Blaufränkisch

Blaufränkisch is Austria's most serious red grape and one of the two parents of zweigelt. It is a natural crossing of gouais blanc and an unnamed variety, and it changes name at every border: kekfrankos in Hungary, frankovka in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, lemberger in Germany and Washington State, and modra frankinja in Slovenia.

It ripens late, keeps high acidity, and gives medium to firm tannin with a distinct peppery, sour-cherry, dark-berry character. The comparison usually reached for is a cross between syrah and gamay, which is fair on aroma if not on structure. It reflects soil clearly, and Austrian growers make a point of it: schist at Eisenberg, limestone at Leithaberg, heavier clay at Mittelburgenland.

Burgenland is the heartland, on the flat warm land around the Neusiedlersee and in the hills south of it. Hungary grows more of it by area, chiefly at Sopron and Szekszárd, and it is one of the components of Egri Bikavér. The best examples age for a decade and are consistently underpriced against comparable French reds.