Young unoaked  Gewürztraminer, with complex aromas and flavours: guava, lychee, honeysuckle, blood orange and toast

This wine from Kurtatsch is a beautiful expression of Gewürztraminer – a white grape famous for its gold colour, tropical flavours and the rosy blush on its skin (pictured). This particular wine offers aromas of guava and lychee with a touch of honey sweetness and a creamy texture. During maturation it’s aged on fine lees, which bring flavours of toasted bread to the mix.

Grapes for this wine are grown on an east-facing slope of the Alps, at 300 metres above sea level. The soil is a mixture of limestone, dark grey rocky clay, and a conglomerate of limestone and dolomite rocks.

Gewürztraminer is a hard grape to grow: it needs lots of sunshine to develop its flavour, but if it’s taken too far south it loses its freshness and becomes stale. That’s why it thrives in Alto Adige. Here, with over 300 days of sunshine per year, the grapes can ripen fully. When planted at an elevation, the cool mountain nights help to retain the grapes’ natural acidity and freshness.

Winemaking

Grapes are pressed and left overnight at a cold temperature to extract flavour from the skins. The juice is then fermented at a controlled temperature in stainless steel tanks. The gross lees are filtered out, and the wine is left to age for some time on the fine lees. This creates the creamy texture and adds the flavour of toasted bread.

Tasting notes

Pale gold colour. Pronounced aromas of lychee, passion fruit, guava, blood orange, honeysuckle, elderflower, banana and red apple, underpinned by a hint of toast. In the mouth, this Kurtatsch Gewurztraminer has medium acidity and is off-dry with a touch of honeyed sweetness. It offers a smooth creamy texture and a high level of alcohol. Thanks to its powerful aromas, it has a long tropical finish. This wine can be enjoyed now, and will continue to develop in the cellar.

Wine Geek’s verdict: This Gewurz is very aromatic. It’s kind of a “wow” wine – it charms you as soon as you open the bottle. It has everything I like in wine – tropical fruits, herbs, a touch of honey – and nothing I dislike. When it comes to alcohol content it’s a bit on the high side, but 14% ABV is becoming the norm in Italy these days. This wine has four clusters of aromas (tropical fruit, floral, citrus fruit, lees), so it’s quite complex. It will pair nicely with food that has its own taste, but be careful – it may overwhelm delicate dishes like sashimi.

Awards

Vini Buoni d’Italia – La corona (2019 vintage) | I Vini di Veronelli – Two stars (2016 vintage)