Glera is the white grape behind Prosecco, Italy's most celebrated sparkling wine.
Wines
84
Acidity
Body
White Grape · Trentino-South Tyrol
Gewürztraminer
Gewurztraminer is Italy's most exotically perfumed white: a pink-skinned Alto Adige grape from the village of Tramin that erupts with lychee, rose petal and Turkish delight, full-bodied and low in acidity, and made dry far more often than its sweet reputation suggests.
Gewürztraminer, called Traminer Aromatico in Italian, is Alto Adige's lychee-scented aromatic white. Born in the village of Termeno (Tramin) on the Bassa Atesina, it anchors Alto Adige DOC, Trentino DOC and Friuli appellations like Collio and Colli Orientali del Friuli.
5
Bottles live now
5
UK retailers
1
Denominations
Before you buy
The words that change the wine
Gewurztraminer
The German spelling used in Alto Adige, the grape's Italian heartland. Gewurz means spiced, added to mark the wildly aromatic, pink-skinned clone, and here it is almost always a dry white.
Traminer Aromatico
The official Italian name for the identical grape, standard on Friuli and Trentino labels. Aromatico does the same job as Gewurz: it flags the perfumed version, not a different wine.
Traminer
The older, plainer base name of the family, tied to its Savagnin parent. The aromatic mutation is what earns the Gewurz or Aromatico tag, so a bottle without it is the milder relative.
Vendemmia Tardiva
Late harvest. The lusciously sweet, honeyed exception that feeds the always-sweet myth, though it is a small niche beside all the dry Alto Adige Gewurztraminer.
The anchor fact: One grape, several names. Gewurztraminer and Traminer Aromatico are the exact same intensely perfumed variety, and despite a lychee-and-rose nose that reads as sweet, the great majority of Italian bottlings are dry.
Taste · Where it sits
What it’s actually like in the glass
Forget scores out of five. Here’s Gewürztraminer described against grapes you already know.
BodyFull and oily
DelicateFull
One of the fullest, most viscous dry whites in Italy: rich, broad and almost oily in the mouth, closer in weight to a light red than to a crisp northern white. Alto Adige's altitude is what stops all that weight from turning heavy.
TanninBarely there
NoneGrippy
Pressed off its skins, so effectively tannin-free, but the deeply pigmented pink berries can leave a faint, almost bitter phenolic grip on the finish that most white grapes never show.
AcidityLow
SoftRacy
The grape's defining weakness and its signature both: naturally one of the lowest-acid noble whites, which is why it tastes soft and broad rather than zippy. Alto Adige's cool alpine nights lend just enough freshness to keep it in balance.
Fruit & sweetnessOff-dry to dry
Bone-dryDessert-sweet
A trap for the nose: the lychee-and-rose perfume screams sweet, yet most Italian Gewurztraminer is dry to just off-dry. Genuine sweetness turns up only in late-harvest Vendemmia Tardiva bottlings.
Key flavours
Lychee
The signature that makes Gewurztraminer the easiest white to name blind: a burst of fresh, peeled lychee that leaps from the glass before anything else, sweet-smelling even when the wine is bone dry.
Rose petal
Crushed rose petal and Turkish delight, the floral half of the lychee-and-rose duo; this heady perfume is exactly what tricks people into expecting a sweet wine from a dry Alto Adige bottling.
Spicy
This is the Gewurz itself: a warm dusting of clove, ginger and cinnamon, the exotic sweet spice that gave the grape its name and that no other Italian white delivers so unmistakably.
Apricot
In riper Alto Adige vintages the fruit fills out into ripe apricot and mango, the tropical, full-bodied side of the grape that comes with its generous phenolic ripeness.
Honey
A honeyed richness that comes from ripeness and low acidity rather than sugar, deepening toward beeswax in older bottles even when the wine itself finishes dry.
Orange blossom
A lifted orange-blossom top note rides over the lychee, adding a cologne-like fragrance that marks Gewurztraminer out as Italy's most openly perfumed white rather than a subtle, mineral one.
Marzipan
A bitter-almond, marzipan note on the finish, tied to the faintly phenolic grip the pink skins leave behind: an unusual, giveaway trait for a white wine.
Racy · Crisp
Round · Soft
Light-bodied
Bold · Full
Glera
Chardonnay
Pinot Grigio
Vermentino
Garganega
Cortese
Gewürztraminer
The map
Gewürztraminer is full-bodied, soft, low acidity, mapped against other white grapes you can buy. The closer a grape sits, the more its weight and freshness resemble Gewürztraminer.
Gewürztraminerfull-bodied, soft, low acidity
Gleramuch lighter, far crisper
Chardonnaylighter, far crisper
Pinot Grigiomuch lighter, far crisper
Vermentinomuch lighter, far crisper
Garganegamuch lighter, far crisper
Cortesemuch lighter, far crisper
Is this for you?
