Tatomer, Trefethen, Hermann Wiemer, Poet's Leap, Zocker, Stony Hill Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris

RIESLING, GEWURZTRAMINER, 
 PINOT GRIS, etc.
(Alsace/Austria/Germany in the US of A)



Though Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are the most popular California white wines, Riesling and Gewurztraminer are certainly worthy of our attention.

Many years ago California Rieslings were labeled as "Johannisberg Riesling."  This allowed California vintners to associate their Riesling with wines from a famous German wine.

Some years ago, California winemakers began to drop the "Johannisberg" from their Riesling labels.  But this allowed for a measure of trickery:  the grape known as Silvaner (or Sylvaner) was allowed to be labeled simply as "Riesling."  

The Federal government finally got involved in the mid-1990s and they actually help sort out the confusing mishmash of "Rieslings."

Sylvaner was formerly allowed to be sold as "Franken Riesling", since it is a prominent grape in Germany's Franken region.  
But, of course, California wines labeled "Franken Riesling" were mislabeled since they did not come from Franken vineyards.  Calling the wines simply "Riesling," allowed wineries to play on the more noble and prestigious "White Riesling," while selling Sylvaner wines.

Wineries such as Louis Martini in Napa, Mirassou in Santa Clara and Parducci in Mendocino all made Sylvaner wines, once upon a time.  Rancho Sisquoc in Santa Barbara also made "Franken Riesling" many years ago.
Mirassou labeled its Sylvaner as "Monterey Riesling," even though it was not made of Riesling...but the grapes were grown in Monterey.

Parducci called its Sylvaner "Mendocino Riesling," even though it was not made of Riesling...but the grapes were grown in Mendocino.


From Santa Ana, California!

Hallcrest, a Santa Cruz Mountains vineyard and winery, was a Riesling specialist and they knew enough to label the wine as "White Riesling" and not "Johannisberg Riesling."

San Martin winery made Sylvaner, too.




In the 1950s and 1960s, one of the more fashionable wines was called "Grey Riesling."  This was not related, precisely, to Riesling and, in fact, this grape was really Trousseau Gris.   It was also known as Chauché Gris.  You might understand why "Grey Riesling," then, was a more popular way to label this wine.

Napa Valley Artisan vintner Bob Pecota made a wonderfully fruity and dry version of "Grey Riesling" when he launched his winery in the mid-1970s.

The Paul Masson winery made a couple of "Riesling Knock-Offs."

Emerald Riesling was the grape used for "Emerald Dry," a hybrid originally thought to be a crossing of Riesling and Muscadelle (Sauvignon Vert and the same grape as today's "Friulano" and yesterday's "Tocai Friulano").
These days UC Davis claims Professor Harold Olmo's creation is a crossing of Muscadelle and Grenache!
The grape made its debut somewhere in the late 1930s to late 1940s.
The idea was to have a Riesling-like wine from vineyards planted in the hot climate Central Valley of California so yields could be high and the wine could be inexpensive.


Today, Riesling or White Riesling, has fallen out of favor, though plantings of it along the west coast are on the rise.
In California, government stats showed less than 1,500 acres being in the ground as of 1999.  As of 2019, California has 3,962  acres.  Maybe there's hope! 
In 2017, 2018 and 2019, there have been 4 new acres of Riesling planted in California.

In California, Gewurztraminer today accounts for 1,715 acres.  Pinot Gris is planted on 16,928 acres in California, a big increase as local vintners look to compete with Italian producers of Pinot Grigio.

For comparison: 92,311 acres of Chardonnay are planted in California.  Sauvignon Blanc amounts to 15,742 acres.

Once upon a time many California wineries cultivated Riesling in vineyards adjacent to Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.  They made Riesling simply because customers demanded diversity, not because they could make great or compelling wines.

There have always been Riesling specialists, not only in California, but Washington, Michigan and New York.

In California, the longest track record is owned by the Stony Hill Winery in Napa.  Don't let anybody tell you California Rieslings don't have finesse or the ability to cellar for more than a year or two.  Stony Hill can certainly provide evidence to the contrary.

Despite being known as "Cabernet Country," there are still good Rieslings made in Napa.  Trefethen Vineyards and Smith Madrone continue to produce Rieslings of note.  Gone by the wayside are Lyncrest and Veedercrest, two brands once "hot" as Riesling makers, although the latter has been rescued by someone. 

