I’ve long decided to tone back the ‘fine wine’ content on the blog as I personally believe it can only me moderately interesting content at best for most. I have decided, however, to continue to post abbreviated summaries of our monthly tasting group ‘4 Wines & A Plate’, if for no other reason that to disclose ‘hey, this is something I do‘, and to possibly inspire others to do the same.

This month: Gewurztraminer. I’d told the guests it’d be dictated by weather, as, well, May here can deliver snow [in which case red would have been served], or +30C. Three Grand Cru Alsace Gewurz’s in the lineup against a Canadian [Okanagan – Quail’s Gate 08 to be precise]. Alsace killed. No surprise there. One disappointment was Zinck’s Eichberg which tends to be sicklingly sweet, and received a few scores in the 70s due to the offputting sweetness. Domaine Weibach showed very well, as would be expected. The star of the night for me on a QPR basis was Steinert – an 04 Pfaffenheim. Blind, I wasn’t sure that it wasn’t the Weinbach, as it had a lot more levity and finesse to it, while offering depth at the same time: usually Weinbach characteristics. At less than half the price, Steinert gets a major nod this month.

A nod too to the pairing of Gewurz with curry. I was skeptical. It really indeed is a pleasant synergy – perhaps moreso than many of the red pairings I’ve done. We also tried it with Munster from Alsace – also very lovely with the wines. Lots of wine-food dynamics.  Sometimes the food-wine pairings are a little ho-hum, this one was not.

Next month: 4 more bottles of a white varietal, with more paired food, and more brown bags.