Many people are surprised to find out that Gewurztraminer originated not in Germany, but in the Italian Tyrol village of Tramin. It is an old wine grape, with written references dating to the days of the Romans.Wines made from Gewurztraminer are easily recognized by their distinctive color and exotic perfumed scent. There is nothing else quite like it in the wine world, with only Muscat even coming close. The great color and unique scent profiles come from the pinkish grape skins, something that is quite uncommon in a white wine. The region best known for the production fine wines made from this grape is the Alsace region of France, where the dry versions reach a level of complexity and delicacy that is hard to match.

California has been producing some very respectable varietals from Gewurztraminer in the last ten years. This is a grape that, in regions with a too warm climate, will lose its acidity long before it ripens enough for that great perfume to develop. Adjusting the acidity later produces wines with little of the delicate flavors intact.Luckily, California is a big state with an unbelievable number of microclimates, so it was just a matter of time before the right one was found to match this persnicikity grape.

Cultivation:
This grape loves deep loamy soils with a good amout of fertility. It also grow well in heavy clay soils, which can produce the most aromatic wines. The vines are naturally low yielding and particularly susceptible to viruses. It leafs early, making late frost a serious issue, but ripens early, eliminating any possibility of impacts from an early winter. The skin is where the flavor and deep color comes from, so promoting thick skins during the growing season is critical to an exceptional wine.

Flavor Profiles:
Gewurztraminer is often called spicy, but this does not mean the spice you associate with a red wine like Zinfandel, but more of an exotic, spicy perfumed quality unique to this grape. The floral quality of the wines from this grape come in a wide range, including rose, jasmine, gardenia, honeysuckle and a perfumed floral quality that is hard to pinpoint. The fruit associated with Gewurztraminer is just as varied, and often unique. Some of the more common fruit to look for is orange peel, apricot, peach, pineapple, guava, papaya with an exotic fruit or fruit cocktail characteristicoften present. Non-fruit flavors in California tend toward the baking spice and honey range with cinnamon, clove, vanilla, nutmeg, toffee and caramel the most prevalent. Occasionally California versions will exhibit the more exotic gingerbread, lychee nut and stony minerality often only found in European versions of these wines.

Wine Pairing Considerations:
How to pair this wine with food is completely dependent on the wine style. A full-bodied late harvest wine would work with fruit or brown sugar and caramel based desserts. The dry, or just off-dry, version, works incredibly well with spicy Asian or Latin foods, managing to cleanse the heat of the food off the palate. Gewurztraminer and shellfish can be a match made in heaven, with crab particularly good in the mix. But let's not forget that Gewurztraminer is most often found in Alsace, France and the Rhine land of Germany, so it is a natural with sausage, sauerkraut, schnitzel and red cabbage.

Major California Growing Regions:
This is a challenging grape for many of the warmer regions of California due to the need to preserve the acidity levels and keep the fat oiliness at bay. For that reason Gewurztraminer is generally grown in the cooler growing regions like Mendocino, Monterey, Santa Barbara and the cooler regions of El Dorado and Sonoma.