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 rel
ated 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!
I love that you reviewed this wine. Sounds right up my alley! I'm going to have to try and find it.
ReplyDeleteGood call. I liked it a lot.
ReplyDeleteBTW -- I'm getting some other Israeli wine to review that should be pretty great...hopefully I will hredeem myself in your eyes : )
Elizabet
It is lovely that you chose to write about Austrian wine, but was it really necessary to feature a photo of anti-freeze?
ReplyDeleteSince you call yourself a wine educator, perhaps you'd like to educate people that the Austrian wine scandal while of course not a good thing, involved only a couple of people, no one got sick, and yes, the very positive upshot of the Austrian scandal is that Austria now has the strictest wine laws in the world. However, in Italy in 1986 many people were hospitalized and 26 people DIED after drinking wine that was contaminated by as much as 5.7% methyl alcohol. Italy has had several other wine scandals, including one within the last couple of years. But hey, it's Italy! Everybody loves Italy! Most Americans still don't even know Austria makes wine. It is frustrating enough that a country that makes world class wines gets virtually no press, since they are a country of many relatively small estate family wineries who don't have endless amounts of money to spend on advertising; they invest their money in quality. So enough about Austria's scandal please, we've heard about it ad nauseum. Pick on Italy for a change.
Erika,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you're offended but because I am an educator, I need to tell people about the history of wine -- the good and the bad.
The post is quite complimentary to Austrian wine and I'm a big advocate of the product. However, part of the reason the standards are so strict today is because of the scandal. If you read the post, I do say that it was a limited occurrence.
I understand that you feel that Austrian wine gets knocked on, but it wouldn't be right of me to introduce people to the subject without mentioning this -- it's part of an unpleasant legacy (as are many things in history) but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be said. Will I write about it in every post about Austrian wine in the future? No, but when giving background to readers, it's important for them to know the history so if they are ever confronted with the story, they are aware and comfortable with the fact that Austria has reformed and the wines are better than ever.
Thanks for your comment and for reading,
Elizabeth