Zweigelt

Zweigelt is Austria's most planted red variety: 6,145 ha in 2020, 13 % of the vineyard area. Fritz Zweigelt bred it in 1922 at the viticulture school in Klosterneuburg by crossing St. Laurent with Blaufränkisch; in Austria it is also called Blauer Zweigelt or Rotburger. It grows mainly in Lower Austria (3,453 ha) and Burgenland (2,317 ha), where it is the variety of the Neusiedlersee DAC. The wines are fruity, with cherry notes and soft tannins, from easy-drinking reds to oak-aged ones, and it is also made into rosé and Sekt.