Following last week’s post on spicy wines, I thought it appropriate to delve a little deeper into one of the world’s most identifiable, if difficult to pronounce, grape varieties.

First things first: correct pronunciation. Guh-voorts-tra-meen-er. (I suspect part of Gewürztraminer’s appeal is just conquering this!)

Around the world, like it’s Alsace soul-mate Riesling, Gewurz is not an easy grape to grow. Apart from Alsace, Germany and Austria are the only places in Europe you’ll find it grown with any real success. Elsewhere, once again for a challenging grape variety, it’s New Zealand that leads the way in the New World, although Chile, South Africa, the USA, and even Australia and Canada all produce competent examples.

Gewürztraminer produces profoundly aromatic wines, making it, along with Sauvignon Blanc, one of the first grapes budding wine experts learn to identify from scent alone. At it’s most pungent, you can expect a hedonistic bomb of nectar-laden summer flowers, luscious tropical fruit, head-lifting spice and a big waft of talcum powder.

The palate can be no less of an assault on the senses. Rose petals, lychees, passion-fruit, pot-pourri, and spices ranging from cinnamon and cloves to ginger and black pepper are but a few of the associations by writers and enthusiasts.

To the uninitiated, a wine of so much complexity and character can be overwhelming. True, it’s not for the faint-hearted, but Gewürztraminer’s eminence is revealed alongside equally rich and powerful food.

In it’s traditional home in Alsace, rich duck or chicken liver pâté, roast goose or onion tart all make wonderful accompaniments, but it’s further afield that Gewürz has found a new and loyal following. The spices in Indian, Thai and Chinese food often make spectacular catalysts for the spice in the wine to really show off, and the underlying fruit sweetness and relatively low acidity works to soften any heat.

If you haven’t tried it yet, put Gewürztraminer ahead of a beer or fire extinguisher next time you order a curry. And if you’re still stuck with the pronunciation, just point to it on the menu – I do it all the time for Kaeng Khiao Wan Kai.

Check out our range of Gewürztraminer’s here.

This line is the provocative lead-in on the cover of April’s Decanter magazine, and before I’d even got to page 46 it had my mind racing. Where would you start? What an absurd – no, disturbing idea! You can’t pick a favourite wine any more than you can pick a favourite child, I tell anyone that asks the question!

But interestingly, let the question sink in for a bit and it does trigger an enlightening series of questions into your deepest wine-drinking preferences. What’s particularly provocative is that it’s not the classic ‘what’s your desert island wine?’. It’s much more profound than that. If you could only drink one wine. Ever again.

Firstly, red or white? Or rosé or sparkling? Or sherry, or port, or another fortified wine? Dry or sweet, or somewhere in between? New World or Old World? Do you have a country of origin that you could spend the rest of your wine-drinking life in? Or a single grape that you could pick over any other?

What was fascinating was the variety of responses from the Decanter contributors to whom the question was posed. Of 16 experts, not one chose a Bordeaux and only two plumped for Burgundy, despite the magazine constantly having to defend accusations of bias for the world’s two most famous wine regions.

Only half of the panel selected wine in the traditional sense – red or white – five red, three white. As many chose Champagne as chose red wine, with the final three opting for fortifieds, two for sherry, one for a personal favourite of mine, Madeira.

My own process of deduction took me through, in order:

• Colour – white, just. The finest wines I’ve ever tasted have been red, but the wine I couldn’t live without most is white.
• Grape – it just has to be Riesling. Chardonnay offers variety, Sauvignon Blanc gets my juices going, I love good Chenin, Pinot Gris, Marsanne, Roussanne, Albarino, Viognier… but Riesling has the structure, the sweetness, the finesse, the ageing capacity, and the ability to match with so many foods, that I feel it’s the one I’d miss most.
• Region. Oh dear. I mean, it’s not like Riesling can be grown anywhere, so the choice is actually relatively limited. But you’ve the homeland of Germany and the Mosel, neighbouring Alsace, fabulous New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Oregon…

OK, I’ve decided. If I could only drink one wine ever again it would be delectable, adaptable, majestic Riesling from Alsace.

So what’s yours? Give us a country, a region, a grape, even a specific label – go on, if there was only one…