Gewurztraminer is the Marmite of the wine world: you love it or you hate it. No grape is more naturally aromatic, nor more easily identifiable, and none is more unfashionable. Its name, which means “perfumed or spiced Traminer” reflects its character and pedigree. The first mention of the green-skinned Traminer grape appears around the turn of the first millennium, growing in the Tyrolean village of Tramin, now in the Alto Adige region of Italy. But though gewürztraminer is currently produced across the world – which is surprising for a grape that is so fussy about soil and climate – it’s almost synonymous with Alsace, where it’s the second most widely planted grape variety. Some of its critics complain of gewürztraminer’s unexciting sam