Chateau Montelena in Calistoga continues to make Riesling, but today buys grapes in Mendocino.
The Hagafen winery makes a Riesling, or two, and these are usually quite good.

In Sonoma, Chateau St. Jean made a range of Rieslings and Gewurztraminers under winemaker Dick Arrowood in the 1970s.  The winery produced wines from slightly sweet to sticky sweet.  They even labeled these as "BA" for Beerenauslese and "TBA" for Trockenbeerenauslese.  When the German trade commission protested, Arrowood claimed "BA" stood for "Botrytis Affected" and "TBA" indicated "Totally Botrytis Affected."
The US Government wine label agency, back in the 1970s,  then prohibited them from using these German terms on California wines.
So we were surprised to see this label passed muster:


Navarro Vineyards is a Riesling and Gewurz specialist in Mendocino's Anderson Valley.  Handley and Greenwood Ridge make some aromatic wines, as well.

Wente Brothers used to make some nice Rieslings in the 1970s, even producing late harvest rarities.  They got their fruit from Monterey, which should still produce good Rieslings.  Claiborne and Churchill make a nice Riesling there still.

The Santa Cruz Mountains had some good Rieslings.  Storrs periodically has a good rendition.  Years ago there was a winery called Felton Empire and microbiologist Leo McCloskey was the winemaker.

We recall finding a case of their wine in our storage area which had flipped itself over as the bottles, packed cork-down in the box, re-fermented in the bottle. The thrust of the corks pushing out of the bottles actually flipped the case and this explained why I was sniffing wine near the office but didn't see any broken bottles.
Sales rep Bill Gibbs called one day to ask if we had any inventory remaining, as it seems customers had been calling to complain about these self-opening bottles!

A few vintners in Oregon make Riesling, but Pinot Gris seems to do better on a winemaking and commercial level.

Washington State is a large source of Riesling.  The Ste. Michelle brand bottles significant quantities of Riesling and California's Bonny Doon Vineyard launched a winery in the Pacific Northwest devoted to Riesling called "Pacific Rim."  We're fans of the Long Shadows winery and their Riesling carries the Poet's Leap brand....

TATOMER

I figured anyone who's devoted his brand of wine and winemaking to California Riesling has to be nuts.  And, so, I may have been correct.

Young Graham Tatomer has ties to Burlingame, too, by the way.  His Pop lived in town and worked on his studies as a psychiatrist many moons ago.

Graham attended U.C. Santa Barbara and while there he got himself a job at the Santa Barbara Winery.  And while working there he saw great and unfulfilled potential in the locally-sourced Riesling grapes he worked with in the cellar.

This ignited his passion for Riesling.  I recall numerous vineyards in the "new" mother lode of Santa Barbara were devoted to Riesling when that region was in its nascent stages.  Had consumers not become so fixated on Chardonnay, Riesling might have gained more than a toe-hold in Santa Barbara (and perhaps the Santa Cruz Mountains, for that matter).

Tatomer began making token quantities of Riesling and was able to sell a little bit of wine here and there.  Along the way, of course, he encountered some benchmarks:  wines from Deutschland and Austria and then Graham had a moment of epiphany...he realized he needed to go to Europe and get some "hands on" experience working with Riesling in a place where Riesling was king, not merely an after-thought.

And so Graham packed his bags and headed to Austria where he enrolled in the University of Riesling at the Loibnerhof campus of Emmerich Knoll.

He did his bit of industrial espionage, learning about lizards, falcons and the other important features of the Wachau wine region's viticulture and enology.  He ended up working a couple of harvest seasons with the Knoll family.

And then he returned to California and began, anew, with his Tatomer wine adventure.  Sort of...sommelier, cellar rat...and he then, thanks to a friendship with our pal Adam Tolmach of The Ojai Vineyard, was able to launch his own production in a small way.  ((Adam, by the way, makes a nice Riesling from Santa Barbara-grown fruit...but when we've opened bottles of Ojai Rieslings, they are way too young and totally undeveloped.  I'm betting when Adam's Rieslings have three or four years of bottle aging, they'll show their stuff.  And nicely, too.  But they are quiet and unassuming right out of the gate...))

We liked Tatomer's rendition of Riesling from the Kick On Ranch.  This is a smallish vineyard site west of the town of Los Alamos, along the San Antonio Creek.  

