The other night, a friend brought over a bottle of Elena Walch’s rose’ for us to imbibe as an aperitif prior to a night of indulging in some truly extraordinary Cab Sauvs. I enjoyed the rose’, so tonight, as I perused a rather sparse wine list while waiting on one of my editors for a meeting, I selected the EW Gewürztraminer 2014 in the hope that it might prove similarly interesting.

The golden hue and floral nose are almost exactly what I expect from a Gewurz, no more and no less. The body, however, was a bit of a surprise. Where only the faintest petrol notes linger in otherwise floral sweetness of the nose, the petrol really comes through on the palate, overpowering any fruits that might otherwise prevail with a dryness that smacks of gasoline. Interesting, yes, but frankly, I prefer my petrol on the nose and my off-sweet fruit profiles on the palate of these German varietals. It does, however, lend itself to an exceedingly clean finish.

Austrians (or people of Austrian heritage) making wine in northern Italy is interesting. Petrol on the palate is interesting. This wine, too, is interesting, though in truth not destined to be a favorite.