Gewürztraminer is a white grape of the species Vitis vinifera with roots in the Tyrol area on the border between northern Italy and Austria. Today Alsace in France is the grape's most important homeland, and this is where many associate it with its most characterful expressions. It is also grown commercially in Germany and Austria as well as a number of other areas, so you encounter it in several different styles.
Its character is easy to recognise. Gewürztraminer produces aromatic, full-bodied white wines with a distinctly floral and aromatic stamp. The spicy note that has given the grape its name comes from terpenes in the grape's skin. To unfold the full spicy complexity it requires well-developed, ripe grapes, and that is precisely why the grape thrives best where it is allowed to ripen properly.
In the glass it is typically a wine with naturally low acidity and high alcohol potential, which gives a round and generous experience. This makes Gewürztraminer a grape that likes to fill the palate well rather than playing on fresh sharpness.
The grape also appears further south. In Spain it is an approved white variety in Ribera's IGP, permitted in Calatayud and well established in the vineyards of Somontano DO, where it has gained a solid foothold. More rarely it turns up in Bierzo, just as it is grown on an experimental basis at wineries in Spain. This testifies to a grape that has both a clear geographic core and a curious spread.
Gewürztraminer goes by several names around Europe, among them Traminer, Tramini, Traminac and Heida, which reflects its long history and its journey across national borders. If you want to explore the aromatic and full-bodied style, it is an obvious place to begin when you feel like a white wine with a distinct aroma and a soft, spicy personality.