Currently in stock is Graham's 2018 Kick-On Ranch Riesling.  Here's a lovely dry white (yes, it's dry...trocken...not sweet...dry) which is comparable to good Austrian Rieslings.  It's got a mildly floral note at this early stage and there's a fairly good stony aspect to the wine.  And it's dry, so pairing it with some smoked pork chops, ham, chicken or Asian-styled foods is ideal.

And we think this will continue to blossom with a few more years of bottle aging, although we did not find it to be quite as bracingly crisp as some of his other wines.

 

Currently in stock:  2018 TATOMER Santa Barbara "Kick On Ranch" RIESLING $36.99

TREFETHEN VINEYARDS

The Trefethen family has been making Riesling since the 1970s and we're pleased to report they're even better today than they were back then.

The current vintage is 2013 and this, of course, comes from Trefethen's estate vineyards in Napa's "Oak Knoll District."  This is just north of Carneros and south of Yountville.

The wine is low in alcohol by California standards and a tad high by German measures.  It's 13.0%.  The residual sugar is less than 7 grams per liter.  For most palates, it will taste rather dry.  We like the floral, citrusy and mildly petrol-like notes on the nose.  

A bottle of 2007 paired with the fritto misto in the photo (some years ago)  was grand!  It also paired well with a plate featuring smoked trout and salmon tartare.  
The 2013 is stellar...a bit brighter, fruitier and floral.

Currently in stock:  2013 TREFETHEN Napa DRY RIESLING $23.99

 

STiRM

There's a Riesling fanatic behind this fledgling winery that's located in Santa Cruz.

Ryan Stirm spent some time in Austria doing some industrial espionage (learning to make Riesling, mostly).  He attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo studying viticulture, enology, soil science as well as learning the ins and outs of sustainable agriculture.  

We've tasted a number of wines from this tiny producer and they're definitely on the right track.  

We have a 2016 vintage Riesling from Santa Barbara's "Kick On" Vineyard.  This is a breezy site not too far from the Pacific Ocean, so the cooling air currents prolong the maturation of the grapes as they hang on the vine.  The fruit is hand-harvested and then driven to Schloss Stirm in the old warehouse where Ryan vinifies the grapes.

He left the skins in contact with the juice for a day before pressing.  The wine is fermented using indigenous yeasts and there's nothing fancy about the winemaking.  We're told it's unfined and even more amazing, unfiltered.  And yet this is clean as a whistle.

We brought a bottle to a favorite San Francisco dim sum palace to share with some visiting European friends who are writing a book about California wines.  For them, this wine (and that entire meal) was a revelation.  The wine is dry and quite crisp, with a good, fresh, youthful Riesling perfume.  

We want to hold on to a few bottles for personal consumption to see how it ages.  We suspect it's going to be a nicely profound bottle with several more years of cellaring.  On the other hand, it's quite charming presently...so...

Currently in stock:  2016 STIRM Santa Barbara RIESLING "Kick On" Vineyard  $19.99

SMITH MADRONE

Stu and Charlie Smith are real "mountain men" and they've been on Spring Mountain since the early 1970s as part of the birth of today's "golden age of California wines."

Back in those days Riesling was a normal part of any winery's portfolio.  Smith wisely chose east-facing slopes for his Riesling and his wines have often been very fine.  

This is a winery that doesn't spend much effort in marketing.  They spend their time in the vineyard, working to cultivate good fruit and then turn it into good wine.  You'll hear that from many wineries but these guys, having decades of vintages under their belts, are the real deal.

Stu says they do all the vineyard work in the same manner, year after year and yet, he points out, Mother Nature "stamps each vintage with a unique set of flavors, senses and character."

Yes indeed.

And that's what's fascinating about wine...each bottle is a bit of a diary of the year it took to grow and make that particular wine.

 

Winemaker Charlie Smith and his vineyardist/partner brother, Stu.
Two Napa Valley old-timers.

 

They have about 38 acres under vine presently, including a bit of Riesling (and some olive trees!).

 

Stu Smith discussing vineyard management and the finer points of pruning with Massimo Ponte of Piemonte's
Fratelli Ponte.

Best White Wine on Earth...Riesling.

Part of Charlie Smith's presentation of Smith Madrone wines is detailing the history and current state of affairs of Riesling in the Napa Valley.

Today California has about 3800 acres of Riesling.
Napa used to have a fair bit of Riesling once-upon-a-time, but it's been largely pushed out by Chardonnay.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the few wineries operating in Napa County had "Johannisberg Riesling" as one of their portfolio.

