The Gewürztraminer has historically been unfairly neglected. This white, dry wine has an unusual character, but is overshadowed by its older brother, Riesling. The main problem, though, I think, is that it’s quite difficult to remember and pronounce such a gnarly name when you’re not used to it. But when you do and you taste it, you will never confuse this wine with any other wine in your life.
Its aroma and taste is impossible to forget – it excites the sense of smell and the imagination. It has everything that other wines don’t have – notes of pineapple, lychee, cinnamon, yellow tea rose and red grapefruit. The unusual grape is surprisingly international: part of its name comes from the Italian word “traminer”, from the Italian village of Tramin, or Trentino in the Alto Adige, and another part from the German word “gewürz”, meaning “savoury, spicy”; its original homeland is, however, in the province of Alsace.
It is said that this grape is more than thousand years old and that Roman legionaries fell in love with it so much, that they brought it as a gift for Julius Caesar and planted it all over the North-East of France during their military campaigns. Growing a Gewürztraminer, though, is no easy task.
It belongs to the early varieties, capricious and fragile. It blooms in spring, but the occasional frost is a scourge for it: the ovaries immediately fall to the ground. Early spring and hot sun produce the same effect. It is completely unable to resist all kinds of infections and dies quickly. As a result, not every vineyard can grow a decent ‘Gewürztraminer’, and certainly not anyone’s Gewürztraminer is good by pure chance.
Limestone soils, preferred by the vast majority of vines, Gewürztraminer does not like. It prefers to thrive in muddy river sediments, where the rest of the grapes will perish. Its climate should be noble, so it must enjoy little rain, without scorching sun and high humidity. Preferably, the winegrower should stay in the vineyard day and night. Of course, dressed warmly – cool, frosty nights are especially pleasant for a Gewürztraminer.
So if you’re thinking of taking a wine tour of the region where it grows, bear in mind that you’ll need a woollen jumper, hat and a pair of warm trousers. The time of harvest is particularly important: grapes harvested too early mean that the wine will be sour, while late harvested grapes mean that it will be sugary-sweet. A capricious blonde, not a grape. It’s women, though, who particularly like it. Its silky rounded taste and smell has everything these fragile individuals need: it’s dry but sweet; it’s aromatic but unobtrusive.
Berries with thick and coarse skins are capable of picking up a lot of sugar, and the wine can be unexpectedly strong. Many claim that Gewürztraminer is the perfect pairing with spicy Asian dishes, Indian, for example, or Thai. This is true, but not all. The wine has a rich and mild flavour, which makes it a nice accompaniment to many meat dishes, unlike other white wines.
We recommend you try it with spicy cheeses like Munster, confit duck breast, saddle of lamb in rosemary and traditional Alsatian charcuterie. Meanwhile, Gewürztraminer is also a fine wine for fruit desserts. How will you understand it?