{"id":359,"date":"2015-02-27T00:25:58","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T00:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/?p=359"},"modified":"2015-02-27T00:25:58","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T00:25:58","slug":"q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Q & A with Claiborne & Churchill Winery’s Clay Thompson: \u201cWhy Gew\u00fcrztraminer?\u201d And other good questions…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gew\u00fcrztraminer<\/em> is a mouthful, in more ways than one. After 30 years of making, selling and championing wines from this lesser-known variety, Claiborne & Churchill Winery<\/strong> Founder, Clay Thompson<\/strong>, knows enough about its history, foibles and triumphs to be dubbed \u201cThe Godfather of Gew\u00fcrz\u201d by staff and all who know him. And with the recent release of C&C\u2019s Alsatian-style 2014 Dry Gew\u00fcrztraminer, this fascinating grape is most definitely on his mind.<\/p>\n

\"Claiborne<\/a><\/p>\n

What does this crazy German word Gew\u00fcrztraminer mean?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Clay Thompson: \u201cGew\u00fcrztraminer\u201d is actually TWO words. The first part (\u201cGew\u00fcrz\u201d) is a normal German noun, meaning \u201cspice.\u201d The second part (\u201ctraminer\u201d) is not a normal noun but a variant of a place-name, a town called \u201cTramin,\u201d located in the German-speaking area of Northern Italy.<\/p>\n

What are Gew\u00fcrztraminer\u2019s origins?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For decades we\u2019ve all been spouting the party line that the Gew\u00fcrztraminer<\/a> grape originated in Tramin\/Termeno, and in fact there are thousand-year-old records of a wine there called \u201cTraminer.\u201d Now along comes DNA research showing that Traminer is actually a variant of a somewhat obscure grape called \u201cSavignin Blanc\u201d (not to be confused with Sauvignon Blanc), and its home is northeastern France and Southwestern Germany rather than northern Italy.<\/p>\n

\"Claiborne<\/a><\/p>\n

How and why did you get into Gew\u00fcrztraminer?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My wife [partner, Fredericka Churchill] and I were always rather \u201cEuropean\u201d in our wine preferences. We were both very fond of German and Alsatian wines, so when we got this wacky idea to leave our comfy jobs in academia and move to California \u201cto start a winery\u201d (as if that were a simple thing to do), we took our inspiration from those wines. In the summer of 1983 we went to Alsace and hiked along the \u201cWine Road\u201d from village to village, tasting the wines and talking to the vintners. We came back inspired and in the fall bought eight tons of Gew\u00fcrztraminer and Riesling grapes from a local vineyard and made the first vintage \u2013 550 cases \u2013 of Claiborne & Churchill.<\/p>\n

How does Alsatian-style Gew\u00fcrztraminer differ from, say, German Gew\u00fcrztraminer?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s generally agreed that the Alsace versions of this wine are more aromatic than their German or Italian cousins. But historically there is another major difference between Alsace wines and the German wines across the border. In a nutshell: Germans make \u2018em sweet, Alsatians make \u2018em dry. Everybody knows how lovely the delicate sweet Mosel wines are (and how cloyingly sweet the inexpensive versions like Liebfraumilch are). And everybody knows how firm and dry and well-structured an Alsatian Gew\u00fcrz or Riesling is. For years we have explained our C&C wines in this way. If I had a nickel for every time I\u2019ve said, \u201ctry it, it\u2019s fruity but dry,\u201d I could have retired long ago.<\/p>\n

\"Gewurztraminer<\/a><\/p>\n

Where does C&C Gew\u00fcrztraminer come from?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the early years, our Gew\u00fcrz came from here in the Edna Valley, then from neighboring Santa Barbara and Monterey Counties, finally settling on the latter; especially the Arroyo Seco area, where a very cool microclimate produces wonderful aromatics.<\/p>\n

What are the typical aromas and flavors associated with wine made from Gew\u00fcrztraminer?<\/em><\/p>\n

Some common descriptors are quite flattering (\u201cdamask rose\u201d as one wine writer said of ours), and some, really weird (\u201ccold cream\u201d). The most common is probably lychee. Sometimes Gew\u00fcrz goes through a grapefruity phase as it develops, and takes on rich and heady notes of ginger, allspice, and other baking spices.<\/p>\n

\"Gewurztraminer<\/p>\n

What are the challenges of making it?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As Gew\u00fcrz ripens on the vine, the famous spicy flavors and aromas start to develop just as the acidity starts to drop. It is important to catch this moment and harvest it before the acid disappears, leaving you with a very flabby wine. In the cellar, fermentation should be temperature controlled (i.e. cold), so you don\u2019t lose all those aromatic esters.<\/p>\n

