Gewürztraminer - a love/hate relationship

 

Gewürztraminer is a grape that people either tend to either love or hate. It produces such a distinctive wine that it’s hard to be non-committal. It combines highly aromatic floral scents with intense spicy flavors of cardamom and nutmeg. The name of the grape comes from gewürtz, the German word for spiced.

 

In addition, to the grape’s floral and spice attributes, it’s often used to make wines that have varying degrees of sweetness. So the combination of its strong flavors and sweetness really drove me away in the past.

But recently my older brother Bob, a fan of robust dry reds, told me he tasted Gewürztraminer for the first time and thought it was delicious. Since Bob is the one who taught me to appreciate dry wines as a young adult – he had me drinking Cabernet Sauvignon in college – I thought maybe I had been unfair to this grape and I should taste Gewürztraminer again.

So when I was perusing the wine aisle at the in Straub’s in Webster Groves, I spotted the Foris 2011 Dry Gewürztraminer from Oregon’s Rogue Valley. I figured this wine was worth trying for a number of reasons.

 

For starters, it comes from the well-respected Foris Vineyards Winery. Its founders are Ted and Meri Gerber, who are considered among Oregon’s winemaking pioneers.  Foris is known for producing consistently good Pinot Noir, and Alsace varietal white wines including Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer and Riesling.

Another plus is that this Gewürztraminer wine had gotten rave reviews. 

Wine Enthusiast, for example, gave it 90 points. "The lovely floral aromas are a pure expression of the grape’s unique spice and rose petal characteristics. It's deeply flavorful, soft, elegant and lingering, with a lychee flavor,” the review said.

Two other selling points for me were that the label said the wine was dry and it was affordably priced at $12.49. 

I tasted the Gewürztraminer blind along with the Efestē Evergreen Riesling from Washington’s Columbia Valley. When I smelled the two wines there was no doubt which one was the Gewürztraminer. The Riesling smelled of honey and stone fruit while the Gewürztraminer had a powerful floral aroma mixed with the strong scent of bakery spices. 

 

Although I really wanted to like this wine, the flavors were just too intense for me. But that’s my palate. Obviously other wine drinkers really enjoy Gewürztraminer so I encourage you to give it a try.  Such a highly flavorful, spicy wine would go well with foods that are also flavorful and spicy. 

The Efestē Evergreen Riesling, priced at $15.99, is also a flavorful wine, but it’s more my kind of thing. This is a lively and refreshing wine. It’s dry but not bone dry and the crisp acidity balances the sweet stone fruit, pear and apple flavors.  If you think all Rieslings are too sweet, I’d encourage you to taste this one. It’s a lovely, food friendly wine for a summer meal.

#wine #riesling #gewurztraminer #columbiavalley #roguevalley