Just east of the Austrian border, in Sopron, there is some wonderful Blaufränkisch and some of it is in fact made by the same producers who are working in Austria. The natural “home” of it, according to some, is Szekszárd, although I’m not aware of many imported from there.

I like the grape a lot and I’m glad to see the growers getting some attention, and I hope the trendies who are discovering it realize that there is a lot of other great wine made in Austria and Hungary. I hesitate to say it, but I think rather than compare this grape to syrah from the Northern Rhone, it might be more interesting to compare their syrah to that of the Northern Rhone. Both countries are also making some pretty good syrah these days!

1. first thanks to Silvia Prieler, who gave me a couple bottles of her 07er Leithaberg Blaufränkisch at the Austrian Cultural Forum tasting—one of them went down the hatch instead of a big Tempranillo with shell steaks on Friday night, and truly did not invite comparison with any other variety—but was quite excellent.

2. couple years ago I turned Württemberg upside-down looking for a Lemberger that could hold a candle to Blauf from Burgenland—and although I found a couple that were as expensive, the wines didn’t come close.

3. And here permit me a bit of hyperbowling: Zweigelt. Named for Dr Fritz Zweigelt, who wanted to call it Rotburger, but got overuled by popular demand.
I partcipated in a blind tasting in September 09 for the Austrian magazine WIne-Times and the Österreichische Gastronomie Zeitung, which took place in Weiden-am-See, Burgenland.
Nine-member international jury: France, UK, USA, Belgium, Sweden, Bavaria, and the host country represented.
We tasted 400 wines blind over the course of 5 days, flighted according to variety. There may have been 80 Zweigelts. Out of which maybe 75 were delicious. I would’ve been happy drinking nearly all of them. Out of a similar number of Blaufränkisch, perhaps 33% were attractive. And certainly the Blaufs could be more profound than the Zwiggers—it was certainly expected of them. But the Zweigelts didn’t take themselves so seriously, and so were frequently for this very reason more succesful.
I think Zweigelt may be a better blender than Blaufränkisch—especially with international varieties. The two do work and play well together, though

4. nb. Sankt Laurent—observed during the same tasting—was the variety most frequently abused by the winemaker, and the murder weapon was usually François Frères…

5. …and a little ditty about the previous generation of Blaufränkisch in Burgenland—
http://wine-wein-vino-vin.blogspot.com/2009/11/foiled-again.html

Also, Willi Klinger and the Austrian Wine Marketing Board will be puttin’ the show on the road here in the US in NY and San Francisco on May 3rd and 5th respectively.

Re Pinot Blanc – do not get me started: this is one of my real soap box cépages – check out BOTH (yes, there are now two) Prieler Pinot Blancs, the Seeberg (a vineyard source for decades) and now also a bottling called Leithaberg, both in the U.S. market. I have experienced Pinot Blanc from this domaine going back even before the days of Siliva’s dad Englebert (who made this estate’s reputation) and have yet to taste one that was passé.

Chris Robinson – sorry you haven’t had a BF that moved you bc I am sure you have had many fine wines based on your previous comments here. As to Zweigelt being a better grape, my understanding is that it is a descendant of BF (and Sant Laurent) and is easier to have a higher crop, thus cheaper. And the resulting wines are more priced for everyday consumption, a parallel to your gamay analogy. But David S. is here and he would be the one to give you an authoritative answer on that–and perhaps convince you.

David – Thanks for stopping by! Very good to see you here. Unfortunately I didn’t try the Carnuntum so I will have to look for it.

Theo – yes, peace reigns throughout the wine world!

Uwe – thanks for stopping by!

Silvia – okay, thanks for the corrected price. I have noted this in the piece above. As to the today’s price, sadly the only retailer in the US (as displayed in winesearcher) with the Prieler sells it for $130, quite a different price than 45 euros, unfortunately…

And to everyone: check out the pillowy Prieler pinot blanc 2008!

I had intended to add Schiefer’s Königsberg to my quick list of nearer-$25 bottlings and that too I omitted out of haste.

Incidentally, this tasting was sponsored by the growers with help from their importers, the marketing branch of the Austrian Government, and the State (“Land”) of Burgenland, but since the idea to do it was mine and the message & format (designed to demonstrate site-sensitivity, age-ability, and stylistic diversity)were ones whose viability I had demonstrated in tastings I had done in Austria, my advice was taken on various particulars; I had the pleasure of attending; and I was given more credit than I deserved considering who actually did the heavy lifting. (Thanks are also due the growers of Long Island, tasting whose recent bottlings gave me a proximate professional reason to be in New York.)

http://schiller-wine.blogspot.com/2009/12/wine-ratings-austrias-best-red-wines.html

BTW, I’m glad Tyler is comfortable attending an event sponsored by a Wine Advocate writer and David is comfortable positively posting on this board. It says a lot about both of you and goes a long way in representing the ability to maintain constructive criticism and an open dialogue.

Just to amplify the point Tyler alluded to about it being difficult if not a fool’s errand to attempt to craft inexpensive Blaufränkisch, the reason is that the grape – which seems to share with Syrah an inherent reductive proclivity – resists being turned into tasty punch via exclusively tank vinification and early bottling. That’s great for Austria’s native Zwigelt (a crossing between Blaufränkisch and another impressive native – and child of Pinot – St. Laurent) just as it is for Gamay. But Blaufränkisch treated this way is no more interesting than is Pinot punch (of which, heaven knows, the world has too much already). In French terms, Bläufränkisch demands extended élevage.

That said, there are always some apparent exceptions to even a well-founded generalization, and Theo mentioned precisely the ones with which I am most familiar that succeed in a fruity, forward, relatively reductive style, namely Zantho (directed by Pepi Umathum who was part of the recent New York entourage) and Glatzer (from the same Carnuntum region wast of Vienna where Muhr’s Blaufränkisch is grown).

Nearly all of the growers whom I’ve come to think of as the most eloquent exponents of Blaufränkisch have U.S. importers, and there are quite a few really outstanding wines in the $25 range, among them – just sticking with growers mentioned in this article – Silvia Prieler’s Blaufränkisch Johannishöhe; Roland Velich’s basic Moric Blaufränkisch (which Tyler cited); and the bottling of pure Blaufränkisch from the Spitzerberg that Dorli Muhr labels as “Carnuntum.”