Gewürztraminer Wine Growing Information
Updated 04/06/2007
If you have additions/corrections/comments to the information, please contact me with your information Thank you, Mike Reilly
The Gewürztraminer
varietal grape is grown in limited areas of the world, in particular, the
region of Alsace, France. Wine texts report that
"gewürz" translates from German as "spicy"; so literally
Gewürztraminer means "spice grape", or as many prefer, "perfumed
grape", or "aromatic grape". From Saveur.com
- "It seems possible that Gewürztraminer vines were first imported into
Alsace from the Pfalz, just west of the Rhine, as early as the 16th century, but
given the fuzziness that surrounds the history of grape varieties before the
19th century, it’s also quite possible that Traminer and Gewürztraminer
coexisted without much distinction until rather recent times.
According to Francis Burn, whose family has been vignerons in the
elegant walled town of Gueberschwihr for three centuries, southern Alsace was
the cradle for Gewürztraminer, while Riesling prevailed farther north. There is
no consensus about the best sites for the grape today, but the Vosges Mountains
are indeed higher at the southern end of the appellation, creating a drier
microclimate and healthier conditions for late-ripening varietals like
Gewürztraminer."
Because they perform better in cooler climates, Gewürztraminer grapes have not done well in many of California's warmer growing regions. However, they thrive in cooler California areas, as well as in parts of Oregon, Washington, New York, and Canada. They're also cultivated in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Ukraine. "Down under", New Zealand's (see New Zealand clonal varietal info) cooler climate is better than Australia's for this grape. Cool climate growers should be aware that, in addition to quite large successful plantings of the above variety, a well-regarded cross named Traminette, developed by Cornell University in the U.S.A over the last 30+ years, is currently very successfully cultivated on small commercial acreages in the Finger Lakes region of New York State and several other cool northern regions of the USA.
Due to limited popularity and viticultural and production difficulties, Gewürztraminer acreage has remained relatively static in most world appellations for several years. Encouraging signs of new success come from fairly recent plantings in New Zealand (total 82 acres in 1990) and the Pacific Northwest (Oregon total 182 acres; Washington, 330 ac). Most New Zealand Gewürztraminer is found in Marlborough and Hawke's Bay, with pockets in Gisborne and Otago also devoted to the exotic grape.
The nominees for Best Supporting Appellation in California Gewürztraminer (1,670 acres total) are: Mendocino County (298 ac), Monterey County (716 ac), Russian River Valley, and Sonoma County (175 ac). California wineries that have consistently produced outstanding results are so few that they bear mentioning: Navarro grows Gewürztraminer in Mendocino and makes stellar and award-winning wines in both dry and dessert styles. Thomas Fogarty makes an excellent dry style from Monterey County grapes. Fetzer makes a lightly-sweet version that is always serviceable and reasonably-priced and, occasionally, an excellent example. Source
Three years ago (about 2000?), when the Golan Heights Winery of Israel released its first Gewürztraminer wine, very few people here had any idea that there was even a Gewürztraminer grape, yet alone how to pronounce it's name. In parts of Alsace, where the grape has been successfully grown for at least four hundred years, many people do not know that there is any other grape. In Israel, where the wine is made exclusively at this writing by the Golan Heights Winery, the wine tends to be semi-dry, floral and light. Latroun, we are tending to the semi-dry, floral and light side. © Daniel Rogov
Gewürztraminer is not a vine for amateur growing, 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 lychee, tropical fruits and rose petals. Its flavors are ample, lusciously fruity and spicy rather than complex. Further, Gewürztraminer has plenty of spice and fruit. The aroma is a citrus-spice with clove and green apple. The mouthfeel is soft with a citrus-spice character that finishes with honey and cedar. Serve with spicy foods such as Indian curries, Mexican, or Thai (anyplace that you would serve beer).
While the gewürztraminer vine is prized for its wine, it can be despised for its viticultural difficulty. It buds early in the Spring, so it is particularly susceptible to damage from frost. Gewürztraminer also has weak defenses against viral vine infections. Even healthy vines are not very productive, with small clusters, so there is a great temptation for growers to over-crop, which results in dilute, lightweight wine.
The berries, with their thick and tough skins, can attain high sugar levels of amazing concentration. Alcohol levels, therefore, can get quite high in dry versions. Conversely, low acidity and high pH in Gewürztraminer are problematic. Close monitoring and precise harvest timing are critical. Early picking retains acid, but without long "hang time" distinctive varietal character fails to develop. Pleasant results are nearly impossible in warm climates.
At the Colmar viticultural station in Alsace and at Geisenheim in Germany work is underway developing clones that bud and ripen later, produce larger fruit clusters, with more consistent and greater production levels and that are virus-free. The challenge is to gain these improvements in economy while retaining Gewürztraminer's unique character and intensity.
The dark pink color of gewürztraminer grapes results in wines colored from light to dark golden yellow with a copper tone, depending upon the fruit ripeness. Gewürztraminer is quite full-bodied, more so than most any other white wine type. In fact, the combination of its strong, heady, perfumey scent, exotic lychee-nut flavor and heavy-oily texture can be overwhelming and tiring to many palates. There is a slight tendency to bitterness that seems exacerbated by ripeness, so a light touch is needed at the wine press. Many makers finish their Gewürztraminer with a mask of residual sugar. Gewürztraminer can be made into an excellent dessert wine, in fact. Source
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