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From a stellar red wine vintage, this 2009 showcases Umathum’s Zweigelt mastery: Spicy blueberry aromas, cigar-box and sage, shows beautiful density, very rich and luxuriant on the palate, black cherries and raspberries. A bit of chocolate on the finish, nicely ripened tannins and a very satisfying balance.

• 100 % - Zweigelt (AKA Blauer Zweigelt, Rotburger)

Weingut Josef Umathum is dedicated to the unification of tradition and innovation.

And Josef "Pepi" Umathum is not shy about it, he begins: “Our wines are food for the soul…” and goes on to furthermore: “…these are liquid folk-tales.” Interest and attention focus upon the autochthonous red varieties of Burgenland: Sankt Laurent, Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt, cultivated in close harmony with the land.

Umathum began to practice biodynamic viticulture starting with the 2005 vintage, and has since been certified by Demeter. Biodynamics is perhaps the first modern ecological farming system.

Organically maintained, its innovation—as applied to winemaking—treats the entire culture of the vine from digging to bottling as a unified organism. It has much in common with other organic systems, but adds its own slant on fermented and mineral compost additives used during the growing season, and governs itself by a carefully observed astronomic calendar.

The biodynamic system grew out of lectures on agriculture given in Silesia by Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s, and gained many adherents in the wine-world during the last two decades. A recent count of biodynamic wine estates turned up over 500 names, including some of the most famous in Burgundy, Germany and California. Neither fad nor fashion, it just works.

Umathum has become known over the past few years for just plain getting more different rhythms, tunes and textures out of the good old Zweigelt bush than nearly anybody. He does this by means of extraordinarily careful and painstaking selection when planting his vineyards, watchful control of the crop-size, and then detailed hand harvesting and selection. The wines then ferment with indigenous yeast, and are elaborated in large wooden barrels fashioned from Austrian oak.

And although the estate is located in Frauenkirchen, in the Neusiedlersee region of Burgenland, Umathum also cultivates very important vineyards across the lake in the Neusiedlersee Hügelland municipality of Jois—Kirschgarten and Unter den Terrassen, where his pinot noir grows in chalky clay and fossil limestone.

Powerful wines from the sunny banks of the narrow steppe lake known itself as Neusiedlersee. The hot and dry climate of the eastern banks, known as the Heideboden, offers ideal conditions for growing memorable wines in the categories red, white and nobly sweet. Weissburgunder, Chardonnay and Neuburger yield rich and ageworthy white wines, while the Zweigelt is the most prominent red variety, found in the bottle frequently in the company of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. In the town of Gols, the growers' association Pannobile has done much to raise the reputation of the local red wines, and the recent influence of Biodynamics has had a very positive influence on Blaufränkisch produced in the region, rendering it more expressive and less oaky.