Italian Gewurztraminer Question

We had a 2006 Cantina Nalles Gewurz from Alto Adige at our wine club meeting last night, and it was really, really bad. Tough to describe, but it smelled very synthetic and tasted similar, almost like an actual bottle of floral perfume. It left a sort of burning feeling on the palate.

I haven't tried a whole lot of gewurz, and never from this region, so I'm wondering if this is typical or if we got a flawed bottle?

Never tried a Gewurtz from Italy and not likely too!! Here come the emails about the good ones (grin). Next time you are in the store, look at Alsace. There is also a nice one from Villa Maria NZ.

Yes, I've only ever had Alsatian gewurz. The reason we ended up w/ the Italian version is because our theme this month was wines that come from places that start w/ the letter "A", and one of the girls was tasked w/ bringing something from Alto-Adige. She decided that rather than bring the predictable Pinot Grigio, she'd take the advice of the clerk at the store and bring the gewurz.

[Robin Garr]

I haven't tried a whole lot of gewurz, and never from this region, so I'm wondering if this is typical or if we got a flawed bottle?

K, I'm not sure if I've ever had an Alto Adige Gewurz, and if so, I sure haven't had many! I'll say this, though: Given its Alpine location and its socio-political history, Alto Adige - part of the old Austrian Sudtirol - is almost as Germanic as it is Italian. A lot of German is spoken there, many of the family names are German, and the wines tend to be more "Germanic" than Italian, too. They make some excellent wines out of grapes like Kerner and Lagrein, and in general, the overall quality of Alto Adige wines is very high.

In short, I wouldn't routinely reject an Alto Adige (or Trentino) Gewurz - or Traminer - out of hand. The potential is certainly there, but that doesn't mean that you can't get an awful wine on any given day.

I haven't tried a whole lot of gewurz, and never from this region, so I'm wondering if this is typical or if we got a flawed bottle?

K, I'm not sure if I've ever had an Alto Adige Gewurz, and if so, I sure haven't had many! I'll say this, though: Given its Alpine location and its socio-political history, Alto Adige - part of the old Austrian Sudtirol - is almost as Germanic as it is Italian. A lot of German is spoken there, many of the family names are German, and the wines tend to be more "Germanic" than Italian, too. They make some excellent wines out of grapes like Kerner and Lagrein, and in general, the overall quality of Alto Adige wines is very high.

In short, I wouldn't routinely reject an Alto Adige (or Trentino) Gewurz - or Traminer - out of hand. The potential is certainly there, but that doesn't mean that you can't get an awful wine on any given day.

Well put, Robin. I'll also add that the name Gewürztraminer comes from the German word "Gewürz" (spice) + "Traminer" meaning from Tramin (Termeno), a village in the Südtirol/Alto Adige. So, Gewürztraminer is quite likely a grape indigenous to the region.

Mark Lipton

All good information.

Does anyone know the particular producer?

The wine certainly sounds wrong, and therefore could obviously be a damaged bottle. But without knowing the producer I hesitate to remove the blame from the winemaker

That said, regardless of whether it is the producer or a bad bottle at fault, the moral of the story appears to be that you should by no means discount Italian gewurztraminer after trying this wine. There are good ones!

That said, regardless of whether it is the producer or a bad bottle at fault, the moral of the story appears to be that you should by no means discount Italian gewurztraminer after trying this wine. There are good ones!

Indeed. In fact, rather than turning me off, this has really sparked my curiousity and I'll probably pick up another bottle of the same at some point, as well as something from a different producer, and see what's going on. Thanks for everyone's input!

She decided that rather than bring the predictable Pinot Grigio, she'd take the advice of the clerk at the store and bring the gewurz.

Why not go back to the store in question and ask the clerk?

And, if all else fails, I will say I've had some pinot grigios from the Alto Adige that were really, really good--kind of redefined the grape for me.

One glass of J. Hofstatter or Pojer e Sandri and a believer in Alto Adige Gewurz you shall be.

One glass of J. Hofstatter or Pojer e Sandri and a believer in Alto Adige Gewurz you shall be.

Since my sweeping statement this morning about looking elsewhere (wink), I have done some googling and Hofstatter seems to be right up there. One to look out for!

Also try Kofererhof. I'm a fan of their Pinot Grigio.

Another one I have been impressed with was Elena Walch, also Alto Adige. This sells for $19.

I would not give up yet...besides the others already mentioned...Jermann has a very tasty Traminer.

Traminer Aromatico can be quite good from the Sud-Tirol. Tiefenbrunner in particular comes to mind.

One bad bottle does not an entire region condemn!