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The French Winophiles Dig Into Alsace with #AlsaceRocks

This month the French Winophiles are collaborating with the kind folks at Alsace Wines in their summer promotion, Alsace Rocks! This post is one in a series of four wine pairing challenges for Alsace wines with American dishes.

Lychee and melon aromas jump out of the glass to meet you, it’s Gewurztraminer

Slow smoking beef short ribs means 6+ hours at the grill. Time enough to preview the wine.

Spicy and savory rub, but not sweet. We’ll let the wine provide the sweetness

We love supporting our local food makers/growers/farmers. Short ribs and eggs from Sunshine Harvest Farm. Cheese from Singing Hills Goat Farm, and Kimchi from You Betcha!

We have been exploring ancient grains this summer and this was a major winner. An amazing combination of flavors and textures.

Pairing #4 Alsace Gewurztraminer with Savory, Smoky, and Hot Spicy
This was our favorite challenge of our assigned four bottles of wine. Gewurztraminer (no ümlauts in the Alsace spelling) is little known in the US. Super aromatic with spicy fruit aromas, the wine is often a bit sweet and not overly acidic. If you have a dish with some spice, however, Gewurztraminer can be a stellar pairing.  Give it a try!

Our dinner included smoky, savory, spicy (NOT sweet) short ribs, with a variety of textures and fresh flavors in the quinoa grain bowl. The final touch was some spicy-hot kimchi to wake up the palate. The Gewurztraminer was definitely up to the task!

Domaine Pfister Gewurztraminer AOC “Tradition” 2013 (sample, $30 SRP)
From the winery: “Mélanie Pfister, the eighth generation of her family, is a young and dynamic winemaker who took over from her father with the 2006 vintage, but dad is far from retiring. He very proudly works the 25 acres of vineyards as hard as he ever did; he just no longer sweats the cellar work.” Mélanie did her homework prior to taking the reins, doing internships in multiple wineries in France and New Zealand.

Eye: Clear, pale lemon color. Wine sheets immediately in the glass with no legs.
Nose: Clean, high intensity, rich fruit with clear, clean, fresh lychee fruit jumping out of the glass. Also backed up by ripe cantaloupe, honeydew, a bit of pineapple.
Mouth: Off-dry, high flavor intensity. Luscious texture hides medium acidity. Wine tastes sweet but is nicely offset by good acidity, lively flavors in the glass. Fruit flavors of ripe melon, lychee, carry into a medium+ length finish that ends with just a touch of bitterness, very nice.