Gewürztraminer
Gewürztraminer
is one of the most pungent wine varietals, easy
for even the beginning taster to recognize by
its heady, aromatic scent. While the French have
achieved the greatest success with this grape
and its name may be German, the history of
Gewürztraminer began in Italy's Tyrollean
Alps, near the village of Termeno (Tramin) in
Alto Adige.
Since the
Middle Ages, the parent variety traminer
has grown there. Traminer also is grown widely
throughout Eastern Europe, but neither
abundantly nor very successfully. With hardly
any of the characteristic of its spicy
offspring, traminer berries are pale green and
make much less interesting or appealing wine,
hardly scented at all.
Like pinot
noir, however, traminer vines do have a
propensity to mutate. One of these mutations, a
few centuries ago, resulted in a vine that
produces dark pinkish-brown, spotted berries and
makes very distinctive and heady wine.
The French
began calling this prized clone traminer
musqué, traminer parfumé,
or traminer aromatique; the Germans
roter traminer; and the Italians
traminer rosé, traminer rosso, or
termener aromatico. In the late 19th
century, the Alsatians began calling this vine
gewürztraminer, although it wasn't
until 1973 that this name was officially
sanctioned. Wine texts often report that
"gewürz" translates from German as "spicy",
but considering the list of various synonyms,
the more likely contextual meaning is
"perfumed".
Alsace has
achieved the most success with
Gewürztraminer. Even here some producers
give it less priority than other varietals and
make accordingly dull wines. Those houses that
pay specific attention to and take particular
pride in their Gewürztraminer include
Léon Beyer, Schlumberger, and
Zind-Humbrecht.
While the
gewürztraminer vine is prized for its wine,
it can be despised for its viticultural
difficulty. It buds early in the Spring, so it
is particularly susceptible to damage from
frost. Gewürztraminer also has weak
defenses against viral vine infections. Even
healthy vines are not very productive, with
small clusters, so there is a great temptation
for growers to over-crop, which results in
dilute, lightweight wine.
The berries,
with their thick and tough skins, can attain
high sugar levels of amazing concentration.
Alcohol levels, therefore, can get quite high in
dry versions. Conversely, low acidity and high
pH in Gewürztraminer are problematic. Close
monitoring and precise harvest timing are
critical. Early picking retains acid, but
without long "hang time" distinctive varietal
character fails to develop. Pleasant results are
nearly impossible in warm climates.
At the Colmar
viticultural station in Alsace and at Geisenheim
in Germany work is underway developing clones
that bud and ripen later, produce larger fruit
clusters, with more consistent and greater
production levels and that are virus-free. The
challenge is to gain these improvements in
economy while retaining gewürztraminer's
unique character and intensity.
The dark pink
color of gewürztraminer grapes results in
wines colored from light to dark golden yellow
with a copper tone, depending upon the fruit
ripeness. Gewürztraminer is quite
full-bodied, more so than most any other white
wine type. In fact, the combination of its
strong, heady, perfumey scent, exotic lychee-nut
flavor and heavy-oily texture can be
overwhelming and tiring to many palates. There
is a slight tendency to bitterness that seems
exacerbated by ripeness, so a light touch is
needed at the wine press. Many makers finish
their Gewürztraminer with a mask of
residual sugar. Gewürztraminer can be made
into an excellent dessert wine, in
fact.
The most
frequently encountered (but not exclusive) smell
and/or flavor elements found in
Gewürztraminer-based wines
include:
|
Gewürztraminer
Smell and/or Flavor
Elements
|
|
Varietal
Aromas/Flavors:
|
Processing
Bouquets/Flavors:
|
Floral:
rose petal, gardenia,
honeysuckle
|
Petroleum:
terpene, diesel
|
Fruity:
lychee, linalool, peach,
mango
|
Wood:
oak (not usually)
|
Aggressive:
spice, perfume
|
Late
Harvest: Botrytis, honey,
sweet cabbage
|
Gewürztraminer wines
are an excellent match for fresh fruit and cheeses and a good
complement to many simple fish and chicken dishes, especially
recipes that include capsaicin (hot pepper) spices, oriental
five spice, or even curry.
Due to limited popularity
and viticultural and production difficulties, gewürztraminer
acreage has remained relatively static in most world appellations
for several years. Encouraging signs of
new success come from fairly recent plantings in New Zealand
1(apparently
since 1990, NZ Gewürztraminer acreage has see-sawed from
a low of 210 to as much as 540 acres) and the Pacific Northwest
2(Oregon
total 182 acres; Washington, 330 ac).
The nominees for Best Supporting
Appellation in California Gewürztraminer 3(1,670
acres total) are: Mendocino County (298 ac), Monterey County
(716 ac), Russian River Valley, and Sonoma County (175 ac).
California wineries that have consistently produced outstanding
results are so few that they bear mentioning: Navarro
grows Gewürztraminer in Mendocino and makes stellar and
award-winning wines in both dry and dessert styles. Thomas
Fogarty makes an excellent dry style from Monterey County
grapes. Fetzer
makes a lightly-sweet version that is always serviceable and
reasonably-priced and, occasionally, an excellent example.
by
Jim
LaMar
Related Links
Another
photo of Gewürztraminer that shows the
distinctive ripe pink color of the berries on
the German
Wine
site.
The New Zealand
Grape Vine Improvement Group has collected some
information regarding the growth and flavor
characteristics of seven different
Gewürztraminer
Clones.
The Epicurious
site has a good primer on Alsatian
wine,
originally an article by Anthony Dias Blue that
appeared in the April, 1998, issue of Bon
Appetit.
Notes
1 According to the NZ
Winegrowers Institute, as reported by Martin Gillion, Editor
/ Publisher WineNZ
magazine BACK
2 Oregon and Washington plantings according to the USDA Grape
Acreage Report 2000 (released January 23, 2001) BACK
3 California plantings according
to the USDA Grape Acreage Report 1999 (released June 8, 2000)
BACK
