Here we have our first Gewurztraminer on the website. This is a white grape (even though its kind of red/pink looking on the vine) that is primarily grown in Alsace, France. It is grown elsewhere but the best examples almost always come from Alsace. It’s known for it’s spicy sweetness, floral, and fruit aromas. The grape itself is very finicky which probably has to do with it’s limited success outside of Alsace. It can be made into a wide array of wines from the very dry to the very sweet, it all depends on when the grape is harvested. It can also be effected by noble rot similar to the whites from Sauternes. Often times Gewurztraminer is paired with spicy, fatty, and oily meals…Asian cuisine is the most common pairing.

Another common way to serve Gewurztraminer is as an aperitif. We like to serve it both ways but in this case we had it with Moby’s home made porketta.

colonelgrape: 89. This was a very good bottle and an example of a dryer Gewurztraminer. It still had that sweetness and spice depth to it but there was no upfront sweetness…this is the kind I’d prefer to have with my meal whereas the sweeter versions go better as an aperitif. Porketta was the perfect meal to go with it because there was fat and spice and the wine cut it perfectly. We were rationing out the wine because it was going so fast. At only $20 this is a great buy…if you’ve never tried a Gewurz you need to try one ASAP…you haven’t had anything like it yet.

MobyGrape – 93.  The first time I tried this type of wine I had boogers blocking 93% of my nostrils’ capacity and had severely impaired senses of smell and taste, but I could swear I was tasting greatness.  I was super excited to try it again and this did not disappoint.  It wasn’t exactly what we had the first time but it reminds me very much of it.  There’s a deep kind of sweetness to it, it’s not sicky candy sweet, it’s more of a spicy sweet.  LIke when you’re wearing your fancy underwear under sweatpants.  You know there’s more going on under there than meets the eye, you’re just daring your husband to go ahead and try.  You feeling lucky, punk?  Might be granny panties, then again, might not…But I digress.  We had it the first time with gougere followed by assorted cheeses and crackers, but I feel like it could hold its own with lighter meat.