A high quality white grape which produces classic varietal wines in the Alsace region of
France.
It is the second most widely planted grape in Alsace and the most widely
planted in the Haut-Rhin where it is particularly well suited to the clay-rich
soils found in the Vosges foothills. It is normally fermented dry and produces
golden, medium to full-bodied wine with heady aromas of lychees, rose petals
and white peaches. It attains naturally high sugar levels far in excess of Riesling
and this makes it ideal for sweet, late harvest wines. These can be unctuously
sweet and luscious and the best can last for decades. Hugel and Zind Humbrecht consistently
produce the finest Gewürztraminer wines in Alsace.
It is also planted in Germany
(specifically in the Rheinpfalz and Baden regions), Austria, the Alto Adige in
Italy and to a
lesser extent in Australia, New
Zealand and California. Gerwürz means spice in German, although
this pink-skinned grape tends to produce exotically perfumed rather then spice
laden wines.