Red the Future: Trendy wines from Native Varieties
The Austrians underestimated their red wine potential until a small handful of pioneers surprised the world with some truly classy and complex reds in the mid 1980's.
Anton Kollwentz, Ernst Triebaumer, Hans Igler, and Georg Stiegelmar were the rebels that ignored the commonly accepted opinion that Austria was white wine country, only capable of making light, simple red wines. They employed the use of new small oak barrels and next to their old indigenous vines, they matched the Austrian climate and soils with revolutionary plantings of international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. Malolactic fermentation was not yet even taught at Austria's vinicultural schools, so these autodidactic radicals sent their sons and daughters abroad to gain experience in red winemaking techniques in Bordeaux, Australia, and California. This international exposure has been an important catalyst not only in winemaking practices, but also in dramatically improving and modernizing wine education. Despite this newly won global view, it is beguiling that regional identity has kept vintners from abandoning their old indigenous vines for yet another version of a more famed international grape.
Zweigelt is Austria's primary red wine grape and is a crossing of Blaufränkisch and St. Laurent. This easy to manage variety produces fruit-driven, approachable wines with soft tannins. St. Laurent is closely related to Pinot Noir and is rarely found outside of Austria. Like its close relative, St. Laurent is difficult in the vineyard, but steadfast efforts produce silky, rich wines with generous red berry fruit and an earthy, spicy background. The best Austrian Blaufränkisch are concentrated, velvety wines with dark berry fruit, mineral flavors and an exciting spiciness not found in the variety elsewhere. "It is the heavy, well-drained clay soils with their iron content that give our Blaufränkisch its piquancy and mineral components," says vintner Reinhold Krutzler and continues, " 5,000 vines per hectare and selection of clones with small, thick skinned berries guarantee well-balanced concentration of the wines."
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"Zweigelt can be a prodigious producer, but with the right clone selection and capped yields, the wines are extremely concentrated with complex fruit components stretching from wild cherries and forest berries to dates and figs with smoky nuances and a hint of black tea" explains vintner Josef Umathum.
