Gewurztraminer Archives

When the Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie, That’s Amore.

So sang famous Italian-American crooner Dean Martin. “When the world seems to shine / Like you’ve had too much wine / That’s amore.” In this post we’re going to have just enough of this somewhat unusual wine from Italy.

Elena Walch Gewurztraminer 2006

Geewurzawhat? Gewurztraminer [guh-VURTZ-trah-mean-er] is a white wine most commonly associated with Germany. The name is derived from gewürz (spice) + traminer, (variety of grape), from tramin (Termeno, Italy), where this white-wine grape is thought to have originated over 1000 years ago, although not widely planted there now. This is a wine that’s best drunk fairly young—even vintage Gewürztraminers rarely age well past five years.

Elena Walch is a former architect who became a wine producer in 1985 after marrying into one of the oldest established wine families in Alto Adige. Her two estates, totaling 67 acres, lie on the southern slopes of the Alps, where during the summer the central valleys become filled with warm, Mediterranean air. Under her care, the vineyards have been transformed with low-yielding but high quality-clones of both international and local grape varieties.

Her Gewürztraminer is just a tad more than slightly sweet, with a dry finish on the back of the tongue that has a hint of bitterness. The color is an attractive golden yellow. The nose is characteristically aromatic and flowery.
Serve lightly chilled as a full-flavoured aperitif and with a range of dishes, including savory first courses and grilled fish.

https://www.elenawalch.com/en/wine/gewurztraminer-3/

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Robertson Winery

With the lifting of apartheid-era sanctions in the mid-1990s, and especially so in the last decade or so, wines from South Africa have become more evident in the nation’s wine shops.

But, the South Africans are certainly not wine-making neophytes. The first vines were planted in the western Cape by early Dutch settlers in 1655, and Robertson Winery was established in 1941.

Robertson sources fruit from 43 growers cultivating 4700 acres which stretch from the banks of the Breede River to the lower slopes of the Langeberg Mountains. The diverse soils allow Robertson to site their many varietals in optimum growing conditions. After harvest, the winery adheres to a philosophy of minimal handling and gentle processing, in a state-of-the-art cellar that was completed in 2000 to accommodate the growing demand for their wines.

Robertson Winery Phanto Ridge Pinotage 2004

Unlike Meritage, Pinotage is a grape, a cross between Pinot Noir and Hermitage. The Phanto Ridge is easy-drinking, garnet-colored, and relatively light on the palette with just a hint of sweetness.

Pair this pleasant wine with grilled (but not too spicy) chicken, fish, or vegetables.

Robertson Winery Gewürztraminer 2005

This Gewürz nicely balances its sweetness and acidity. Too sweet to accompany dinner for all but the white zinfandel crowd, this wine would be best after dinner; serve it with mild hard cheeses and just about any fruit.

www.robertsonwinery.co.za/wine/natural-sweet-red/

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A Note About Vintages

Although you will see vintage dates throughout Winervana, I don’t put too much importance on them. Major producers these days strive for a consistent style, and largely succeed. For instance, when shopping for a particular wine, if you have a choice between a current release and one that’s a few years old, there will certainly be differences in price and the character of the wine. But upon release, those two examples of the same wine are likely to be quite similar, especially for New World producers, who often enjoy more reliably consistent weather than Old World producers do. (Of course, global climate change may disrupt things for everybody.)

Wine Enthusiast has an interesting post about this here.