WTN: 2001 Paul Blanck Gewürztraminer Furstentum VV

[David M. Bueker]

2001 Paul Blanck Gewürztraminer Furstentum Vieilles Vignes - France, Alsace, Kientzheim & Sigolsheim, Alsace Grand Cru AOC (2/8/2008)
Very floral with much more subtle lychee aromatics. There's not much in the way of pineapple or other tropical fruit until it comes out in the mid-palate along with fine minerality. Not terribly sweet, and a trace of oily texture. This really dances, and goes very well with our mixed Asian meal. It was especially good along side a beef with Thai basil dish.

sounds delish - dry gewurztraminers are among my favorite white wines - sadly, wouldn't be surprised if it's difficult to find in my area of the U.S.

[David M. Bueker]

Yeah, Ohio is a tough market. Actually I am certain that this one has sold through pretty much everywhere.

Yeah, Ohio is a tough market. Actually I am certain that this one has sold through pretty much everywhere.

we have several really good wine shops whose sommeliers are more than willing to help with a search - will have to make them do some work for me

sounds delish - dry gewurztraminers are among my favorite white wines - sadly, wouldn't be surprised if it's difficult to find in my area of the U.S.

Quite the same problem exists in Ontario as well: dry Gewürz just isn't brought in in any meaningful quantities. I concur - it is a wonderful wine when done dry and floral.

[David M. Bueker]

By the way guys - this wasn't dry, just not too sweet to be food friendly.

There really isn't that much dry Gewurz out there anywhere anymore, at least not from Alsace and Germany. Trimbach is still generally dry, but most of the rest of Alsace has gone the residual sugar route.

One thing that happens a lot is that dry Gewurz ends up with a pronounced bitter note on the finish if it's not done right.

Can anyone comment on Alexander Valley Gewurzts? Are they dry? From what I've read they seem interesting but they are hard to find here.

we have 10 genuinly dry gewurz's here in MI - with more on the way. i have often wondered if there were that many others in the entire country. anyone know? btw - the 10 are all well under 1% RS

secondly, i like the furstentum vineyard - apparently owned entirely? by the blancks. had an '01 riesling from there recently that was really nice - and fairly dry.

Dave wrote:

we have 10 genuinly dry gewurz's here in MI - with more on the way. i have often wondered if there were that many others in the entire country. anyone know? btw - the 10 are all well under 1% RS

Dave's question made me curious about dry Gewurztraminer in New York. For a partial answer, I went to the Seneca Lake Wine Trail site. It lists about 34 wineries. Not all Seneca Lake wineries belong to the trail (Weimer prominently does not) and last I heard there were something over 100 wineries in all the Finger Lakes. In addition, many New York State wineries lie outside the Finger Lakes. With all that in mind, 9 wineries on the Seneca Lake Wine Trail list a dry Gewurzt. and another 9 list an off-dry or semi-sweet.

[David M. Bueker]

secondly, i like the furstentum vineyard - apparently owned entirely? by the blancks. had an '01 riesling from there recently that was really nice - and fairly dry.

Several more Furstentum Gewurtraminers out there. Albert Mann for one. There's others as well, such as Weinbach.

I like Alto Adige for dry Gewurztraminer. Hofstätter makes a couple of mind-blowers. But keeping in Alsace, why not try Muscat? It can be one of the prettiest wines in the world and the aromas often resemble those of Gewurztraminer, but with a lighter frame and more acidity. It is completely underappreciated. Plus, you save a couple of bucks (usually). There are dozens of great producers.

I like Alto Adige for dry Gewurztraminer. Hofstätter makes a couple of mind-blowers. But keeping in Alsace, why not try Muscat? It can be one of the prettiest wines in the world and the aromas often resemble those of Gewurztraminer, but with a lighter frame and more acidity. It is completely underappreciated. Plus, you save a couple of bucks (usually). There are dozens of great producers.

I'm with you on that Bill. Dry Muscat is one of my favourite wines; I'm almost never without it in the summer months when al fresco dining is a regular thing!

about the finger lakes wines. there was a discussion a couple of weeks ago that made a point of finger lakes dry riesling not really being very dry. i would imagine that would be true for gewurz as well. my guess is that if you set the bar at say under 1%, then that number of 9 would fall by a few; but i'm not certain of course. and the lower you set it the lower it would go. i'm pretty sure that the ones here are all below .5% .

From Dave:

my guess is that if you set the bar at say under 1%, then that number of 9 would fall by a few

RS is posted for just 4 of the 9, as far as I could find. Two are said to be < 1.0 but > .5 and the other two < .5.