A breathtaking, lip-smacking gewürz

published 4 February 2020

2018 Gewürztraminer, Domaine Weinbach, Alsace, France £25.08, sold in cases of six, Justerini & Brooks, justerinis.com, 020-7484 6430, email:justbrooksorders@justerinis.com

My favourite winery in the whole of Alsace is Domaine Weinbach. The old vintages look exquisite, the elite cuvées are spectacular and every wine I have tasted from there has been memorable. But there is one category of wine from this amazing producer that I rarely mention and this is remiss of me. The so-called “straightforward” or “entry-level” wines (I prefer the term “estate” wines) are simply spectacular – not just in terms of value for money, given that they come from the greatest producer in the region, but in terms of pure expression of their individual grape varieties.

My featured gewürz is the quintessential definition of this grape in crystalline, liquid, dreamy form. It is aromatically perfect with no traces of confection or, indeed, soapiness. The palate is lithe, pliable, glisteningly clean and the finish is crisp and lip-smacking. It is the greatest value and most accurate example of this grape that I know.

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It is also a gastronome’s most exciting food and wine-matching weapon. Gone are the days of simply saying that Alsace gewürz goes with all forms of pâté or, the awful catch-all term, “Asian food”. This is a heavenly, challenging, multi-layered wine with blushingly beautiful near-tropical tones balanced by an ice cool, mid-palate brightness. It can go with anything. Weinbach’s 2018 Pinot Blanc (£18.88) and 2018 Riesling Cuvée Théo (£24.68), both sold in cases of six, are also simply breathtaking.

• Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewukes.com)

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Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.