Winemaker Notes
Pair with Foie Gras, or white meat with cream-based sauce.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The intensely colored 2015 Alsace Gewurztraminer Turckheim displays a beautifully clear, precise and aromatic, also pure and mineral bouquet with spicy flavors intertwined with ripe orange aromas. Round, ripe and highly elegant on the palate, this is a full-bodied, silky textured, intense and seductive Gewurz with a firm but very fine tannin structure and remarkable complexity in the long, perfectly balanced finish. Picked in different vineyards around Turckheim on September 21st and 22nd, this a picture-book Alsace Gewurztraminer was bottled with just 2.3 grams of residual sugar and 13.9% alcohol. The total acidity is just 3.6 grams per liter (pH of 3.8), but this doesn't matter. "We shouldn't forget that Gewurztraminer is a red wine with a white color," says Olivier Humbrecht, arguing that the grape's phenols are as high as in Pinot Noir. "We have to speak about the quality of the tannins when it comes to Gewurztraminer, instead of acidity."
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose hints at richly golden fruit: ripe peach and glowing mirabelle. A floral tone of honeysuckle hovers. The palate comes in with clean, earthy and lemon-concentrated force, leaving the palate tingling with lemon zest and pith. The finish is just about dry but utterly clean-cut. All of this is more about texture than aroma.
Gewürztraminer, an expressive and aromatically distinctive white grape variety, is considered a noble variety in the Alsace region of France, and produces wonderful wines in the mountainous Alto Adige region of NE Italy. Generally this grape grows well in cooler regions and its natural intensity makes it a great ally for flavorful cuisine such as Indian, Middle Eastern or Moroccan. Somm Secret—Because of a charming perfume and tendency towards slight sweetness, Gewürztraminer makes for an excellent gateway wine for those who love sweet wines but want to venture into the realm of drier whites.
Small but mighty, this picturesque region in northeastern France is renowned for its white wines produced by passionate families whose winemaking roots span generations and even centuries. Nestled between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine River, Alsace benefits from a sunny, dry climate and a long growing season. It is one of the most geologically diverse regions in the world — one of the many reasons why Alsace rocks!
Alsace wines include dry, mineral-driven Riesling, earthy Pinot Gris, refreshing Pinot Blanc, exuberant Gewurztraminer, elegant Pinot Noir, and more. From traditional-method sparkling wines to easy-drinking AOC Alsace, to complex Grand Cru bottlings from 51 distinct sites, and rich, late harvest wines, Alsace produces a wine for every occasion. Most Alsace wines are single-varietal bottlings and are labeled with the grape name. The region is also one of the greenest wine-producing areas in France, with 36% of its vineyard area certified organic.
Riesling, the region’s calling card, is dry, fresh and floral in its youth, developing complex mineral and flint character with age. Gewurztraminer is known for its signature spice and lychee aromatics. Pinot Gris is prized for its combination of crisp acidity and savory spice as well as ripe stone fruit flavors. Pinot Blanc is an affable food partner or porch sipper. Pinot Noir, the only red grape in AOC Alsace, is now authorized in three Grand Cru areas and is also used for Crémant d’Alsace sparkling rosé. Any bottle you choose will offer deliciousness, pleasure and value that is unprecedented in other wine regions.