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Native to northern Italy’s Alto Adige region and the village of Termeno, from which it takes its name, Gewürztraminer is thought to be descended from the uva aminea, an ancient Greek vine grown in Thessalia and brought north by the Romans. Planted in the Tyrolean foothills since at least 1000, Traminer had migrated to Germany’s Pfalz region, where it acquired the prefix "gewürz," or spicy, by the Middle Ages, and arrived in Alsace in the 1870s. There is some confusion around the name and to exactly which variety it refers, as the names Traminer and Gewürztraminer are often used interchangeably, and the former also used for the Savagnin Rosé. This is further exacerbated by use of the adjectives “aromatic” or “musqué” after Traminer.
Gewürztraminer is not a vine for amateurs, and its microclimatic requirements are inflexible. The region best suited to it is Alsace, but even there it represents less than a fifth of plantings. The fruit ripens with dizzying speed but needs a long maturation period to retain acidity and fully develop its aromatic potential. This dictates a cool climate, but the vine also requires abundant sun and sparse rain to achieve concentration. It does best in chalky limestone or clay soils with high mineral content, but only on slopes with ample drainage. Prone to various forms of rot, Gewürztraminer is a high alcohol, dangerously low acid, low-yielding variety, but even normal yields usually result in blowsy, faintly-perfumed wines.
Depending on soil conditions, the berries range in color from amber-gold to rose to purple-tinged, and produce deeply colored, golden wines. Gewürztraminer is unmistakable in its heady, aromatic intensity, with a pungent fragrance of litchis, tropical fruits and rose petals. Its flavors are ample, lusciously fruity and spicy rather than complex. Produced in the best vintages as a late harvest or botrytized dessert wine, its exotic seductiveness is intensified as well as its longevity extended. Also grown, albeit sparsely, in eastern Europe, California, Australia, Austria, South Africa and New Zealand. |
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Gewürztraminer |
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Alternate Names: (Rot)clevner, Rousselet, Frencher, Edeltraube, Fromenteau Rouge, Gris Rouge, Dreimanner, Christkindltraube, Rotfranke, Kleinweiner, Ranfoliza, Fuszeres, Drumin, Ptinc Cerveny, Liwora, Rusa, Mala Dinka, Haiden
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