Gewürztraminer is not an overly popular wine grape but if you’ve had it, you’ve probably had it from Alsace. Alsace is that delightfully distinct wine region with an international identity crisis: “Am I Germany? Am I France?” It depends on who won the last war. But it’s also a little bit Switzerland, and a little bit Italy, because it shares proximity to all these countries. Currently, it’s officially part of France. Alsace makes great wines, especially Riesling. Gewürztraminer is the second most planted grape of Alsace and some of the finest expressions of Gewürztraminer are from Alsace. That this Gewürztraminer —Cantina Tramin — is NOT from Alsace is part of the interesting story of this wine.
Monte Belmonte
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In German, “gewürz” means “spice.” As one of my wine gurus, The Wine Son Wes DeSantis, often reminds me, when you put “er” at the end of a German word it means “from” whatever came before the “er.” Think Kennedy’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. He meant to say “I am from Berlin.” Berlin-er. Forget that he actually mispronounced it and said “I am a jelly donut.” Thus, “gewürz-tramin-er” would translate to “spicy-wine from Tramin.” And guess where this wine is from? Not Alsace. But Termeno, Italy. In German, guess what they call Termeno? Tramin! Gewürztraminer, Cantina Tramin is from Tramin. And where is Tramin? Not Alsace. But the Alto Adige region of Italy. Our bottle of wine contains the origin story of the Gewürztraminer grape. While Gewürztraminer has a somewhat complicated genealogy, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Gewürztraminer got its start in Italy. So this bottle of wine is the Godfather Part II of Gewürztraminer. Well, De Niro’s part, at least. And just like Vito Corleone this grape took the name of a town.
Monte Belmonte
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