Today there is less than a hundred acres of Riesling in Napa and Smith Madrone cultivates about 5 of those.

Smith Madrone Riesling is dry and they understand the balance and finesse you find in top German Rieslings.  Some wines actually have a modest level of sweetness, but balanced by tangy, tart acidity, you find the wines to be dry.  Same here.  The 2014 vintage we have in the shop has around three-quarters of a percent of residual sugar, but the pH is really low and the acidity is high, so you don't really sense that tiny bit of sweetness.  In fact, at this level of acidity, were the wine to be stone cold, bone dry, it would likely taste out of balance and not at all harmonious.

We tasted the 2015 on a visit to Smith-Madrone in early 2019.  It's a good bottle, but still way too young.

Charlie suggested the wine can be cellared for 15-20 years "easily" and longer with good storage conditions.

We brought a bottle of the 2014 to share with friends with a dim sum lunch in the Summer of 2018...damned good!
Tasted in January of 2019, it is growing with time in the bottle.  

We appreciate the lack of interest in Riesling over all as this allows the prices to remain relatively modest, especially in comparison with Chardonnay.

Currently in stock:  SMITH-MADRONE 2014 Napa "Spring Mountain" RIESLING  $29.99

PEY MARIN

Winemaker Jonathan Pey has a small vineyard site in Marin County north of San Francisco.

There he grows Riesling and Pinot Noir.  The Riesling is a clone that was imported from Germany's Rheinpfalz back in the 1960s.  It's tolerant of cold weather which is ideal for Marin, since the growing season can be a bit chilly.  Further, this clone is disease-resistant, allowing Herr Pey to farm organically.

The site is maybe 8 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean and the growing season usually kicks off earlier than Napa and Sonoma.  But the cool growing season challenges the vines a bit and so the harvest tends to be later than in the more famous regions.

The juice is settled in tank before they add a trio of cultured yeasts.  The cold fermentation takes about a month to complete and then they leave the wine on the yeast sediment.  This deposit is stirred from time to time giving the low alcohol, high acid white a bit more texture on the palate.

We're tasted a number of vintages of this wine and they age handsomely.

Currently, the 2018 is in stock...a cool vintage with low yields.  Pey make less than 200 cases of this beauty.

 

 

Currently in stock:  2018 PEY MARIN Marin County RIESLING "Shell Mound Vineyard"  $26.99

MORGAN WINERY

Winemaker Dan Lee is now an old-timer (as are we!).  We met in our youth, ages ago.  

He's long been in Monterey County and we might say he's a bit of a pioneer, along with his wife Donna.

Ages ago we hosted a "Winemaker Dinner" (well before these were commonplace) and after we asked Dan and Donna if they'd like to share another bottle of wine.  We can't recall precisely the vintage, but it was sure a Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wine, probably the Echezeaux.  Back in those days the wine was merely expensive.  Today such a bottle is perhaps $600-$1000.

We were smitten by the wine and remember Dan sniffing and tasting..."I think I can make a wine like this!" he boldly stated.

Well, we're still waiting, but he does make good quality wines.

People who fancy Pinot Noir are romantics and passionate about wine (typically).  If you add Nebbiolo to the short list that's further confirmation of this dynamic.
Add Riesling to the list and one might say they're "hopeless romantics."

We don't think Dan dabbles in Nebbiolo.  Yet.

But he has been taken with Riesling and this is now a mainstay in the Morgan portfolio.

We currently have the youthful 2015 in stock.  

Lee cultivates a few rows more than one acre of Riesling in his "Double L" vineyard which is certainly a marine-influenced site.  Dan credits the ocean breezes that blow through the vineyard with causing the grapes to develop thicker skins.  Add to the mix somewhat longer hang time due to the relatively cool growing season and perhaps it's not surprising he is making good Riesling.

Morgan's Riesling typically has a half a day of skin contact and then it ferments at cool temps in stainless steel.  As it's nearing the completion of the fermentation, Dan lowers the temperature of the tank to stop the fermentation and leave a bit of sweetness.  The acidity is balancing, though it's easy to detect a touch of sweetness.  

Paired with spicy foods, though, this is quite refreshing and it tastes dry.  We think it will likely age handsomely, too.

Currently in stock:  2015 MORGAN Monterey "Santa Lucia Highlands" RIESLING  $19.99

MAIDEN STOEN

This is a tiny production label that is devoted to Riesling.

