This grape variety is a mutation of the Savagnin blanc, also named Traminer in South Tyrol (region situated in northern Italy).

More recently it has been suggested that Savagnin blanc acquired slight differences in its leaf shape and geraniol content[4] as it travelled to the other end of the Alps.

Galet believed that a musqué ('muscat-like') mutation in the Red Traminer/Savagnin rose then led to the extra-aromatic Gewürztraminer, although in Germany these names are all regarded as synonymous.

With these convoluted genetics happening in the area that has been the front line for a millennium of wars in Europe, it is maybe not surprising that vines have been misnamed.

The story goes that in 1780 Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden brought vines from Chiavenna in Italy, halfway between Tramin and the Jura, which was known to the Germans as Cleven.

The early-ripening Siegerrebe is the result of a cross with Madeleine Angevine at Alzey and is notable for producing the highest ever must weight recorded in Germany, 326 °Oechsle.

Davis to make Flora, which is grown a little in California and New Zealand – in the latter it was mistaken for a late-ripening clone of Pinot gris.

In 1965, Gewürztraminer was crossed with Joannes Seyve 23.416 at the University of Illinois to produce a hybrid variety called Traminette.

[7] During a series of trials between 1924 and 1930, Gewürztraminer was crossed with Trebbiano to create the pink-skinned Italian wine grape variety Manzoni rosa.

In Europe, the grape is grown in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and in Turkey.

In the New World, the grape is grown in California and Northern Michigan, New Zealand, and in Mendoza, the most important wine region of Argentina and in the far south of Chile.

Australian Gewürztraminer is more notable for its occasional use of old names like Traminer Musqué and Gentil Rose Aromatique than the actual quality of the wines.

The Macedon Ranges, just north of Melbourne, has a cold climate and volcanic soils, much suited to production of Gewürztraminer.

Around 200 hectares are being grown today, including 70ha in Marlborough, 54ha in Hawke's Bay, 19ha in Gisborne, 18ha in North Canterbury and 10ha in Central Otago.

In the United States, Gewürztraminer grapes are concentrated in Monterey, Mendocino and Sonoma in California, the Columbia Valley of Washington and Oregon, and the Snake River Region of Idaho.

[citation needed] Genetic instability means that the Traminers should be regarded as a family of related clones, rather than distinct varieties.

It gets even worse when it comes to Gewürztraminer, as Geilweilerhof, being Germans, see no difference between it and Red Traminer – and some of the names look like they belong to the original green-skinned Traminer/Savagnin blanc.