Jülg "Jean-Fritz" Gewürztraminer 2024

The 2024 vintage of Jülg's "Jean-Fritz" Gewürztraminer comes from a family estate that straddles a border most wineries only read about in history books. Weingut Jülg farms in the southern Pfalz, but thanks to the Franco-German line drawn in 1945, roughly half their vines sit across the frontier in Alsace, facing the town of Wissembourg. The wine's name splices a French first name with a German one, and the blend itself does the same, pulling fruit from both sides of a boundary that runs straight through the family's vineyards. Those vines are rooted in limestone-rich clay marl, soil that tends to favor precision over heaviness, and the Jülg family leans into that. Jean-Fritz sees no oak at all — fermentation and aging happen in stainless steel and large neutral casks, so nothing stands between you and the grape. For a variety as aromatically loud as Gewürztraminer, that restraint matters. In 2024 it shows the classic signature of the grape done well: lychee, rose petal, and orange blossom up front, with peony and a crack of white pepper underneath. The palate is juicy and generous without tipping into syrupy, carried by citrus lift and a faint salinity that keeps things honest. The finish runs long, round, and spicy. It's a vintage that reads as both textbook Gewürztraminer and distinctly site-driven, thanks to that cross-border fruit source. Pour this with the foods that usually give Gewürztraminer trouble elsewhere — Thai curries, Alsatian choucroute, Munster cheese, or anything built around ginger and five-spice. It also works as a stand-alone aperitif if you want something aromatic but not sweet. We've been pouring the 2024 at Off Premise for anyone who claims they don't like Gewürztraminer; it tends to change their mind. Serve it cool, not cold, so the rose and lychee notes have room to open up.