I had originally thought that this edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday topic, “Spark” was supposed to be what sparked us into blogging.  I had a whole concept and draft written.  Then I re-read the original post and realized it was about a wine, not an event.  If it were an “event” it would have been an event such as this.  Wine Blogging Wednesday was made me want to get into wine blogging.  And for that post, you will have to wait.  Lets talk about what wine “sparked” my interest.

This time for Wine Blogging Wednesday, hosted by The Corkdork, we were given the task of going back to the start and find that spark that started it all for us.  This one was easy for me, because not only did it get my juices flowing and totally sparked my interest in wine; but to this day it still is my favorite white varietal.

Gewürztraminer

I was captivated the first time I tried this variety.  I can remember my very first bottle —  Fetzer’s Gewürztraminer.  The nose, that spicy, floral aromatic nose.  The zippy acidity, the lush mouth filling tropical fruit palate with hints of roses.  You either love it or hate it, there is almost no in between.

Gewürztraminer grows best in cool climates and it is a very temperamental grape.  It hates chalky soils.  Loves cool nights and warm days.  It buds early and is susceptible to frost.  Loves dry weather, and can rot with too much rain.  Too much heat will increase the sugar levels bringing you high alcohol along with great aroma and flavors, but then has no acidty to balance it out.  If you pick early to hold the acidity, you lose all of those wonderful aromatics.   When it is time to harvest, and i saw this first hand, it could be flat and have no flavor, when the next day it is ready for picking, it is a very erratic grape.  It has a pink to red colored skin which when pressed exhibits golden white juice.  It can be dry, to off dry to sweet in flavor thanks to its high amount of natural sugar.  Rose water, lychee and passion/tropical fruit flavors are very typical of Gewürztraminer.

So why do I love thee.  I don’t know.  I can’t put my finger on it.  Sure I love asian and spicy dishes and they say that it goes great with it.  Gewürztraminer is worldly known as and Alsatian wine and I love Alsatian/German food.  I love goulash and noodles with Gewürztraminer.  I have always wanted to try cochinita pibil with Gewürztraminer, I think they would go great together.  I love it as a late harvest wine, since it can develop alot of sugars it is perfect for a desert wine or a late harvest wine.  In the winter months, it is my favorite white varietal to drink.  There is just so many reasons I like it it’s to hard to pick one.  I also like to say Gewürztraminer

The one Gewürztraminer that received alot of attention around my house lately is Anthony Nappa Wines Spezia ($18).  Gewürztraminer translated means Spice Traminer. This wine is named Spezia because Specia is spice in Italian.  The origin of the  grape Traminer is from a  town in northern Italy called Tramin where German is the spoken as well as Italian.

Anthony Nappa, winemaker and co-owner of Anthony Nappa Wines, along with his new bride Sarah Nappa,  almost never got to make this wine.  Joe Riley, a grower in Cutchogue had some Gewürztraminer that was contracted out to some one else.  The grapes had developed some botrytis and the person walked away.  Long afer most had picked their reds in the grand 2010 vintage, Joe Riley still had the Gewürztraminer hanging.  Anthony went down to see it and decided to take it.  It was almost a late harvest Gewürztraminer and over 80 % of the grapes were affected with botrytis.  But thanks to it being a hot dry season, it had all dried out and it was full of noble rot.  When it came time to make the wine, Anthony had to decide what to do with it, go late harvest desert wine and make it sweet or go make a bone dry wine.  What Anthony came up with is like no other Gewürztraminer I have ever had before, and one I may never have again.

On the nose you pick up a ton of aromatics, rose petal, peach apricot, lychee, tropical fruit and spice.  THere is some mango, dried pineapple and dried ginger tucked in there as well.  If you love aromatic whites, you would want to go swimming in the glass.

The palate brings more of the nose aromas but with a more intense dried tropical fruit and spice note.  Here is where I picked up the botrytis.  It’s noticeable and enjoyable.  Dried pineapple, dried apple, lychee, mango, dried coconut, ginger, citrus and floral notes all appear on the palate.

The palate is lush and oily, thanks mainly to the botrytis.  You can pick up the heat of the wine, there is 14.6% abv.  But it is well-balanced and well-integrated.  Great acidity makes this viscus wine most enjoyable.

The finish brings more rose petal, herbs and a candied ginger lemon zesty end that lingers for a while.

But were I found this to be absolutely delicious is with food.  Spezia needs food and goes great with it.  To have it alone with out food is an injustice.  I had this with a goulash and noodles and it sang.  The wine cut the richness of the gravy.

I have tasted this wine in multiple stages, at the bottle line, at release, a while after release, at Thanksgiving and just recently as this weekend.  I think that it is hitting its stride and is really starting to open up and become the wine it was intended to be.