It';s the work of a fellow who had dabbled in cellar work in California's Central Coast.  In between gigs there he did a harvest at South Africa's prestigious Hamilton Russell  winery before coming back to California and working for the Testarossa winery.  
For the past few years he's been the assistant winemaker at the Chamisal Vineyards winery in the Central Coast.  He moonlights making his own wine under the Maiden Stoen label.

We tasted a trio of Rieslings and selected one which caught our attention.

HERMANN WIEMER

While few Californians know there's good wine being made in New York state, we've long been fans of the Finger Lakes region.

Decades ago we visited the area and tasted wines at the winery of Konstantin Frank, Glenora, Bully Hill and Hermann Wiemer.  

Konstantin Frank was a real pioneer there, planting Riesling in this region which had been more known for its labrusca varieties and French-American hybrids.  Hermann Wiemer was born in Germany's Mosel Valley and his father was involved in viticulture.  Wiemer came to the Finger Lakes and started cultivating Riesling and other interesting Vinifera grapes in the 1970s.  

Aside from growing grapes and making some good wines, today the company is a big time "nursery" for grape vines...they sell hundreds of thousands of grafted vines annually, both to wineries and "backyard farmers.

Hermann came to the US and found some land in the Finger Lakes region.  He knew that grapevines could be grown in places where cherries were cultivated and Wiemer bought about 80 acres of land near Seneca Lake.

Wiemer had an assistant named Fred Merwarth and he took over the vineyards and cellar operations in 2003.  Wiemer finally retired in 2007 and today Merwarth is assisted by an old school pal who's an agronomist.  

The wines, especially their Rieslings, are well-regarded and much sought-after...if you're "in the know."  Here in California, far from New York, there are a few Wiemer Fan Club members, but few customers know there's good wine being made there, frankly.  Fewer still have any clue about the virtues of Riesling.  C'est la vie.

The 2015 vintage "Dry" Reserve Riesling is a delightful wine...really capturing the character of Riesling and even showing some stony/slatey notes as you'd find in good German wines.  The wine has a touch of sweetness, but with good acidity to balance.  The alcohol level is below 13%, too.

Currently in stock:  2015 HERMANN J. WIEMER Finger Lakes DRY RIESLING "Reserve"  $24.99

STONY HILL

The Stony Hill winery is a fabled little estate in northern Napa Valley.  They've been making Riesling forever as every winery in Napa made Riesling back in the old days.

Stony Hill continues to make good dry Riesling.  And their wines age magnificently.  We had a bottle of an early 1990s vintage not too long ago...what a splendid bottle of wine and it did not show itself to be old or tiring!

The 2008 is the current offering in the shop.  It comes across the palate as dry, though the wine has about 10 grams of sugar/liter.  Balance is the key, though.  And it's balanced.  It's also quite complex thanks to its extended aging.
We opened a bottle in late 2018...brilliant!

(We opened a 1994 at the same meal...there were some notes of oxidation, to be sure, but the wine was still remarkably interesting.)

 

 

Currently in stock:  2008 STONY HILL RIESLING Sold Out
2012 STONY HILL GEWURZTRAMINER  Sold Out

A bottle of 1994 Napa Riesling consumed in 2011...was still alive and kickin'!
Lots of ripe peach or peach pie sorts of notes with a bit of petrol.
A bottle opened in late 2018 was older and less vigorous, but still complex and flavorful.

POET'S LEAP

Washington State has numerous outstanding sites for Riesling and Gewürztraminer.  

There are several "foreign" collaborators in winemaking escapades in Washington.  One is Chateau Ste. Michelle's "Eroica" project, aided by wein-meister Ernst Loosen.

Another is that of Long Shadows...a label called Poet's Leap.  

German wine authority Armin Diel, who co-authors the annual Gault-Millau German wine guide, is a partner in this project.  Diel also has his family's wine estate and makes wonderful wines in Germany's Nahe region.

They planted various clones of Rieslings at Herr Diel's suggestion.  They've now made several vintages of Poet's Leap and it's routinely been one of our favorite west coast Rieslings.  They blend Riesling grapes from vineyards in several locations and manage to nicely capture some of the minerally notes one finds in good German wines.  The wine is "off dry," having around 10 grams of sugar per liter (most people find 5 grams to be "dry")...

Currently in stock:  2016 POET'S LEAP Riesling (List $25)  SALE $19.99

 

 

 

 

Our friend Luciano Sandrone from Barolo, standing in front of Chateau Montelena.

