Grape variety
Gewürztraminer
Gewürztraminer, the pink-skinned, perfumed form of Traminer: its name and origin, Alsace and South Tyrol, styles from dry to sweet, and pairings.
- Colour
- White (pink-skinned berries)
- Origin
- Aromatic mutation of Traminer (Savagnin); named after the wine village of Tramin (Termeno) in South Tyrol
- Main regions
- Alsace (a little over 3,000 hectares), South Tyrol (about 600), Pfalz, Rheinhessen, Baden, New Zealand, United States
- Grown in Switzerland
- About 45 hectares; the Valais Heida belongs to the same family
- Typical aromas
- Lychee, rose petal, clove, cinnamon, apricot, acacia blossom
- Classic pairing
- Munster cheese, foie gras, spicy Asian cooking; sweet versions with marzipan and apricot
Gewürztraminer is the white wine you recognise after the first sip. The berries are pink, the wine is golden and smells of lychee, rose petals and spice, with plenty of body and little acidity. Alsace is its most famous home, where the name is written without the umlaut, “Gewurztraminer”. “Gewürz” means spicy, and “Traminer” recalls Tramin, Termeno in Italian, the wine village on the South Tyrol Wine Road south of Bolzano.
Genetically, Gewürztraminer is not a variety of its own but the aromatic form of Traminer, known in France as Savagnin. The family is old and fertile: green-berried Savagnin Blanc, red Traminer and Gewürztraminer differ in berry colour and perfume, and Traminer features in the ancestry of Silvaner and Grüner Veltliner. Whether the vine really comes from Tramin is disputed; the name stuck because the wine from there was famous in the Middle Ages. In Switzerland the Valais Heida, which is Savagnin Blanc, belongs to the same family but lacks the rose aroma; true Gewürztraminer covers about 45 hectares.
In Alsace, on a little over 3,000 hectares, about a fifth of the vineyard, the style runs from dry through off-dry to the sweet Vendange Tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles; it is one of the four noble varieties admitted in the Grand Cru sites. In South Tyrol, on about 600 hectares, the centre lies around Tramin and Eppan, where the wines are opulent, high in alcohol and low in acidity. In Germany it grows mainly in the Pfalz, Rheinhessen and Baden. The vine is tricky: in cool weather during flowering many flowers drop, and yields swing widely.
Because the wine has so much perfume and weight, it needs counterweights. The Alsatian classic is Munster cheese, whose strong smell stands up to the wine; foie gras and spicy or sweet-and-spicy Asian dishes follow, where a touch of residual sugar tames the heat. Sweet versions suit desserts with apricot or marzipan and blue cheese. Serve it not too cold, so that the perfume can unfold. For a first approach, a dry Gewürztraminer from Alsace or South Tyrol set beside a Valais Heida makes a good comparison: you taste how far apart two relatives can be.