Alsace Gewurztraminer and Riesling: flavours, styles and food pairings

• The grape on the label: unlike the rest of France, Alsace prints the variety prominently.

• The flute bottle: tall and slender.
• Dry and sunny: the Vosges shelter the vineyards from rain, allowing grapes to ripen while keeping their freshness.
• A mosaic of soils: granite, limestone, marl, sandstone and volcanic rocks. The same grape expresses itself differently on each.

Alsace has four “noble” grapes: Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Muscat. Only these are permitted in most Grands Crus.

Alsace and German Riesling: the difference

The grape is the same, but styles often differ. German Riesling is often light, 8–11%, with residual sweetness; trocken indicates dry wine. Alsace Riesling is usually dry, fuller and stronger, 12–13%, with mineral character. If you enjoy dry wine, Alsace Riesling is almost always a safe choice.

Gewürz means “spice” in German, hence “spicy Traminer”. The grape is believed to descend from old Traminer, associated with Tramin village in South Tyrol. Gewurztraminer is recognisable at the first sniff, one of the easiest grapes to identify blind.

• Pinot Gris: peach, smoke and honey; full-bodied, sometimes with residual sugar. With pâtés, duck and mushrooms.

• Muscat: smells of fresh grapes and, unusually, is generally dry in Alsace. A classic aperitif and partner for asparagus.

Alsace's main source of confusion is that the label does not always make the presence of sugar clear.

• Riesling and Muscat are more often dry.

• Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris are often slightly sweet.
• Label clues: a sweetness scale on the back, or sec, dry, demi-sec, off-dry, moelleux, sweet, and doux, very sweet.
• Vendanges Tardives, VT: late harvest, sweet wine.
• Sélection de Grains Nobles, SGN: grapes affected by noble rot, very sweet and concentrated wine.

Fifty-one sites have Alsace Grand Cru status. Their names appear on the label: Schlossberg, granite and Riesling, Rangen, volcanic soils on a steep slope above Thann, Brand, Zinnkoepflé and others. Grand Cru has lower yields and stricter rules. Read more in “Grand Cru and Premier Cru”.

Trimbach, Zind-Humbrecht, Weinbach, Hugel, Albert Boxler, Marcel Deiss, Ostertag, and the Turckheim and Ribeauvillé cooperatives. These are useful names to start with in a shop.

Read more in “Which Wine with Fish and Meat?”.

1. Want dry wine? Choose Alsace Riesling or Muscat and look for sec or the sweetness scale.
2. Want aromatic wine for Asian food? Gewurztraminer.
3. For a special occasion: Grand Cru from a well-known estate.
4. With foie gras: Gewurztraminer or Pinot Gris Vendanges Tardives.
5. German Riesling: look for trocken if you want dry.

Gewurztraminer grows in Alsace, Germany, Austria, South Tyrol, at Tramin, and the New World. Alsace is the benchmark: full, spicy, with rose and lychee. Read more about South Tyrol in “South Tyrol”.

• Simple Riesling and Gewurztraminer: drink in the first two to four years.

• Grand Cru Riesling: five to fifteen years and longer, developing honey notes.
• Vendanges Tardives and SGN: decades.

1. Alsace Riesling and German Riesling trocken: one grape, different styles.
2. Riesling and Gewurztraminer from Alsace: freshness versus spice.
3. Dry Gewurztraminer and Vendanges Tardives: how sweetness changes the grape.

These names make useful starting points: each offers accessible wines as well as Grands Crus.

• Schlossberg, Kaysersberg: Alsace's first Grand Cru, granite, delicate and taut Riesling.

• Rangen, Thann: the southernmost Grand Cru, volcanic soils and a very steep slope; powerful smoky wines.
• Brand, Turckheim: a warm granite slope; its name means “burnt”.
• Hengst, Zinnkoepflé and Sporen: known for Gewurztraminer.

• Vendanges Tardives, “late harvest”: grapes are picked later, after accumulating more sugar. Wine ranges from semi-sweet to sweet, with a full texture and aromas of honey and exotic fruit.

• Sélection de Grains Nobles: noble-rotted berries are hand-selected in several passes. Very sweet and concentrated, rare and expensive, these wines can age for decades.

They may be made only from the four noble grapes, and only in years when the grapes reach the required sugar level.

Riesling:

• colour: pale straw when young, golden with age;

• aromas: lemon, lime, green apple and white flowers; mature wines develop honey, dried fruit and the famous “petrol” notes;
• palate: high, vibrant, refreshing acidity; a sensation of stone and salt, called minerality;
• finish: long and clean.

Gewurztraminer:

• colour: deep gold;

• aromas: rose petals, lychee, ginger, sometimes honey and Turkish delight;
• palate: soft, full, oily, low in acidity and often noticeably sweet;
• finish: spicy with a bitter edge.

A simple test: rose and lychee at the first sniff almost certainly mean Gewurztraminer.

Alsace is one of France's leading Crémant producers, making sparkling wine by the same traditional method as Champagne. Crémant d'Alsace uses Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; rosé uses only Pinot Noir. It costs noticeably less than Champagne and makes an excellent aperitif before a Riesling dinner. Read more in “What Is Crémant?”.

Alsace wines are among the best matches for Asian cuisines:

• sushi and sashimi: dry Riesling, its acidity and minerality echoing rice and fish;

• Thai and Vietnamese dishes with lime and coriander: Riesling;
• Indian curry and spicy dishes: slightly sweet Gewurztraminer, whose sweetness softens the heat;
• Peking duck: Pinot Gris or Gewurztraminer.

An Alsace bottle usually shows five things:

1. Alsace or Alsace Grand Cru: the appellation.
2. Grape: Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris or Muscat; if no grape appears, it is a blend, Edelzwicker or Gentil.
3. Site name: compulsory for Grand Cru, such as Schlossberg or Rangen; other wines sometimes show a lieu-dit, a named site.
4. Producer: estate or cooperative.
5. Sweetness scale on the back, used by many estates from dry to sweet, or sec, demi-sec and moelleux.

Vendanges Tardives or Sélection de Grains Nobles indicate sweet wine. A Grand Cru name means wine from one of the region's 51 finest sites. Read more in “How to Read a Wine Label”.

All Alsace wines are bottled in Alsace in a tall flute bottle, making them easy to spot among other French wines on the shelf.

1. Thinking Alsace wine is German wine. Its style is more often dry and fuller.
2. Expecting dry Gewurztraminer without checking. It often has sweetness; look at the scale.
3. Serving Riesling ice-cold. 8–10 °C is enough, otherwise aromas disappear.
4. Pairing Gewurztraminer with delicate fish. It overwhelms it; it needs spicy dishes.
5. Confusing Vendanges Tardives with ordinary wine. It is sweet wine for foie gras and desserts.

• Crémant d'Alsace: aperitif;

• Riesling: fish and seafood;
• Pinot Gris: pâté and poultry;
• Gewurztraminer: cheese and spicy appetisers;
• Vendanges Tardives: foie gras and dessert.

One bottle of each style is enough for a little Alsace tasting over dinner.

The Alsace tour includes a Riesling vertical at Hugel in Riquewihr, Schlossberg Grand Cru at Weinbach and a comparative tasting of seven Gewurztraminer terroirs at Zind-Humbrecht. → Alsace food and wine tour · Alsace Wine Route. Discover the grapes on location on an Alsace tour.