Weingut Anton Kollwentz Follikberg Zweigelt 2009
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If the greater world is going to awaken to the vast and largely uncharted potential of Austria’s Burgenland for dry, complex, age-worthy table wines, it will likely be the wines of Kollwentz that sound the call. This estate oozes pedigree, from its ten generations of winegrowing continuity to its vineyards, whose written histories date back to the mid-1500s in one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the world. At Kollwentz, though, pedigree is no crutch. The drive to maintain high standards and improve them is as engrained in the family’s sensibilities as the landscape of the Leithaberg hills is in its visual memory. As Andi Kollwentz remembers, he had little choice. “When I was only five, my father took me on his knee and told me, “You will be the next winegrower!” Andi remembers, even at that young age, accepting the charge dutifully, as if there could be no other outcome. In service of that he did a thorough five years of training at the school in Klosterneuburg and then worked at multiple estates in Bordeaux, from Graves to St. Emilion.
Kollwentz owns 25 hectares of prime vineyard land in the Leithaberg, one of the most venerable and historic growing regions in a country not lacking in them. Leithaberg sits on the Burgenland face of the Leitha Range, just west of the great Lake Neusiedl, a shallow body of water that plays a big role in the local climate. Vineyards close to the water live in a humid climate that promotes botrytis for the region’s celebrated sweet wines. But even vines like the Kollwenz’s far away in the hills benefit from the lake’s regulating effect—softening the cold, continental winters and buffering the heat of the Pannonian summers.
Viticulture in this area is truly ancient. Some of the earliest examples of Central European viticulture come from the Leithaberg—grape seeds from around 700 B.C. have been collected. Chardonnay, which grows exceedingly well here and is a specialty of Kollwentz, has been cultivated in the area for 900 years, with the first vines brought from Burgundy by Cistercian monks around 1150. Chardonnay terroir here begins at the 200-meter mark and rises, as the combination of altitude and the forests that cover the highest Leithaberg elevations create a cool microclimate for the white grape. Red varieties tend to exist in the band between 170 and 200 meters of elevation.
Austria’s most popular red variety, the Zweigelt grape can make a charmingly fruity, snappy and spicy wine ideal for summer sipping. Be on the lookout for the one-liter bottles—perfect for the barbecue! It is also capable of more serious, concentrated, age-worthy version that can withstand a short number of years of age. Somm Secret— While native to Austria, Zweigelt is actually a fairly recent cross bred by Dr. Zweigelt in 1922. He crossed two native varieties, Blaufränkisch, for its peppery bite, with St. Laurent, chosen for its elegance.
The source of Austria’s finest botrytized sweet wines, Burgenland covers a lofty portion of Austria's wine producing real estate. It encompasses the smaller regions of Neusiedlersee, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland, Mittelburgenland and Südburgenland. The latter two are most associated with their exceptional red wines. The region as a whole produces no shortage of important whites.
Neusiedlersee, named for the lake that it surrounds to the east, is home to a great diversity of grape varieties. The region’s most notable wines, however, are the botrytis-infected, sweet versions.
Neusiedlersee-Hügelland, which wraps the lake on its western side, includes the town of Rust, a historically esteemed wine community. Its close proximity to the lake’s fog and mist make it another source of some of the more prestigious botrytized wines. Neusiedlersee-Hügelland also produces fine Blaufränkisch, Pinot Blanc, Neuburger and Grüner Veltliner, though a label will usually name the more general, Burgenland, so as not to confuse it with its eastern cousin, Neusiedlersee, across the lake.
Blaufränkisch is well suited to and makes up over half of the vineyard area in Mittelburgenland. The region’s hills and plateaus, which are composed of variations in schist, loess and clay-limestone, produce high quality reds with interesting diversity.
Südburgenland, also known for its deep, complex and age-worthy Blaufränkisch, is beginning to turn out some alluring whites from Grüner Veltliner, Welschriesling and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc).