Robe — Deep golden yellow, sometimes touched with copper
lychee
rose
ginger
mango
sweet spice
Palate
Opulent, low in acid and high in perfume, richer in the mouth than almost any other dry white
Ageing
3–15 years; late-harvest bottlings for decades
Serving
8–10 °C, with Munster or spiced dishes
No wine announces itself like Gewurztraminer: lychee, rose and ginger rise from the glass before it is fairly poured. Alsace made it its signature — golden, opulent, bottled in the tall flûte the region requires — and labelled it by grape variety generations before varietal labelling became the world's habit.
The pink-skinned grape reaches its heights on the slopes of the grands crus, and its late-harvest expressions were given legal form in 1984, when vendanges tardives and sélection de grains nobles were codified. At table it does what few whites can: stand up to Munster cheese from the neighbouring valleys, and to spiced cuisines from far beyond them.