Wine Profile Series: Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer is the most unmistakable grape in the wine world. Pour a glass and it announces itself instantly: an exotic rush of lychee, rose petals and spice, unlike anything else. Loved and loathed in almost equal measure, this pink-skinned, tongue-twisting grape makes one of the most flamboyant white wines there is¹.

The most perfumed grape

No white grape is more aromatic. Gewürztraminer overflows with the scent of lychee, rose petal and Turkish delight, backed by ginger, cinnamon and tropical fruit. The wines are deep gold, full-bodied and often off-dry, with a heady, exotic quality that makes them impossible to mistake for anything else — a perfume you can drink¹.

A grape from Tramin

The grape’s roots lie in the Alps. It descends from Traminer, an ancient variety named after the village of Tramin — Termeno — in the South Tyrol of northern Italy. Over centuries a particularly aromatic, pink-berried version emerged, and it is this that the world now knows, from German-speaking lands, as Gewürztraminer².

Spice by name, pink by nature

The name says it all: Gewürz is German for “spice,” so Gewürztraminer is simply “spiced Traminer.” Unusually for a white-wine grape, its skins are pink, which is where the wine’s golden, sometimes coppery colour and its rich, oily texture come from. It is, in effect, a white wine made from a pink grape³.

Alsace, its true home

Gewürztraminer grows in Germany and northern Italy, but it reaches its full, glorious extravagance in Alsace, on the German border of north-east France. There, on the sunny lower slopes of the Vosges foothills, it makes powerful, deeply perfumed wines — dry, off-dry and lusciously sweet late-harvest versions alike — that are considered the benchmark for the grape⁴.

In Alsace, Gewürztraminer becomes pure theatre — a wine of rose petals and spice.— on Alsace Gewürztraminer⁴

A wine of extremes

Everything about Gewürztraminer is turned up high. It ripens to great sweetness and high alcohol while keeping only low acidity, which gives its broad, soft, sometimes almost unctuous feel. That richness makes it a famous match for hard-to-pair foods — fragrant Asian dishes, and the pungent Munster cheese of its Alsace homeland⁵.

Loved and feared

Few grapes divide drinkers so sharply. To its admirers, Gewürztraminer is a thrilling, one-of-a-kind experience; to its critics, its low acidity and overwhelming perfume can tip into heaviness or soapiness. It is also tricky to grow and to balance. Yet at its best it remains utterly singular — a grape that, once tasted, is never forgotten⁶.

Frequently asked questions

Read more

• Riesling, Alsace’s other great white
• Chenin Blanc, another characterful white
• Alsace and the story of French wine

References

1. Wine-Searcher — Gewürztraminer. www.wine-searcher.com ↩
2. MasterClass — Gewürztraminer Wine: History, Tasting Notes and Pairings. www.masterclass.com ↩
3. Wine Folly — The Comprehensive Guide to Gewürztraminer. winefolly.com ↩
4. Encyclopaedia Britannica — Alsace. www.britannica.com ↩
5. Firstleaf — The Firstleaf Guide to Gewürztraminer. www.firstleaf.com ↩
6. Wine Insiders — Gewürztraminer. wineinsiders.com ↩

Recommended reading

Vintage: The Story of Wine
Hugh Johnson
Places Gewürztraminer and Alsace within the story of world wine.

A Short History of Wine
Rod Phillips
Good on Alsace and the aromatic white grapes of the German borderlands.

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