Zweigelt

Intersection of St. Laurent × Gamay

Zweigelt is a red grape variety. It is also called Blauer Zweigelt, Rotburger or Zweigeltrebe. The variety, a new breed of two Austrian indigenous varieties, has become the most common red grape in Austria.

Origin

The Austrian Zweigelt is a new breed in 1922 by Friedrich Zweigelt ( 1888-1964 ), who later became director of the Federal Secondary Teaching and Federal Research Station for wine, fruit and horticulture (1938-1945 ), from St. Laurent and Gamay. Friedrich Zweigelt named the variety " Rotburger " (word combination of the color red and the origin Klosterneuburg ), until 1975 the variety was renamed to working towards Lenz Moser Zweigelt in the course of quality wine grape varieties regulation. The name Rotburger easily leads to confusion with the variety Rotberg, a new breed with the varieties Trollinger x Riesling that only in Germany has very little significance and distribution.

Descent

Zweigelt is a cross between the varieties St. Laurent x Gamay and had the breeding line number Klosterneuburg Klosterneuburg 71 181-2-71 or

Ampelographic features

• Shoot tip is smooth and bronzed.
• Leaves are medium, coarse, circular to pentagonal, three-to five-lobed, slightly lobed.
• The bunch is medium to large in size, dichtbeerig, cylindrical, with Beitraube; Berries roundish, colored blue-black.
• The drive growth is vigorous and upright.

Maturity: Medium

Earnings

On deep, nutrient -rich soils, he brings very high and regular income. For high qualities a yield regulation must be performed.

Pros and Cons

It is advantageous that the variety is low soil requirements and has good winter frost resistance. The disadvantage is that they are intensive canopy management and yield regulation needed because of good fertility. Furthermore, the wine quality is adversely affected by the Botrytisanfälligkeit and the fact that the berries of the grape are unevenly ripe. Towards the end of the last century has also been shown that the variety is susceptible to stolbur Phytoplasmose. In the 1990s a new disease occurred, beginning in northern Burgenland. The grapes are in the mature phase wilted ( wilted grapes, also called Zweigelt disease ). The cause complex includes: a potassium deficiency, high yield stress and stress factors ( water and nutrient stress, waterlogging, unfavorable leaf / fruit ratio, extreme temperatures, etc.). The cause complex is not yet sufficiently clarified and researched. Welke grapes can not be turned into wine.

Wine

The wines show substance rich, fruity and with purple - reddish color. The bouquet is often provided young with vanilla aromas and soft tannins on the finish with a characteristic sour cherry flavor. Be achieved such wines only with a yield regulation, professionally vinification and expansion (as in oak barrels ), which gives them a long shelf life. This grape is both varietal vinified and often used as a blending partner in blends. With too high a yield, the wines are thin, bright red in color and inharmonious in taste.

Dissemination

Austria

Today, the variety is especially in wine growing area Neusiedl and widespread in the eastern wine-growing areas of Lower Austria. 2009 reached the Zweigelt in Austria already 14.1 % of the total vineyard area. He is behind the Grüner Veltliner second, making it the most widely planted red wine variety, before the Gamay, which was overtaken in recent years by numerous Neuauspflanzungen.

Source: vineyard collection 1999 conversion changes to 2007 ( ausgepflanzte surfaces )

Germany

In Germany it is mainly grown in the vineyards of Württemberg, Saale -Unstrut and Franconia.

The vineyards in Germany distributed in 2007 as follows among the various regions:

Source: Statistics vineyard of 13 March 2008, Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden, 2008 Descriptive list of varieties of the Federal Plant Variety Office, 2008, pp. 198ff.

Switzerland

Small stocks there are in Switzerland ( 13.8 ha, as of 2007, source: Office fédéral de l'agriculture OFAG )

Other States

In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the variety is increasingly represented in cultivation.

Varieties with Zweigelt

Gertrude Mayer at the Federal College and Federal Office for Viticulture and Pomology at Klosterneuburg used the Zweigelt for growing the variety Roesler (cross Blauer Zweigelt x Klosterneuburg 1189-9-77 ( = Seyve Villard 18-402 x Lemberger) ) to ensure the quality to combine the variety Zweigelt with a good fungal resistance to Peronospora and Oidium.

Synonyms

Rotburger, Zweigeltrebe, Blauer Zweigelt Zweigelt blue.