Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer, often written Gewurztraminer is the aromatic variant of the pink-skinned savagnin, shown by dna profiling to be identical to traminer, and is responsible for some of the most distinctively perfumed, full-bodied white wines of all. Gewürztraminer may not be easy to spell, even for wine merchants, but is blissfully easy to recognize—indeed many wine drinkers find it is the first, possibly only, grape variety they are able to recognize from the wine’s heady aroma alone. Deeply coloured, opulently aromatic, and broader than almost any other white wine, Gewürztraminer’s faults are only in having too much of everything. It is easy to tire of its weight and its exotic flavour of lychees and heavily scented roses, although alsace’s finest Gewürztraminers are extremely serious wines, with an occasional savoury note reminiscent of bacon fat in some of the most complex examples, capable of at least medium-term ageing.

This by now internationally famous vine variety’s genealogy is both ramified and fascinating. In our book Wine Grapes we cite no fewer than six groups of historical references for both Savagnin and Traminer, the variety that is like Gewürztraminer but with pale green berries and much less scent that was first noted in the village of Tramin or Termeno in what is now the Italian Tyrol (see alto adige) in the 13th century. DNA profiling in Austria has furthermore demonstrated a parent–offspring relationship between Pinot and Traminer (hence Gewürztraminer), connecting two of the oldest grape varieties in Europe.

Traminer, like its parent pinot, mutates easily, however, and Gewürztraminer is the name adopted in the late 19th century for the dark pink-berried musqué mutation of Traminer (and adopted as its official name in Alsace in 1973). Although much has been read into the direct German translation of gewürz as ‘spiced’, in this context it simply means ‘perfumed’. Traminer Musqué, Traminer Parfumé, and Traminer Aromatique were all at one time French synonyms for Gewürztraminer. As early as 1909, the ampelographer Viala acknowledged Gewürztraminer as an accepted synonym for Savagnin Rosé, and this aromatic, dark-berried version is known as Roter Traminer in German and Traminer or Termeno Aromatico, Traminer Rosé, or Rosso in Italy. Its long history in Alsace means that it is occasionally known as some sort of klevner, particularly in this case Rotclevner.

Gewürztraminer has become by far the most planted variant of Traminer. The grapes are certainly notable at harvest for their variegated but incontrovertibly pink colour, which is translated into very deep golden wines, sometimes with a slight coppery tinge. Winemakers unfamiliar with the variety have been known to be panicked into extracting colour and flavour. Gewürztraminers also attain higher alcohol levels than most white wines, with over 14% being by no means uncommon, and acidities can correspondingly be precariously low. malolactic conversion is almost invariably suppressed for Gewürztraminer and steps must be taken to avoid oxidation.

Viticulturally, Gewürztraminer is not exactly a dream to grow. Relative to the varieties with which it is commonly planted, it has small bunches and is not particularly productive. Its early budding leaves it prey to spring frosts and it is particularly prone to virus diseases, although the viticultural station at Colmar has developed such virus-free clones as those numbered 47, 48, and 643.

Germany relegates its (Roter) Traminer to a very minor rank, well behind Riesling, with about 880 ha in total in 2012, including some plantings of the non-aromatic sort which is very occasionally bottled separately. The variety needs relatively warm sites to avoid spring frost damage and to assure good fruit set so that in northern Germany Riesling is usually a more profitable choice for growers. Almost two thirds of Germany’s Traminer is planted in Baden and the Pfalz, where it can produce wines of discernible character but they can tend to flab. At Rhodt in the Pfalz, a Traminer vineyard said to be nearly 400 years old styles itself the world’s oldest.

There were about 300 ha of Traminer planted in austria in 2013 but here too it has been consigned to the non-modish wilderness, even though some examples, particularly later-picked semi-sweet wines from Styria and botrytized sweet wines from Burgenland, can exhibit an exciting blend of race and aroma and can develop for many years in bottle.

It is grown in small quantities, sometimes called Haiden or heida, in Switzerland and in ever smaller quantity in Luxembourg. In Iberia, Torres grow it in the High penedès for their Viña Esmeralda and it is essentially a mountain grape even in Italy, where about 200 ha of Traminer Aromatico are still grown in its seat, Alto Adige. The less scented and less interesting Traminer is also grown to a limited extent, and Italian winemaking together with vineyard elevation do nothing to emphasize Gewürztraminer characteristics in the resulting wines, although the international nature of the variety may encourage a small renaissance of popularity.

In the New World, Gewürztraminer presents a challenge. Many wine regions are simply too warm to produce wine with sufficient acidity, unless the grapes are picked so early (see harvest, timing), as in some of Australia’s irrigated vineyards, that they have developed little Gewürztraminer character. Australia’s ‘Traminer’ vine population of about 900 ha, concentrated in some of the less exciting corners of South Australia and New South Wales, has made a modest recovery in the early years of this century, its wine typically used to perfume and sweeten Riesling in commercial blends.

The variety has been more obviously successful in the cooler climate of new zealand, although even here total plantings are not much more than 300 ha, despite some lively examples from Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island where it is taken particularly seriously by Vinoptima. This, incidentally, was one of the earliest identifications of varietal/geographical matching in the southern hemisphere.

Another happy home for Gewürztraminer is in the Pacific Northwest of America, particularly in Washington and Oregon, although the variety has lost ground to Riesling in Washington and to Pinot Gris in Oregon. Washington had almost 800 acres in 2011 and could demonstrate some appetizing life in several well-vinified examples, even if too many were too sweet. In Oregon, too, the smoky fume of Alsace is apparent in some bottlings from its 200 acres in 2012, generally of late harvest or ice wines, although rot can be a problem in this wetter climate.

Gewürztraminer remains a relatively minor variety in California, however, whose 1,700 acres/688 ha, almost half of them in Monterey, too often bring forth oil rather than aroma (see california for more on the wines). There are a few hectares of Traminer in Argentina, and some increasingly convincing bottlings from Chile, particularly from cooler, southern vineyards, but generally South America relies on torrontés and moscatel to provide aromatic whites. Limited plantings in South Africa have so far yielded sweetish wines but some of the right aromas.

1. Galet, P., Dictionnaire encyclopédique des cépages (Paris, 2000).
2. Robinson, J., Harding, J., and Vouillamoz, J., Wine Grapes, a complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours (London, 2012).