The Merry Drinker

If you have come across Gewürztraminer, you probably know the Alsace version. Other places do make the stuff: the Italian South Tyrol claims to have invented it, and there are interesting variants from Spain, California and New Zealand. But these wines could never be mistaken for the Alsatian model. Their aromas may be as rich, but they are usually leaner and crisper; no less delicious, but in a different way.

So it is interesting to come across a Gewürz whose makers consciously strive for the Alsace effect. This one is from the Finger Lakes area of New York, the US’s third most important wine-growing state.

Wine has been grown here since the nineteenth century, most of it bad. The poor quality used to be put down to the region’s severe frosts. As noone could do much about the climate, the wine was more or less written off.

Then in the early 1950s one Konstantin Frank arrived from the Ukraine, armed with a PhD in viticulture and a splendid disdain for received opinion. Dr Frank quickly decided that the inferiority of Finger Lakes wine had nothing to do with the weather. He argued that traditional European grapes would flourish here if their vines were grafted onto hardy enough rootstocks. Presently he found an investor willing to help put his ideas into practice. The results were spectacular. Dr Frank’s Riesling stood comparison with the finest German versions. It won awards. Before long the Finger Lakes was recognised as a world-class winemaking region.

Riesling remains the grape for which the area is best known. But I have lately tried an impressive Pinot Noir from these parts, and now this remarkable Gewürztraminer. Its makers, Standing Stone, are based on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake. Their Gewürztraminer vines are planted on a steep, sunny hillside where the soil is thin and slaty. The resulting wine is coloured a deep, dark gold (like old Sauternes, though that is the only resemblance). Its aromas are of lavender and spice; its flavours are of tropical fruit. It certainly has the thickness and opulence of Alsace Gewürz, but the taste still differs somewhat, and nowadays no Alsatian wine is this dry (a point in Standing Stone’s favour). It is strong (13.9%) and perhaps a little overbearing: after finishing the first bottle one does not reflexively reach for a second. But that first bottle is enjoyable, distinctive, and well worth $18 (£10) of anyone’s money.