Austrian red wine explained. Meet the family: Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch and Sankt Laurent.

Where Austria grows its reds

Austria is a mountainous country, but its vineyards lie in the east, away from the high Alps. Red wine makes up around a third of production, and most of it is grown south of Vienna and the Danube, where the climate is warmer and drier. The heart of red wine country is Burgenland, on the border with Hungary, around the shallow Lake Neusiedl.

Host Susie Barrie MW remembers her first study week of the Master of Wine course in Burgenland as one of the hardest weeks of her life, saved only by plenty of good Austrian wine. With co-host Andreas Larsson, Best Sommelier of the World 2007, she explains the three main red grapes, which turn out to be one family.

Zweigelt: the youngest of the family

Zweigelt was created in 1922 by crossing Sankt Laurent with Blaufränkisch. From Sankt Laurent it inherits bright cherry fruit and silky elegance; from Blaufränkisch, spice and acidity. Late budding and early ripening help it cope with cooler conditions. It is Austria's most widely planted dark-skinned grape.

Expect cherry, raspberry and blackcurrant with spice and floral notes, and a juicy, refreshing acidity. Zweigelt comes in many styles, from simple and unoaked to barrel-aged, and it is often blended with Blaufränkisch, Merlot or Cabernet. Some of the best examples come from Carnuntum, just south of Vienna, where the Romans once had a city of 70,000 people. Zweigelt is even used for sweet wines, and the hosts taste a rare noble sweet Beerenauslese made from this red grape.

Blaufränkisch and Sankt Laurent

Blaufränkisch is late ripening, so it is planted in the warmest sites of Burgenland. It gives dark blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, plenty of black pepper and a mineral edge, and it ages well. Learn the key subregions: Eisenberg in the south, with iron-rich schist soils that give an elegant, spicy, mineral style; Mittelburgenland, with deep clay soils for a richer, fruitier wine; and Leithaberg, west of the lake, where the lake's warmth and the Leitha mountains' coolness give fresh, spicy wines with a slightly salty finish.

Sankt Laurent is aromatic and deeply colored, with black cherry fruit. It can be tough when young, but the best wines turn velvety with age, gaining prune and blackcurrant notes. It is tricky to grow, needing deep soils and careful canopy management, and it thrives in the warmer vineyards around Lake Neusiedl. It is often compared with Pinot Noir, with finesse rather than power.

The experiment: salt and fat versus tannin

This episode's experiment is a do-it-yourself palate-training session you can easily repeat at home. With two red wines, a pinch of salt and a slice of pancetta, Susie and Andreas show how salt and fat change the way you perceive acidity and tannin. It is one of the most useful lessons in food and wine pairing, and it explains why a steak and a tannic red are such good friends. Try it before you read the conclusion.

Food pairings and blind tastings

Andreas cooks a traditional Austrian dish for St. Martin's season, goose with red cabbage and orange sauce, paired with a dry Zweigelt from the Zantho cooperative in Andau. Later comes a more surprising match for Sankt Laurent: homemade falafel with tahini sauce. Both pairings show why you should think about the sauce and spices, not just the main ingredient.

There are also two blind tastings, with a Prieler Blaufränkisch from the Goldberg vineyard and a Sankt Laurent from Umathum in the line-up. See how the hosts read color, spice, tannin and age. The episode helps you prepare for WSET Level 3, and it will make you want to explore these grapes for yourself.

Go furtherTo explore the estates, vineyards and wines of Austria further, the wein.plus wine guide is a great resource.