Hofstätter Kolbenhof Gewürztraminer 2005
20th August 2007
A lot of people steer clear of Gewürztraminer. They say it tastes medicinal, that it isn’t dry enough, that it is hard to match with food. To all that I say “phooey”. At its best, Gewürz offers a magnificent cavalcade of tastes and aromas, luscious and varied enough to be drunk on its own. If your wine must accompany a meal, try Gewürztraminer with foie gras, veal or any cold meat. (Some even suggest drinking it with Indian food, a proposal that makes my flesh creep.)
The one valid criticism of Gewürz, at any rate in its Alsatian form, is that lately it has grown too sweet. Many Alsace houses, whose Gewürztraminers were never especially dry in the first place, are now turning out unhappy little syrups, too sticky for everyday drinking yet not sweet enough to accompany desserts. The problem is annoying but not insuperable. There are still plenty of houses, such as the ever-reliable Hugel, who have managed to keep their dry Gewürzes dry. And there is another solution: one can always try a non-Alsatian.
Non-Alsatian, I hear you screech. You mean non-French? Actually, yes. You will find interesting alternatives from New Zealand, Spain and the United States. For my money the most appealing is this one, from northern Italy.
To be precise, this Gewürztraminer comes from the South Tyrol, the German-speaking region on the border with Austria. This is a staggeringly beautiful part of the world, a land of snowy mountains, fairy-tale castles and fragrant hillside vineyards. Its altitude and relative coolness enable it to produce many of Italy’s best white wines. Of these, Kolbenhof is surely the most accomplished Gewürz.
It is made in a village called Tramin, which claims to be the original home of the Gewürztraminer grape. (‘Gewürztraminer’ means ‘aromatic Traminer’.) Kolbenhof is less buttery than its Alsace cousins, more acidulous, but equally fragrant and every bit as delicious. It is deep gold in colour, offers a complex array of fruit flavours and has a pleasingly long finish. In Britain the 2005 should cost around £16, in the US $40.
The house that makes it, Hofstätter, deserves to be better known. As well as the Kolbenhof Gewürztraminer it makes one of Italy’s best Pinot Noirs, Barthenau Vigna St Urbano. These labels are known to Italian wine lovers, but they are not household names, and are scarcely heard of abroad. I find this puzzling and sad. One reason may be that people think these wines are from Germany, which currently makes the least fashionable wines on the planet. Another may be that names like ‘Hofstätter’ and ‘Kolbenhof’ are too difficult to pronounce. In today’s moronic world, where winemakers have to give their products names like ‘Fat Bastard’ to be noticed, such a dispiriting explanation seems only too probable.
