Mader Gewürztraminer Grand Cru Rosacker 2016. As far as white wines go, Alsace is my first choice. I love the different flavours from Gewürz to Riesling and the different styles from austere to rich. Mader’s wines are somewhere in the middle of the richness spectrum, and this is a fine example. You know what Gewürz tastes like, so I won’t insult your intelligence. Jerome Mader makes the wine there these days, and he, his wife and his mother are all lovely people. He spent a fair while learning the business in NZ, and has implemented a number of ideas from there – like screw-tops on his less-expensive bottles) since his return. Sadly the enormous black dog that used to sit on my foot to make sure I stayed for another glass or two has long gone to the great vineyard in the sky. According to my notes, this cost me 19€ when I was last there in February 2019. Good grief, has it really been that long? It’s the Covid-sized discontinuity that we all have in our lives coming to the fore again.