Gewürztraminer

I started out, as I do on many evenings, by grabbing a few bottles of white that might work with our meal and shoving them into the freezer. Yes, I confess that I chill my wines quickly in the freezer when I’m in a rush. Sometimes I’ll even douse them with cold water beforehand to speed up the process. No, it’s not a terribly elegant picture – pushing aside the containers of half-eaten Hä agen-Dazs, the frozen tomatoes and leftover sausages, to make way for the wine bottles. But it does work, unless, of course, you forget to take them out. Twenty minutes or so is all it takes.

The centerpiece of tonight’s dinner was flounder fillets roasted with a simple coating of coarse Dijon mustard and a splash of white wine. The wine possibilities were a simple Vin de Pays from the south of France made from the ugni blanc and colombard grapes; an insolia from Sicily, and a gewürztraminer from France’s Alsace region. Turns out the gewürz did the trick – Hugel’s 2007 Gewürztraminer “Hugel,” a lovely $24 wine that has great balance and complexity with signature gewürz floral and herbal notes, along with pear, apricot and honey, and a good deal of spice on the finish.  This would also be a superb white for all the tastes of Thanksgiving as Gewürztraminer won’t easily be bullied by food. Imported by Frederick Wildman and Sons, New York.