Description

Description

A soft wine with tangy black cherry fruit and supple tannins. Delicious with duck or spicy Asian dishes.

Grape

Blaufränkisch (aka Lemberger and Kékfrankos) is a black-skinned wine grape grown widely in Austria and Hungary, and to a lesser extent in neighbouring Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Croatia. Tiny quantities are also grown in the United States, most notably in New York’s Finger Lakes but also in various parts of Washington State. Blaufränkisch produces soft, fruit-forward wines with flavours of black cherries and spice.

Producer

The estate was founded by Franz Ludwig Weninger in 1983 and is situated at Horitschon in the Burgenland region of Eastern Austria. Today the business is run by Franz Ludwig’s son, Franz Reinhard who took over in 2011. There are 28 hectares of mainly Blaufrankisch with the addition of some Merlot, Zweigelt, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, and the vines are up to 80 years old. The soil is rich in clay and iron, ideally suited to the production of lively and concentrated reds. The estate has been organic since 2006 and everything is carried out with respect for the environment in mind. This particular Blaufränkisch is hand-harvested and is aged for 7 months in a combination of concrete tanks and wooden barrels.

Region

Burgenland is a large wine producing region on the eastern border of Austria. Burgenland with its warm climate is the country’s key red wine region producing reds from Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt. Sweet, botrytized wines are also a specialty of the region, particularly in the area surrounding the Neusiedlersee lake.

Food Pairing

With juicy red fruit and good acidity Blaufränkisch could work well with pickled beef, beetroot or smoked sausage.