Anthony hopes to make Spezia again, but it may not be anything like the 2010 Spezia.  Everything was just right for this wine and it is only starting to come together now.

Well, my spark has been revealed, while some of you may have known it, others may not have.  The wine that started it all for me is one that still captures my attention.  So what sparks you in the wine world.  I would love to know.

Related articles

• Wine Blogging Wednesday 73 “Spark” (corkdork.typepad.com)
• Anthony Nappa Wines 2010 “Spezia” Gewurztraminer (lenndevours.com)
• Corey Creek Vineyards 2010 Gewurztraminer (lenndevours.com)

This time this happens to be my favorite white varietal, Gewürztraminer.

Last time I did not take notes and I gave up on tweeting, due to the host winery, Shinn Estate Vineyards, preparing a wonderful meal to so along with the very nice Pinot Noir’s we tasted through.  

This time, I will focus more on the wine and you can expect a post about it.

This time, just like the Bubbly in February, you can purchase the TasteLive pack and follow along with me and the rest of the country.

The wineries that are participating are:

• Keuka Spring Vineyards 2008 Gewürztraminer
• Lakewood Vineyards 2007 Gewürztraminer
• Red Newt Cellars 2007 Sawmill Creek Vineyards Gewürztraminer
• Sheldrake Point Vineyards 2008 Gewürztraminer

So, make sure you order the pack, or just open up your favorite Gewürztraminer and follow along on Twitter with the hastag #flxwine

This Gewürztraminer is from Lenz Vineyards.  I have not been to Lenz in quiet some time, but I have added them to my list of visits in the near future.

On the nose I was getting lychee, pineapple and some candied apricot.  There was a sweetness on the nose that resembled honey.  There was some subtle floral notes but nothing overbearing or to powerful.  It had a beautiful bouquet.

The taste was a bit of a challenge at first.  It was very hot upon opening and tasting.   At first it was very overwhelming, too much to get over.  I was not picking up anything on the palate, except for some spice.  I wanted to give it some time.

So glad I did, because it gave way to one of the best tasting Gewürztraminer I have had in a very long while.  There was flavors of some fresh white peach, clove, cinnamon along with tropical zest.  There was some candied ginger note  that was very nice.

This was a lush wine with a has a slight syrupy mouth feel.  It was soft and creamy.

This wine was well balanced that had a very long finish with some soft vanilla flavors at the end.

A real pleasurable ride for your palate.

I highly recommend this wine, and if you are new to Gewürztraminer, give this a try, I picked it up in my wine shop for $19.

Duck Walk Vineyard is located on the South Fork of Long Island.  There are only a few “down that way,” and this is one of the three.  There is now a Duck Walk North to make easier for those who wish to stay away from the Hampton Scene.  However, fear not, now that Labor Day is over, you should make every effort to check out the wonderful vineyards we have on the south fork.

Duck Walk Vineyards, located on Montauk Highway in Water Mill.  It is part of the Pindar family of wines established by Dr. Herodotus “Dan” Damianos in 1994.  It is under the direction of Dr. Dan’s son, Alexander Diamianos.

This wine from Duck Walk is called Aphrodite.  It is a Late Harvest Gewürztraminer prepared in the traditional Ice Wine fashion.  For those of you who are not familiar with how ice wine is prepared here is a quick explanation on Wikipedia.  Basically ice wine, “is a type of dessert wine produced fromgrapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing a more concentrated grape must to be pressed from the frozen grapes, resulting in a smaller amount of more concentrated, very sweet wine. With ice wines, the freezing happens before the fermentation, not afterwards.

I decided to prepare a desert fondue for my wife on our anniversary.  It consisted of fresh pineapple, apples, strawberries, bananas, peaches and rice krispie treats.  I made a chocolate fondue of white and semi-sweet chocolate.  I was not sure if it would go, but I figured…why not!

On the nose, there was a wonderful peach aroma.  I was getting some honey a little floral fragrance.

In the glass, there was plenty of that typical Gewürztraminer spice which we love.  There was nice honey sweetness to the wine.  I was getting some nice herbal green, grassy flavors.  There was very nice minerality flavor that I was really enjoying.

This is a full body lush wine that has the perfect balance of acid and sugar.

Our desert was wonderful with this wine.  The chocolate fondue went very well with this.  However, when we had the fruit by itself, the wine was really singing and dancing.

My wife said that this would be great with spicy Thai food, and you know she was right.  I could totally see this with any spicy Asian dish.  So the next time you have some King-Po, make sure this is chilled.

I recommend this wine to anyone that is a Gewürztraminer fan, let alone a desert wine fan.  It is very good to serve with desert or before a meal as an apritif.  To quote my wife, “I could have a glass of this every day!”