2009 Gewurzathon

[Harry C.]

Beth Sheligo yearly hosts a Gewurzathon-that’s right all Gewurztraminer all the time. She cooks a dinner purposely designed to go with Gewurz’s unique properties. (Lovingly nicknamed by Arthur Johnson ‘Gewurz till it hurts’.) These are my notes, such as they are.
1-2007 Darting Durkheimer Nonnengarten Gewurztraminer Kabinett A welcome wine. Pale yellow. Nose on the more spicy side of Gewurz. Taste was mild, mellow, balanced, a Spatlese level of sweetness. Delish and a nice way to start off. 90/100

This flight started the dinner (I will let Beth talk about the dinner as I could not do it justice.)

2-2006 Kofererhof Alto Adige Pale color. Nose changed over its time in the glass. From a pale watered down Gewurz spice to a whiff of coffee to even a Bretty-shit hint. Watered down taste as well. Nothing horribly off, just nothing spectacular. 85/100

3-2003 Gerard Weinkorn Domaine de l’Oriel Sommerberg Gold. Nose showed oxidation, caramel, and butter. Taste was of a medium aged non-descript white wine. NR flawed. Too bad. A producer we don’t see around these parts.

4-2005 Cantina Terlan Alto Adige-Sudtirol Lunare.
This was presented as a mystery wine. Guesses were all over the globe, I think Joe Huber called it Northern Italy. Pale yellow. Nose seemed to have a heavy char component that blew off with airing. (I have no idea about this seeing any oak.) Tended more to the drier side, with a stronger Gewurz bitterness on the end. Interesting, but I would like a little sweetness to counter the bitter. 86/100

5-2004 Bott Freres Reserve Personelle Again a pale yellow. Nose was on the slightly thin side. Taste was mild, could pick this as Gewurz, but did not interest me tonight. 86/100

Next a Furstentum Flight-a step up from the previous flight

6-2002 Paul Blanck V.V. Golden yellow. Honeyed richness of the nose. Shows its age. As it aired it opened oddly, such that I suspected a hint of oxidation. Medium rich, medium sweet, bitterness on the finish. Drink up! 89/100

7-2002 Albert Mann V.V. Pale gold. Nose was Gewurztraminer plus. Rich, full, lychee, rose. Taste was moderately sweet, mouthfilling. Best so far. 93/100

8-2005 Albert Mann V.V. Pale yellow. Nose was young, a hint of tar, rose, lychee. Taste came off sweeter than the others-this is the effect of youth perhaps? Nice, rich, mouthcoating. Very good now, perhaps better with a few years. 92/100

Now a flight of heavy hitters, and the best flight of the night

9-1994 Zind Humbrecht Winzenheim Gold. Nose comes off younger than its real age. Rose, licorice in the nose. Taste was all Gewurz with an anise touch at the end. YUM! 93/100

10-2002 Weinbach Cuvee Theo Gold. Nose of lychee, screams Gewurz. Taste was drier than the ZHs, but still with slight sweetness. Taste was lasting, touch bitter finish, but quite nice. 92/100

11-1992 Zind Humbrecht Clos Windsbuhl Gold. Nose was Lychee and licorice. Taste was drier than others, but the taste was lychee and a hint of bitter, anise. Drink up. 91/100

12-1994 Zind Humbrecht Clos Windsbuhl Pale Gold. This wine has been a winner in past dinners, and this again held up its title and was my regular (not dessert) WOTN. Beautiful nose of rose, lychee and licorice. Balanced mouth of sweetness, richness, mouth filling, lychee, nice acid lift, hint of licorice on the end. A great showing of a wine that seemed to be turning the age corner in past bottles, not this one. Wonderful! 95/100

Another round, richer, heading toward dessert.

13-2004 Zind Humbrecht Clos Windsbuhl Pale gold. Gold. Rich, full, rose, lychee nose. Taste was moderately sweet, moderately rich, mouth filling. Nose opened and opened with time. 92/100

14-2005 Weinbach Furstentum VT. Pale yellow. Spicy side of Gewurz in the nose, with cinnamon, cardamom and citrus. Mouth was sweet, full, young. Needs time. 93/100

15-1994 Zind Humbrecht Hengst VT. Gold. Nose was lychee and licorice. Taste was the same taken up a notch. Moderate sweetness that lasted and lasted. Just wonderful. My dessert WOTN and points winner. 96/100

Lastly, the real dessert wines.

16-2007 Carmel Single Vineyard Late Harvest Sha’al. Pale yellow. Nose was very floral, spring flowers. Taste was rich, sweet young, good. My first experience with an Israeli dessert wine and it showed very well. 93/100

17-2002 Kent Rasmussen LH Gold. Nose was Gewurz with a little hint of medicine (?). Sweet, but the bitter Gewurz finish was too much and seemingly a touch out of balance. 91/100

18-William Selyem LH (My notes don’t have a year-Help!) Deep gold. Mild Gewurz nose with a hint of carrots (!) Rich sweet mouth with good acid, but with continued airing fell apart in the glass. Final score 90/100

Again, a wonderful night with a wonderful hostess and wonderful guests. A personal highlight of the year. Thanks again, Beth!

[DavidG]

Wow, that's quite a range of Gewurz. I like them, but they are so distinctive I don't find myself wanting them very often. A whole night of them? Yeah, I see Arthur's Gewurz til it hurts! But sounds like you kept building to nicer and nicer wines. Thanks for posting, Harry.

[Harry C.]

David, Yes, one has to like the grape, and Beth gathers a group of Gewurz-o-philes for this dinner. It is a more versatile grape than people give it credit. But there was discussion that the grape is getting harder to find, partly a decrease in imports. (In NJ, Alsace for the most part has to be ordered and paid for-namely one kinda has to have sold the wine or have a buyer for it. A few years ago businesses could order cases and then if they didn't sell return to the distributors-not recently.) So retailers have less and less Alsace on their shelves. They argue it is a niche market, but that is somewhat a self-fullfilling prophecy-now they have less to sell, so of course they sell less. Also, other comments included that the area has not had a stellar vintage in over 10 years-perhaps 2007 breaks this? Included is the lack of support from the major wine publications-remember WA's scores only report? Putting this altogether, it is getter harder to get decent Gewurz these days. (And let's not even go to the prices of ZH lately. Clos Windsbuhl for 150$+ per bottle??)

[DavidG]

Alsace is getting harder to find on store shelves. Your explanations make sense. Gewurz is often used as a foil for spicy Asian foods, but I think it has a broader range than that. Beth is quite the cook, I imagine she found some interesting matches for these above and beyond the spicy stuff.