My Oh My! Say YES to the Zwei: Awesome Red Zweigelt from Austria

It's no small feat to turn around a reputation...especially when you're accused of making wine that incorporates anti-freeze...but somehow Austria has managed to make it happen.



Forget that wine has been made in Austria for 4000 years. Memories are short and what people remember is 1985. This is when some corrupt wineries decided to chemically alter their wines to make them taste more full, sweet, and substantive. Sounds good, no? The only problem is that they did this by adding diethylene glycol to the wine, a chemical closely related to the poisonous substance commonly found in anti-freeze. It was a common practice for years, but uncovered when one of the idiots trying to kill wine consumers committed the ultimate act of douche-baggery and tried to claim the substance on his tax return. The government investigated and all hell broke loose in the Austrian wine industry.



Needless to say, for about 20 years, no one would touch Austrian wine with a 10 foot pole, despite the fact that they now have the strictest regulations in the wine world. These days it appears that they have finally managed to turn a corner and it's a good thing. Their wines, especially their native grapes like Grüner Veltliner and Zweigelt (which I'm getting to) are pretty great.



Austria is a cooler place, so the whites have great acidity and the reds tend to be on the lighter side. The Zweigelt (pronounced: SVY-gelt) grape is the shiny (relatively) new toy of the Austrian red wine world. It was made as a cross of the two other Austrian red grapes -- Blaüfrankish and St. Laurent -- in 1922 by Dr. Fritz Zweigelt of one of the wine universities near Vienna.



Today, it's the second most grown grape in Austria (after Grüner Veltliner). It's generally light to medium in weight, with some cherry flavors, a hit of peppery spice, and good acid. It's great with food and I always think of it as an alternative to Pinot Noir or Beaujolais.



The warmer region of Burgenland, much of which is on the shores of Lake Neusiedl and on the Pannonian Plain that stretches through eastern Europe, has a continental (hot in summer, cold in winter) climate which means the area can produce red wine grapes. The Lake moderates the climate and adds some humidity to the air, making dessert wines a big feature of this area too. (Map courtesy of Blue Danube Wine Company).



I've never been, but apparently lots of the winieries have poured a ton of money into their architecture, so the area is glammed up and artsy (similar to some parts of Rioja). New winemakers have poured in and there's lots of high quality wines coming from the region.



I'd consider Zantho one of those places. The Zweigelt is the only one that I see regularly in stores, and it's solid. It has an interesting closure -- it's a plastic "stopper" -- which I wasn't crazy about since it was hard to get out and I don't think it did much to preserve the wine, but I give them points for innovation. Here's the rundown:



The Wine: Zantho Zweigelt

The Grape: 100% Zweigelt

Where it's from: Burgenland, Austria

Alcohol: %

Vintage: 2009

Price: $12.99



Color: Zweigelt is never a dark color and this one was true to form. It was a rose petal color -- kind of pinkish. It wasn't at all saturated or dark, just kind of light to medium in color and very feminine looking.



Smell: The wine literally smelled like a toasted baguette -- it was like toast to me. Black and red cherry, spiced apple with cinnamon, and smoked meat came to mind. There was a cooked raspberry note and then a cedar quality. It almost smelled like mulled wine -- and I mean that in a good way. When I closed my eyes and smelled, it reminded me of winter in New England -- with the smoke from fireplaces in the air and that "cold smell" that you can only know if you've visited a cold place like that! It was a very "moody" wine.



Taste: So pleasing. It wasn't at all overpowering. The smoke, toast and oak were all present and the taste was like a smoked strawberry (not that I've had one, but if I did this is what it would taste like). Black cherry, cinnamon, and cedar were on the second sip and the tannin was noticeable but not overpowering.



Pairing: If you want a wine to pair with a heavier fish -- here's your wine. It's not too high in acid and has awesome flavors to go with spice rubs, blackening spices, or even fruit toppings. Same goes for chicken. This is a great alternative to Pinot Noir!



Drink or Down the Sink?: Drink. Great price, great wine, totally different from the ordinary. It may be hard to say, but it's easy to drink! Go for it!