WineLovers Discussion Group

Tried this last night at dinner:
1. Dom.Andre et Mireille Tissot Traminer AC: Arbois/Jura (13%) V par StephaneTissot 2004: Med.dark gold color; some spicy/floral/nutmeg/GWT/perfumed rather earthy/minerally/chalky slight nutty/oxidized very interesting/unusual nose; tart/lean/minerally/chalky mildly spicy/floral/GWT slight nutty/oxidized interesting flavor; long rather minerally/chalky/earthy/stoney light floral/spicy/GWT fairly lean/austere interesting finish; speaks mostly of Arbois minerality/chalky w/ nuances of spicy/GWT; a very interesting rendition of Traminer. $27.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Oftentimes, "interesting" is used to describe a wine you don't like but feel compelled to say something nice about. In this case "interesting" .NOT.= "bad". I really liked this wine and appreciated its minerality and low-key GWT character. Nice stuff.
Tom

TomHill wrote: a very interesting rendition of Traminer.

You do know that Traminer is another local name for Savagnin. So it has nothing to do with Gewurztraminer. I was also confused/surprised when I first had the wine and thought it was Gewurztraminer. But I liked it regardless.

Rahsaan wrote:

TomHill wrote: a very interesting rendition of Traminer.

You do know that Traminer is another local name for Savagnin. So it has nothing to do with Gewurztraminer. I was also confused/surprised when I first had the wine and thought it was Gewurztraminer. But I liked it regardless.

I guess I did know that, but had forgotten it. But the slightly floral character spoke to me of a mild-mannered GWT-like wine.
Tom

I thought that Savagnin and Gewürztraminer were both spin-offs of Traminer. Challenging to keep them straight, especially since the names (with many other variations) are interchanged at times.

Better late than...
According to Jancis, Savagnin and Traminer have identical DNA and Gewurztraminer is the musque mutation of Traminer.

Hi Tom -

Thanks for the interesting note. I've never encountered as Savagnin that was actually labeled as Traminer, though Dan and Rahsaan are both right - Savagnin and the non-spicy Traminer are indeed the same thing.

Confusingly, there are some wines from Alto Adige that are labeled as "Traminer", which are definitely Gewurztraminer, as opposed to Savagnin.

Andrew Bair wrote:Hi Tom -
Thanks for the interesting note. I've never encountered as Savagnin that was actually labeled as Traminer, though Dan and Rahsaan are both right - Savagnin and the non-spicy Traminer are indeed the same thing.
Confusingly, there are some wines from Alto Adige that are labeled as "Traminer", which are definitely Gewurztraminer, as opposed to Savagnin.

I don't see often AltoAdige wines labeled as Traminer...usually as GWT, Andrew. But they usually speak strongly of GWT when I do try them.
Tom

TomHill wrote:

Andrew Bair wrote:Hi Tom -
Thanks for the interesting note. I've never encountered as Savagnin that was actually labeled as Traminer, though Dan and Rahsaan are both right - Savagnin and the non-spicy Traminer are indeed the same thing.
Confusingly, there are some wines from Alto Adige that are labeled as "Traminer", which are definitely Gewurztraminer, as opposed to Savagnin.

I don't see often AltoAdige wines labeled as Traminer...usually as GWT, Andrew. But they usually speak strongly of GWT when I do try them.
Tom

Actually, I've also had an Austrian 'Traminer' eiswein, which was most likely Gewurz given the pronounced floral aromas.

Traminer Aromatico is the Italian way of saying Gewürztraminer, at least outside of the German labelled wines of the Alto Adige. (The smaller producers all use German, some of the larger producers use Italian labels for export marketing.)

I think the Alto Adige region is having trouble giving up on GWZ as indigenous, although they clearly must. Well, the name is indigenous...

Back in the early mid '60s when we lived near Nancy, France; we could wines from Alsace made from both Traminer and Gewurtztraminer at our local store. Don't remember the producers, but both wines were very different.

“Traminer” (like “Pinot” and “Muscat”) should be viewed as a “family of grapes”. Consisting of possible several variations- “White Traminer”; “Red Traminer”; “Gris Traminer”; “Large berry Traminer”; “Small berry Traminer”; “Musque (aromatic) Traminer”; “Non Musque (non- aromatic) Traminer”; “Spicy Traminer”; etc. Since most of us only deal with the wines produced from grapes (the various wine styles and types- “oxidation style” vs. “non- oxidation style”; barrel vs. stainless steel for instance) just makes things more complicated. The name “Gewürztraminer” or “Spicy Traminer” came about because of a particular style or type of wine that was produced from a given grape. (Or in some cases just by the way the grape tasted and smelled, what it looked like, where it came from etc.)

Salute