The Spice is Right – Easy to Enjoy

While Gewürztraminer may be one of the more difficult grape varieties to pronounce, don’t let that stop you from enjoying this classic white wine. Gewürz is the German word for spice and Tramin, a town in the German speaking South Tyrol (Alto Adige) region of Northern Italy, is its ancestral home. A pink skinned grape, the bouquet is unmistakable with typical spicy, aromatic notes of ginger followed by lychees, rose petals, grapefruit and orange marmalade that jump out of the glass. It’s found predominantly planted in southern Germany, France’s Alsace, Eastern Europe plus certain outposts in the New World.

It has always been a key planting in the Nonnengarten vineyard site of the Darting Estate located in the Pfalz village of Dürkheim. For over 20 years, it has shown up at regular intervals on the shelves of LCBO Vintages.The Kabinett designation means it’s a Reserve bottling that is harvested a little later than normal and gives the wine a little more intensity in the bouquet, richness in flavour plus a pleasant tad of sweetness.

For this Thanksgiving Day’s weekend family get-togethers, we would not hesitate to pair this Gewürztraminer with both light and dark turkey meat plus bright cranberry sauce and creamy mashed potatoes. It will also go well with sweet potatoes, brown sugar and fall-themed desserts such as pumpkin pie. 

2022 Darting Dürkheimer Nonnengarten Gewürztraminer Kabinett LCBO # 944181, $24.95