How long between harvest, bottling, and release?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At C&C, it is always the first wine to be bottled, soon in the new year. It can be released after a few weeks\u2019 bottle-aging, although there is something very special about an older (five to ten years) Gew\u00fcrz, when it has acquired the rich and complex patina of age.<\/p>\n

How do you enjoy Gew\u00fcrztraminer best?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I enjoy Gew\u00fcrztraminer best in months that contain a vowel, preferably on days that contain a \u201cd.\u201d But seriously, it is not only a great aperitif wine, but is also a great wine to pair with spicy, exotic, foods like Thai, Indian, Szechwan, and Japanese. It also matches up well with those in-between dishes, like pork, ham, turkey and salmon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gew\u00fcrztraminer is a mouthful, in more ways than one. After 30 years of making, selling and championing wines from this lesser-known variety, Claiborne & Churchill Winery Founder, Clay Thompson, knows enough about its history, foibles and triumphs to be dubbed \u201cThe Godfather of Gew\u00fcrz\u201d by staff and all who know him. And with the recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,18],"tags":[89,87,90,88,52],"yoast_head":"\nClaiborne & Churchill Winery: \u201cWhy Gew\u00fcrztraminer?\u201d...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After 30 years of making and selling wines from this lesser-known variety, Claiborne & Churchill Winery Founder, Clay Thompson, answers "Why Gew\u00fcrztraminer"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Claiborne & Churchill Winery: \u201cWhy Gew\u00fcrztraminer?\u201d...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After 30 years of making and selling wines from this lesser-known variety, Claiborne & Churchill Winery Founder, Clay Thompson, answers "Why Gew\u00fcrztraminer"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Claiborne & Churchill Vintners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-27T00:25:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Dry_Gewurztraminer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3642\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3402\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claiborne Churchill\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claiborne Churchill\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/\",\"name\":\"Claiborne & Churchill Winery: \u201cWhy Gew\u00fcrztraminer?\u201d...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-27T00:25:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-27T00:25:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/99f0beca60685328020b099440a2d04e\"},\"description\":\"After 30 years of making and selling wines from this lesser-known variety, Claiborne & Churchill Winery Founder, Clay Thompson, answers \\\"Why Gew\u00fcrztraminer\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Q & A with Claiborne & Churchill Winery’s Clay Thompson: \u201cWhy Gew\u00fcrztraminer?\u201d And other good questions…\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Claiborne & Churchill Vintners\",\"description\":\"Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/99f0beca60685328020b099440a2d04e\",\"name\":\"Claiborne Churchill\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26ae9d6ee9ff753cd2b4fa251832c5b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26ae9d6ee9ff753cd2b4fa251832c5b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Claiborne Churchill\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/author\/claiborne\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Claiborne & Churchill Winery: \u201cWhy Gew\u00fcrztraminer?\u201d...","description":"After 30 years of making and selling wines from this lesser-known variety, Claiborne & Churchill Winery Founder, Clay Thompson, answers \"Why Gew\u00fcrztraminer\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Claiborne & Churchill Winery: \u201cWhy Gew\u00fcrztraminer?\u201d...","og_description":"After 30 years of making and selling wines from this lesser-known variety, Claiborne & Churchill Winery Founder, Clay Thompson, answers \"Why Gew\u00fcrztraminer\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/","og_site_name":"Claiborne & Churchill Vintners","article_published_time":"2015-02-27T00:25:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3642,"height":3402,"url":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Dry_Gewurztraminer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Claiborne Churchill","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Claiborne Churchill","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/","url":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/","name":"Claiborne & Churchill Winery: \u201cWhy Gew\u00fcrztraminer?\u201d...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-02-27T00:25:58+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-27T00:25:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/99f0beca60685328020b099440a2d04e"},"description":"After 30 years of making and selling wines from this lesser-known variety, Claiborne & Churchill Winery Founder, Clay Thompson, answers \"Why Gew\u00fcrztraminer\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/q-claiborne-churchill-winerys-clay-thompson-gewurztraminer-good-questions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Q & A with Claiborne & Churchill Winery’s Clay Thompson: \u201cWhy Gew\u00fcrztraminer?\u201d And other good questions…"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/","name":"Claiborne & Churchill Vintners","description":"Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/99f0beca60685328020b099440a2d04e","name":"Claiborne Churchill","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26ae9d6ee9ff753cd2b4fa251832c5b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26ae9d6ee9ff753cd2b4fa251832c5b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Claiborne Churchill"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/author\/claiborne\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370,"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions\/370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}