URGENT : Difference between traminer (savagnin) and gewurztraminer?!
URGENT : Difference between traminer (savagnin) and gewurztraminer?
I have this assignment that's really confusing about wines. Can anyone help me ASAP to find difference between traminer and gewurztraminer. I've searched the topic by using many search engines but nothing satisfies me. Thanks for your help.
Answers:
Be careful, it may be a trick question :)
Because genetically there is no difference, only clonal variation, and in some places the names are used interchangeably.
Gewurtztraminer is a clone of Traminer (i.e. they are genetically identical) and gets the name because it has more flavor -- it is 'more perfumed - in other words, Gewurtztraminer is the perfumed, or spicy, traminer
Traminer is grown fairly widely in Eastern Europe -- indeed I tasted a Traminer from Slovenia at the weekend, but it doesn't have the 'oomph' of Gewurtztraminer which is why that clone has proliferated in the west after its success in Alsace.
Actually, I think from their taste, some wines sold as Gewurtztraminer are in fact Traminer or have a large number of those vines amongsth the vineyards as not all Gewurtztraminer wines seem to me to be particularly distinctive.
Information about grape vines is confusing and it is only DNA profiling that can actually nail what is what -- the information I have given comes from the Third Edition of the Oxford Companion to Wine which was published last year and so is probably the most up to date source.
The interesting thing about the Savagnin variant is that it grows a sherry like flor in the Jura region of France when used inmaking Vin Jaune.
So your question has two answers - genetically there is no difference, they are clones, the difference is in the type of wine they make....
If you can find a Traminer it may be useful to include a tasting notes of that and Gewurtztraminer.
All the best, feel free to contact me if you have a follow up question
Source(s):
see my profile
Savagnin or Savagnin blanc or Traminer is a white wine grape variety mostly grown in Jura in France.
It is the basis of the famous vin jaune of Jura, which can only be made from this grape. It is very late ripening, and may be picked as late as December.
In Alsace a pink-skinned variant known as Klevener de Heiligenstein, Heiligensteiner Klevener or Savagnin rose exists.
Savagnin is very similar in looks to the rare white Traminer grape, which is a less perfumed version of Gewürztraminer.
Now you know.