An honest gut-check
Reach for it when…
A bold red that just works
- You want a white that smells like nothing else on the shelf, all lychee, rose and sweet spice, and a guaranteed party trick in a blind tasting.
- You are pairing fragrant, gently spiced food, from Alto Adige speck and dumplings to a mild, creamy Indian or Thai curry, where a soft, perfumed, faintly off-dry white cushions the spice.
- You need a wine with the weight and exotic scent to stand up to pungent washed-rind or blue cheese, where leaner dry whites simply disappear.
Maybe skip it if…
You’re after something else tonight
- You prize racy, high-acid freshness and citrus cut: this is among the lowest-acid whites there is, broad and soft, the opposite of a Carricante or a mountain Pinot Grigio.
- You want a quiet, neutral house white that stays out of the way: Gewurztraminer's perfume dominates the table and overwhelms delicate dishes.
- You are expecting a sweet dessert wine just because it smells sweet: most Italian bottlings are dry, so reach for a Vendemmia Tardiva or a Moscato d'Asti if you actually want sugar.
Serving guide
Pour it at its best
Serve at
10-12°C
Serve it cool but not icy, around 10 to 12 C: chill it too hard and you mute the lychee-and-rose perfume that is the whole point, while a touch of warmth lets the aromatics and oily texture open out.
Glass
Tulip Glass
Reach for a tulip glass, whose tapered bowl funnels the heady rose, lychee and spice up to the nose; a narrow flute or a tumbler simply throws that perfume away.
Drink within
2-3 days
Drink most bottles within two to three years of the vintage, while the exotic aromatics are at their most vivid; with so little acid to hold the line, everyday Gewurztraminer softens rather than sharpens with age.
Cellar
-10 years
Only serious dry Alto Adige bottlings and sweet Vendemmia Tardiva reward five to ten years, turning to honey, beeswax and a smoky, almost petrol-like depth; ordinary examples gain nothing from the rack.
On the table
What to eat with Gewürztraminer
Start with the home-table matches that made the grape, then browse the full cuisine library.
Its own alpine table
Spatzle or Tyrolean dumplings
In the German-speaking valleys around Tramin this is the traditional wine for the local table: buttery spinach spatzle and speck-and-cheese dumplings are rich rather than delicate, so Gewurztraminer's weight, exotic perfume and whisper of off-dryness ride over them where its low acid never matters.
Perfume against pungent blue
Gorgonzola, pear, and walnut risotto
Gorgonzola and Gewurztraminer is a classic for a reason: the wine's honeyed weight and lychee-rose scent tame the salty, pungent blue the way a drizzle of honey does, while the dish's pear and walnut echo the grape's own orchard-fruit and marzipan notes.
A cushion for fragrant spice
Chicken korma
A mild, creamy korma scented with cardamom and almond meets its match in a low-acid, faintly off-dry Gewurztraminer: the soft sweetness cools the spice while the wine's own clove-and-marzipan perfume amplifies the dish's fragrance rather than fighting it.
Mirror to Thai aromatics
Tom kha gai
The galangal, lemongrass and lime of this coconut soup chime almost note for note with Gewurztraminer's ginger, rose and lychee, so the pairing works by mirroring aromatics; the touch of residual sugar also takes the edge off any chilli heat.
Browse every pairing
Buy it · three to start with
Not sure which bottle? Start here
A curated trio across the price range, then every Gewürztraminer on sale in the UK right now.
Entry · everyday
2 retailers
Puiatti Traminer Aromatico
Friuli/Friuli Venezia Giulia
2 retailers
£14.30
View Wine
Why this one: Bottled under the grape's Italian name, Traminer Aromatico, this is a Friulian house's clean, dry, unoaked take: all lychee, rose and orchard fruit with no sweetness, and an easy, inexpensive way to meet the perfume even though the grape's spiritual home lies west in Alto Adige.
5 bottles
2 retailers
Puiatti Traminer Aromatico
Friuli/Friuli Venezia Giulia
2 retailers
£14.30
View Wine
1 retailer
Petruskellerei Gewürztraminer
Appellation TBD
1 retailer
£17.55
View Wine
1 retailer
Gewurztraminer Alto Adige DOC, Classica
Alto Adige/Südtirol
1 retailer
£21.21
View Wine
1 retailer
Nussbaumer Gewurztraminer
Alto Adige/Südtirol
1 retailer
£32.70
View Wine
1 retailer
Passito Alto Adige DOC 'Comtess', Sanct Valentin
Alto Adige/Südtirol
1 retailer
£44.56
View Wine
Denominations
Where it earns a name on the label
The appellations where Gewürztraminer plays a starring role.
