Gewurztraminer Wine Guide: Background, Characteristics, Serving

The Gewürztraminer wine may have a name that is not easy to say or spell, but it is a wine that is easy to understand. Today, our Gewurztraminer wine guide will show you just that! So, let us not dilly-dally. Let us dive right into this wine’s story now! Let us go!

How Do You Say Gewurztraminer?

When meeting someone new, we often learn how to say their name first before we get to know them better. It should be no different with wines. With that, you can check this video out to learn how to say the name of this wine:

If that is still too hard to say, you can try saying Gewurz only instead.

An Overview of the Gewurztraminer Wine

To give you an idea about this wine, let’s have a brief overview before we get into the details.

Characteristics	Gewurztraminer
Type	White
Sweetness	Dry to Sweet
Acidity	Low to Medium
Tannins	Low
Alcohol	High
Body	Full
Notes	Lychee and Rose Petals

The Gewurztraminer is a white wine. It can be dry or sweet, and its acidity is low to medium. It barely has any tannins, with some even saying it has none. On the other hand, it is highly alcoholic and full-bodied. Finally, its most notable notes are of lychee and rose petals.

What Is the Background of the Gewurztraminer Wine?

Let’s talk about this wine’s background; and how it was before it got to the shelves and tables.

What Is the Gewurztraminer Grape?

The Gewurztraminer is a white wine grape variety, but it sports pink, sometimes almost reddish, skin. It is demanding with the climate, soil, and time. With this grape, balance is essential. Things cannot be too much of anything.

Where Can You Find the Gewurztraminer Grape?

This grape is one that you can find in many regions of the world. These grapes can be found in Alsace, California, Alto Adige, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany, to name a few. However, even if these grapes can grow in many places, only a handful of acres are dedicated to them.

How Do They Make Gewurztraminer Wine?

This wine follows the usual wine-making procedure. However, one thing to note about its process is how it uses stainless steel drums.

As you might have noticed above, this wine does not have flavors or aromas of vanilla, a note common in many wines. The stainless steel drums can take the blame for that absence. That is because this note only usually comes out when the fermentation process is in an oak barrel.

What Are the Characteristics of the Gewurztraminer Wine?

As you might already know, most – if not all – wines have their complexities. This wine is no exception to the rule. With that, let’s get into the details.

Wine Type

The Gewurztraminer is a white wine and a dessert wine. While it is more common to hear it called the former, it is also widely known as the latter.

Sweetness

This wine can be dry. However, it can and is better known to be sweet. The Gewurztraminer almost always offers some sweetness, even in its dry forms. One reason being it is highly aromatic. With that, even the dry types appear to be sweet. In turn, dry or sweet, this wine almost always gets named the latter.

Acidity

Another reason the wine almost always appears sweet and known as such is its acidity level. As we have said above, its acidity is low to medium, with the former more often expected. With that, the sweetness easily comes through more often.

Tannins

When it comes to tannins, it barely has any. Some say it has none, but while one might not perceive the tannins, it at least has some.

Alcohol

On the other hand, while this wine has low acidity and tannins, it has high levels of alcohol. Generally, it has around 14% ABV.

Body

When it comes to the body, this wine is known as a full-bodied wine. With that, one can expect it to feel thick and heavy in the mouth.

Notes

Finally, let’s talk about the notes of this wine. Like many other wines, the Gewurztraminer offers an array of flavors and aromas. With that, here are some notes one can perceive with a glass of this wine:

• Cinnamon
• Ginger
• Grapefruit
• Honey
• Lychee
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Rose Petals

As we have already said above, the most notable notes of this wine are lychee and rose petals. However, with this list, it should not be surprising to hear this wine profiled to have tropical or dried fruit notes.

How to Serve Gewurztraminer Wine?

After getting up close and personal with this wine, let’s talk about how to treat it next.

This wine can be aged. Some bottles undoubtedly should be. However, most bottles are enjoyed young.

As we have already said above, the Gewurztraminer is a white wine. With that, you want to serve it chilled. You want to present this wine at around 50 to 55° F.

On the other hand, this wine doesn’t need decanting. However, as you might already know, this step is more about preference. If you want to decant it, feel free to do so. Only keep in mind to keep the temperature of the wine in check. While you are decanting, the wine might warm up. You don’t want that.

What Food Goes with the Gewurztraminer Wine?

Of course, we cannot forget about food pairings!

Like with most wines, you can enjoy this one on its own. As we have said above, this white wine is also a dessert wine. Now, most dessert wines get paired with, well, desserts. You can do the same for this wine. However, because of its sweetness, many drink this wine by itself as a dessert.

Despite that, one can still pair this wine with a wide selection of dishes. Generally, it does well with spicy things. With that, it pairs well with many hard-to-pair cuisines. For one, it does well with Asian cuisines!

Tips When Buying Gewurztraminer Wine

We’ve met the wine, gotten up close and personal with it, and also discussed how to treat it right. With that, you might be thinking of getting a bottle of it now. Well, here are a few tips before you do so!

The Price Is Not a Good Indicator

When discussing wine buying tips, price tags often come into the conversation. It is not uncommon to hear someone suggest splurging now and then for a bottle. Now, that is true for many wines.

If you go cheap for some wines, you also get some pretty cheap quality back. However, that is not the case with our wine for today. You can already get a decent bottle of this wine for around $10 and a good one for approximately $25.

Know Your Regions

What would help you in looking for the Gewurztraminer wine for you is to know your regions. As we have said above, this wine comes in different styles. After that, we also briefly discussed that various places plant this wine’s grapes.

Now, these regions make their Gewurztraminer wine differently. Getting to know each area and their Gewurztraminer grapes would help you in your quest to get the best bottle for you.

Ask the Sommelier

If you are new to the wine world, getting to know the regions and their grapes could be an overwhelming task at first. If you need to grab a bottle fast and don’t have the time to get to know the different regions and their grapes, you can always ask a sommelier.

Gewurztraminer Wine vs Moscato Wine

Before you go, let’s quickly talk about these two wines side-by-side. Many compare and contrast these two wines because of their similarities. Sometimes, one is even confused or substituted for the other.

The two are both white wines with fruity notes, making them great substitutes for one another. However, of course, they have their differences. For one, while the Gewurztraminer has high alcohol levels, the Moscato has a low alcohol content.

While Gewurz
traminer typically is not a sparkling wine, unlike many varieties of Moscato which often have a light effervescence, there are exceptions where sparkling versions of Gewurztraminer can be found. Finally, while the two both have fruity notes, they boast different sets of fruity flavors and aromas.

Summary

That concludes our Gewurztraminer wine guide! Today, we briefly discussed how to say this wine’s name. After that, we went over an overview.

Then, we got up close and personal with it and discussed its characteristics in detail. Here, we learned that while it is a white wine that can be dry or sweet with low to medium acidity, it is almost always low on tannins, high in alcohol, and full-bodied.

Next, we discussed how to serve it and what food pairs with it. Here, we discussed that it is best when chilled. Additionally, it pairs with spicy food well.

After that, we talked about its background. Here, we got to know its grape better.

Finally, we discussed some buying tips. Now, do not let your Gewurztraminer wine journey end here. Go ahead and open that bottle, pour yourself a drink, and take a sip of this wine!