 

 

CHATEAU MONTELENA

The very first wine we purchased from Chateau Montelena was a 1972 "Johannisberg Riesling" and I think it was offered for sale to us in 1973...

I used to drive up to Napa to pick up various wines and it was always fun to see this old chateau and taste upcoming releases.

In those days, the wine was from vineyards reasonably close to the winery.  These days, they get the grapes in a much cooler region, Mendocino's Potter Valley.

The fruit comes from the McFadden Ranch and the 2013 is a delight.  The aromas are fruity and floral, with hints of apricot and ripe melon.  I suspect it will develop the classic fragrance of "petrol" if you hold this for a few years, but it's such a delight right now...and the acidity certainly balances the slight amount of residual sugar here, so it finishes clean.

Currently in stock:  2013 CHATEAU MONTELENA Potter Valley RIESLING Sold Out

CHEHALEM

Oregon is a good place for Riesling and every once in a while we'll have one or two in the shop.

Chehalem's is excellent!  It's a three vineyard blend and made all the more complex with being harvested at low sugar levels with high acidity.  There's a difference between sugar levels and physiological maturity of the grapes.  Sometimes it's possible to have good maturity even at relatively modest sugar readings...depends upon the growing season.

We like the zippy acidity of this wine, but the fragrances are enchanting and reminiscent of good, soulful bottles we like from Germany.  

No oak...just stainless steel and it was bottled less than six months after its fermentation.  There's about 6 grams of residual sugar, so it's close to "threshold" for most people.  But the relatively high acidity more than offsets that little bit of sweetness and so, for most people, this is bone dry.

Riesling is one of those wines which, for us, grows more complex as it ages and develops with time in the bottle.  Though 2012 is not exactly an "old" wine, we do note that this is blossoming most handsomely.  It's still young, but the wine is already at a stage when it's both youthfully charming and yet offers more depth as would a nicely mature bottle.  This bodes well for the wine, as we think it will grow even more profound.

Currently in stock:  2013 CHEHALEM "Three Vineyards" Willamette Valley RIESLING  $20.99

HAGAFEN CELLARS

Ernie Weir has been making Riesling in Napa Valley for several decades.  Back then  it was even called "Johannisberg Riesling."  

The Hagafen winery is a smallish cellar and they make a range of wines that happen to be Kosher.

We usually have their Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay in the shop.  They've routinely been good.  As has the Riesling.

Currently we have their 2013 Lake County Riesling in stock.  It's a fruity rendition that happens to have a modest level of sweetness.  It's not full-throttle sugary, but it's certainly a main theme of this wine.

Currently in stock:  2013 HAGAFEN "Lake County" RIESLING  SALE $18.99

You might have a look at these pages in pursuit of good, aromatic wines...

FRANCE'S ALSACE

GERMAN WINES

AUSTRIA

A snapshot of ripe Gewürztraminer grapes courtesy of Claiborne & Churchill winery.

GEWÜRZTRAMINER

The Traminer grape is thought to have originated in the Alto Adige (which is today part of Italy, though it's sometimes been Austrian).  

It's a lovely variety which tends to ripen with a reddish color as you can see, perhaps, in the photo above.

The famous Hungarian enological Johnny Appleseed, Agoston Haraszthy, is thought to have brought the aromatic and spicy version of Traminer to California.  Some clones are less distinctive and the more "intense" Traminer seems to produce wines which have aromatics reminiscent of rose petals and grapefruit.  Some tasters find notes of lychees in Gewürztraminer and, in fact, research shows the grape to have some similarity to the lychee 'fruit' (or nut)...

In the days before Prohibition, both the Charles Krug Winery and Gundlach Bundschu Winery were somewhat highly-regarded for their Gewürztraminer wines.  

The Charles Krug Winery, run by the Mondavi family, was still a good source for Traminer in the 1950s and the grape may have reached the height of its popularity by the end of the 1970s when there were close to 5,000 acres planted in California.  According to current statistics, there are 1715 acres planted in California today.  In 2019 there were 16 new acres of Gewürztraminer planted and 50 the year before that!

Today, there are not many wineries noted for Gewürztraminer.  The top sources for this variety in California would include Handley, Lazy Creek, Thomas Fogarty, Claiborne & Churchill, Navarro, Stony Hill, Mill Creek and Arista.  These vintners tend to make dry to just off-dry versions.

