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GEWURZTRAMINER

Probably the varietal with the most easily recognizable flavor, a sometimes pungent taste (gewürz = "spicy"). This white wine is made from distinctive small grapes. It can be excellent dry, sweet or as a late-harvest dessert wine.

Wines reviewed to date:

1. Alexander Valley Vineyards Estate Bottled, 1993
2. Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley, 1993
3. Field Stone Sonoma County, 1992
4. Gundlach Bundschu Rhinefarm Vineyards Sonoma Valley Estate Bottled, 1993
5. Napa Ridge Central Coast, 1992

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The Contestants:

1. Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley, 1993. Price: $7. Alcohol: 12%. Res. Sugar: not given ("off-dry").

• SD: Pale yellow in appearance. Tingly, spritzy. Crisp fragrant scent when spilled. Tasty, spicy, impish, playful -- a good wine for wine snob adjectives. RANK: 2. GUESS: Alexander Valley.
• BW: Has an attractive pale yellow/green color, good amount of fizz, goes down easy. This is great stuff, or maybe I'm just really thirsty. Nice flowery nose. RANK: 2. GUESS: Alexander Valley.
• PB: The pale color matches only the pale flavor in vying for my lack of attention. Nice little schpritz, though. I will not be afraid of this wine even on a dark night in a thunderstorm. Might find it refreshing though. Nice aroma. Bland. RANK: 4. GUESS: Chateau Ste Michelle.
• JG: Blah blah blah. Inoffensive. Anemic yellow color. Weanie scent. Drink with white bread or taste lost. "Agricultural excellence" - some farmer made this. RANK: 4. GUESS: Alexander Valley.
• ME: Translucent, sort of hazy, like an isoprene smog above the Smokey Mountains. A tang, with a hint of spice but with too much lingering -- like a train passing dysfunction junction, it goes on and on. Or is it the cheese? I don't like it a lot. RANK: 3. GUESS: Gundlach Bundschu.

2. Field Stone Sonoma County, 1992. Price: $~9?. Alcohol: 12%. Res. Sugar: 0.6

• SD: Darker yellow-golden. Appley fragrance. Gee! (or is that "G"?) -- Gewurz Grapes, Grapefruit, Good on first sip. On repeated tastings, it is flatter, less lively than #1. Drier? RANK: 4. GUESS: Chateau Ste Michelle.
• BW: #2 is flatter, not very fragrant. Attractive color, a bit deeper than #1. This wine is almost buttery, which seems a little strange in a gewurz. Chardonnay style? RANK: 3. GUESS: Gundlach Bundschu.
• PB: Not a lot of nose. Crisp and dry. But this wine a first taste seems unremarkable. Tart -- unfortunately not like the woman, more like the green apple. Good dry style. RANK: 3. GUESS: Gundlach Bundschu.
• JG: Lingering off-taste. Should be smelled, not sipped. Slightly thick. Nice color. No medals for this one. RANK: 5 (lowest). GUESS: Chateau Ste Michelle.
• ME: Less fragrant than #1. Relatively sweet with a nasty aftertaste - like a Merlot and bubble gum mixed up with Mumms [?]. If I was forced to drink this I'd make up an excuse to vomit every few minutes. RANK: 2. GUESS: Chateau Ste Michelle.

3. Napa Ridge Central Coast, 1992. Price: $6. Alcohol: 12.1%. Res. Sugar: not given.

• SD: Nice golden yellow, no bubbles. Very little bouquet: ozone? sheet metal? Sweet, honey flavored. Very smooth, more like a chardonnay style than a gewurz. But not like a chardonnay -- too sweet and cloying. This is not what I want from a gewurztraminer. However, an excellent taste for a cough medicine. RANK: 5 (lowest). GUESS: Napa Ridge.
• BW: I find this wine adequate but not great. Too flat, too quiet, too well-behaved. On second thought, this is way too sweet. RANK: 5 (lowest). GUESS: Napa Ridge.
• PB: This tastes more like grape juice. I expect this to be served at the symphony intermission. Yuch. RANK: 5 (lowest). GUESS: Napa Ridge.
• JG: A honey of a wine... who needs dessert? Fine finish. Deodorized. Yeah, shugga. RANK: 3. GUESS: Field Stone.
• ME: Aroma at last! Sweet but no lingerie - lingering. Smooth, smooth. Tastes like one of only 15,600! Is it clover, honey? RANK: 5 (lowest). GUESS: Alexander Valley.

• SD: Pale. Actual [sic], this one has a slight sour smell, but with cloves, dandelions. No schpritz, but a sharp spicy edge I like... dry, good grip, a no-nonsense wine. Proves a dry gewurz can be done. RANK: 1 (fave). GUESS: Field Stone.
• BW: Wow! This is a big step up! Bright, perky. Pineapple nose and flavor. Could be fizzier. RANK: 1 (fave). GUESS: Field Stone.
• PB: Dry styled wine. A "nosey" wine: interrogates your senses. "Honey"" it asks, "roll in the hay? (clover?)" Best dry style. RANK: 1 (fave). GUESS: Field Stone.
• JG: Now this is a scent - zing city. tart but tasty. Splash it on! RANK: 1 (fave). GUESS: Napa Ridge.
• ME: An aroma that reaches into the nasal passages and tugs on the hairs (ouch!), but with class! A lovely taste, slightly smokey! This I could drink. This I am drinking. RANK: 1 (fave). GUESS: Field Stone.

5. Alexander Valley Vineyards Estate Bottled, 1993. Price: $8. Alcohol: 11.5%. Res. Sugar: 1.20

• SD: Golden mouthwash bubbly appearance. Scent: Cloves, prime rib... evidence of either fragrant complexity or else the advanced stages of intoxication. Taste: A good, solid gewurz. Too bad I'm gewurzed out after five samples! VERY close to #1 in ranking, even though everyone else disagrees. How to choose between the two? I'll go with #1, since it spills so well. RANK: 3. GUESS: Gundlach Bundschu.
• BW: Pot roast in the nose. Nice fizziness, too sweet. Similar to #3. RANK: 4. GUESS: Chateau Ste Michelle.
• PB: Golden color. Ambrosia. Well balanced, unlike me after this Gewurz-run. Good sweet style. RANK: 2. GUESS: Alexander Valley.
• JG: Eau de dirty socks not worn very long. A real wine? I don't know any more. RANK: 2. GUESS: Gundlach Bundschu.
• ME: An aroma of socks after a soccer game. Sweet but not like #3. Smooth but basically characterless. RANK: 4. GUESS: Napa Ridge.

Overall Comments: Gundlach Bundschu is the clear winner here, as it was everybody's favorite (though none of the judges guessed its identity -- most thought it was the Field Stone). Most of the panel found the Napa Ridge too sickeningly sweet: it was the least favorite of everyone except JG, who ranked it in the middle. There was no clear consensus among the other wines: both Chateau Ste Michelle and Alexander Valley had the same distribution of scores (two second-to-best, two second-to-worst, and one right in the middle).

PB noted two styles of gewurztraminer: a dry (Gundlach Bundschu and Field Stone) and a sweet (Alexander Valley and Napa Ridge) [Chateau Ste Michelle was not classified in his notes except as simply "bland".]

Guessing was all over the board. PB correctly identified 3 of the wines. SD and BW only guessed one wine accurately (Napa Ridge); the other judges failed to score even a single correct hit.

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