Wine: Fetzer Echo Ridge 2001 Gewürztraminer (4.50 Stars)

The Gewürztraminer grape is a spicy, white wine grape popular in the Alsace Eastern France, a territory that switched back and forth between German and French claims over the centuries). It is a very old grape variety, discovered by the Romans over 2000 years ago in the village of Tramin, in Austria's South Tirol. The prefix, Gewürz, is of German origin and it means "spiced."

Forget that Fetzer Vineyards is a larger producer at which many of the new, wannabe wine drinkers like to turn their noses...this wine was fantastic.

This wine certainly wasn't as dry as what you may expect from an average Gewurztraminer. It is lush and fruity. I found a apricot, melons, and peach with some spice. Its robustness just enhances its refreshingness. This wine would be good with shellfish and poultry, but would also serve Thai foods or similarly spicey foods very well.

The only con that I can find here can be your personal tolerance for sweetness. I can see some people finding it too sweet -- but only on a cold, winter day.

As I researched this wine online for this entry, I found that Fetzer's Echo Ridge Gewurztraminer is consistently good no matter what year of vintage. The 2002 and 2003 vintages both won a lot of awards and were highly acclaimed.

This guy's blog has a nice recommendation:

There are some wines that you know are going to taste wonderful simply by the smell they offer up from the glass. This is certainly one. With a small swirl the scent of lemons and citrus rose up and filled the room. The first sip brought even more citrus flavors and a residual sweetness that almost made you want to down the entire glass at once. Fight this temptation and sip. Your will be rewarded. I served this bottle refrigerator cold and it was very refreshing. It tasted like cold spring water on a hot summer day, but with the added enjoyment of fruit, sugar and spice. I highly recommend you pick up a few bottles if you are wine drinker. If not, this wine might just change your mind. It is approachable, fun, slightly sweet and a perfect wine for sipping on the patio as the temperatures rise. I plan on making this my summer "house wine” this year.

I was going to give this wine a great 4.25 Stars. Then I realized that this wine is less than $10 no matter where you buy it; many online discussions list it as cheap as $5.99 at Costco and Sam's. Winejudging.com, rated this wine as silver award winner in the below $15 category...but it was noticeably less expensive than all of the other gold and silver medal winners. That kind of balanced value proposition makes this wine an almost PERFECT find and earns it 4.50 Stars.