Where it grows
The places it calls home
Trentino-South Tyrol
Italy's alpine wine country: Teroldego from the Piana Rotaliana, Trento DOC sparklers raised on dolomitic limestone, and Alto Adige whites perfumed by glacial Read more
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Italy's white-wine heartland, where Friulano, Ribolla Gialla and skin-contact orange wines meet alpine air, Adriatic light and the cooking of San Daniele and Read more
The terroir
Gewurztraminer barely strays beyond Italy's alpine north-east, and for good reason: only cool nights keep its naturally low acidity in check and its perfume precise, so it clusters in the German- and Ladin-speaking valleys where the Traminer story began.
Alto Adige (Sudtirol)
The steep, German-speaking valleys of the far north, gathered around Tramin (Termeno) on the South Tyrolean Wine Road.
The benchmark: mostly bone-dry, intensely perfumed and full-bodied, with alpine altitude lending the freshness that keeps a low-acid grape in balance. This is Gewurztraminer's spiritual home and the village that named the whole family.
Trentino
The valleys immediately south of Alto Adige, sharing the same region but a warmer, more Italian-speaking heart.
Grown here as Traminer Aromatico, it tends to a slightly softer, rounder style, and also lends its perfume to local blends and sparkling bases.
Friuli Venezia Giulia
The hills of Italy's far north-east, on the border with Slovenia.
The home of the Traminer Aromatico name on the label, where Friuli's white-wine tradition turns out dry, aromatic, precisely made bottlings like Puiatti's.
Editorial
About Gewürztraminer
Traminer Aromatico is a colour mutation of the Savagnin family, named for the Alto Adige village of Termeno, known in German as Tramin, on the slopes of the Bassa Atesina between Bolzano and Salorno. The German prefix Gewürz means spice, capturing the variety's hallmark perfume of rose, lychee, ginger and Asian five-spice. Berries colour pink to copper at maturity yet ferment to a golden-yellow wine; the Italian DOC system files it as a vino bianco regardless.
What makes Gewurztraminer smell so unmistakably of lychee and rose is not winemaking but chemistry: the grape carries an unusually high concentration of a single terpene, cis-rose oxide, the very same compound that scents fresh lychees and rose petals. It is why a glass of Alto Adige Gewurztraminer can be picked out blind faster than almost any other white in the world.
The aromatic chemistry of GewurztraminerThe grape is fussy. It demands cool nights, calcareous-volcanic soils and a long hang to keep its low natural acidity in balance, which is why Italian production sits almost entirely in Trentino-Alto Adige (around 150 hectares clustered around Termeno and Cortaccia) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (Collio, Colli Orientali del Friuli, Carso). Outside this Alpine band, the wine flattens.
Three styles dominate. Dry Alto Adige Gewürztraminer DOC carries 13.5 to 14.5 percent alcohol with a textured, almost waxy palate; producers such as Tramin, Hofstätter and Sanct Valentin set the benchmark. Vendemmia Tardiva late-harvest cuvees show apricot jam, marmalade and saffron at around 50 grams per litre of residual sugar. Passito or Spätlese expressions from botrytised fruit fetch top scores for ageing potential of a decade or more.
The pairing logic flows from low acid plus high aromatics: it tames chilli, fish sauce and wasabi where most Italian whites surrender, and wraps around washed-rind cheeses, foie gras and Tyrolean cured meats with no friction.
Good to know
Frequently asked
Italian Traminer Aromatico is most often dry, especially Alto Adige DOC and Trentino DOC bottlings, even though the grape's heady aromatics can taste off-dry on first sip. Late-harvest Vendemmia Tardiva and Passito versions are intentionally sweet.
Lychee, rose petal, ginger, candied citrus and a touch of warm spice on the nose; full bodied, soft acidity, slightly oily texture and a long, perfumed finish. The lychee note is so consistent because both share the rose-oxide aroma compound.
Alto Adige speck, smoked trout, canederli with bacon, washed-rind cheeses such as Stilfser, foie gras, and spice-driven Asian dishes from Thai green curry to Sichuan mapo tofu. For dessert, a Vendemmia Tardiva works with apricot tarts and Gorgonzola Dolce.
Almost exclusively in the north. The heart is Alto Adige (especially Termeno and Cortaccia), followed by Trentino and the Friuli Venezia Giulia denominations Collio, Colli Orientali del Friuli and Carso. Outside this Alpine belt, the wine loses its perfume.
It is German: ge-VURTS-trah-mee-ner, with the stress on the second syllable. Italians pronounce it almost the same way; the Italian synonym Traminer Aromatico is often used on local back labels alongside the German name.
Dry Alto Adige bottlings drink best within five years, though top Sanct Valentin and Hofstätter cuvees hold for a decade. Vendemmia Tardiva and Passito versions can age fifteen to twenty years, deepening into preserved-apricot and saffron territory.
Explore by style
Wine styles made from Gewürztraminer
Jump to the editorial guide for each style this grape turns up in.
Keep exploring