 1125 cases

Alcohol: 13.0% vol

Residual sugar: 5.0 g/l

Total acidity: 5.8 g/l

Wine style: dry

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Cellaring potential: 2028+

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: TE WHARE RA WINES, 56 Anglesea Street, Renwick, Marlborough, New Zealand