The Fetzer winery makes loads of Gewürztraminer, but it's less distinctive for varietal character and noted more for being simply fruity, sweet and low-priced.  Sutter Home, the famed White Zinfandel producer, also dabbles in Gewürztraminer and makes a wine rivaling Fetzer's.

We typically have a few Gewürztraminers from France's Alsace and one from Germany.  The most impressive and intense, is an Italian wine which is vinified "dry" and made by the leading co-op winery in Italy's wine village called Tramin.  The Cantina Tramin has a special bottling called "Nussbaumer" and this, for us, remains the reference point for Gewürztraminer.

CLAIBORNE & CHURCHILL

This smallish estate has long featured Riesling and Gewürztraminer as its main wines.  Back in the 1980s they made both of those as well as a blended white called Edelzwicker, a nod to the great wines of France's Alsace region.

The brand was launched by Claiborne Thompson and his wife Federicka Churchill.  The couple moved to the west coast from Michigan in the early 1980s and began making wine with the 1983 vintage.

We've followed them since their start and are pleased to report the wines have improved and we now have had a few vintages of Gewürztraminer in the shop.

The 2019 vintage is currently in the shop.  They label it with the Central Coast appellation which is a bit generic given the grapes all come from a signle vineyard in Monterey County, about halfway between Greenfield and King City.

The fruit was picked in the first week of November of 2019 and bottled in early April of 2020 to capture the intense floral fragrances.  We find typical grapefruit and spice notes.  And if you think most aromatic wines such as Riesling and Gewürztraminer are sweet, guess again.  This wine has just 2 grams of sugar per liter, making it drier than most Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blanc wines.

It's beautifully aromatic and smells "sweet," but you will find this to be quite dry.  It pairs handsomely with Asian-styled dishes as the wine works well with soy sauce and sesame oil.  You can also pair it with seafood seasoned with spicy peppers.

Currently in stock:  2019 CLAIBORNE & CHURCHILL Central Coast DRY GEWÜRZTRAMINER  Sale $18.99

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HANDLEY CELLARS

The late Milla Handley launched her label and winery in 1982, so now she's an "old timer," though the wineries of Husch and Edmeades preceded her by about a decade.  Navarro came after those two, but pre-dated Handley in Mendocino's beautiful Anderson Valley.

She's located on the main highway near the town of Philo.  She makes some wonderful Anderson Valley wines and a bit of Sonoma Sauvignon Blanc.

Gewurztraminer is frequently amongst the best of California (not like the list is long, but she's a producer who's worthy of citation as a top-o-the-line vintner).

Her 2012 vintage is beautiful...it's close to dry and beautifully floral and fragrant.  The wine is a fruit basket of tropical and exotic fruits:  cantaloupe, grapefruit, a suggestion of peach and apricot, mandarin orange, perhaps...and then it has those lovely spice notes!  

This is a delight.  Pair it with Asian-styled foods...seafood...spicy dishes...

 

 

 

Currently in stock:  2012 HANDLEY Anderson Valley GEWURZTRAMINER  Sold Out

 

 

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And if you want to taste the most intense Gewurz, pick up a bottle of the Tramin winery bottling from Italy...Nussbaumer, it's called.  There is not a winemaker on the planet who would not be proud to call that wine their own.
We feel this is the benchmark for the variety, coming from a special vineyard site in the hills above the town of Termeno (Tramin in Italian)...

Other interesting Gewurztraminers:

We typically have a wine from Domaine Weinbach in Alsace...and usually one or two others from France.

There's currently quite a good wine from Pojer & Sandri in Italy's Trentino region...Traminer Aromatico.

From Austria, we have UMATHUM'S TRAMINER $24.99....a Blend of red and yellow Traminers...beautifully and powerfully fragrant...not quite dry, but not sweet.

And if you want something along the lines of Gewurztraminer aromatically, don't miss Marotti Campi's phenomenal Lacrima di Moro d'Alba.

It's an obscure red grape from the Marche in central Italy.

The variety was nearly extinct, but this family worked diligently to
bring it back to life and now there are numerous producers of 
Lacrima di Moro d'Alba.  

It's a dark red wine, made without oak aging.

The fragrances are hugely fruity and floral and if you poured it into a 
black glass, most experts would take a sniff and identify it as 
Gewurztraminer.
Dry, smooth and a perfect little picnic red...chillable, too.

We have the current vintage in stock for $16.99 a bottle, sale tagged.

 

 

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