Could Zweigelt be the new Pinot Noir?

Austrian winery Gebrüder Nittnaus is keen to capitalise on the shortened supply of Burgundian Pinot Noir, hoping that Zweigelt can plug the gap at a lower price.

Gebrüder Nittnaus, located in the Neusiedlersee region of Austria, has domestic grape Zweigelt at its heart. Zweigelt is the country’s most planted grape variety, but its success remains centred around German-speaking countries.

The winery, run by brothers Hans Michael and Andreas Nittnaus, produces an average of one million bottles a year, 60% of which are reds. The other proportion is broken down into 35% white wine production and 5% sweet wines — an “important part of our winery DNA”, Hans Michael Nittnaus told db during ProWein.

A third of production is exported, with the remaining two thirds sold domestically. But despite the higher proportion of reds produced, exports are concentrated around sweet wines and dry whites, particularly from grape variety Grüner Veltliner.

Over the next few decades, the two brothers plan to increase plantings of different grape varieties including Blaufränkisch, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. “International varieties are gaining a foothold, especially with climate change,” Hans Michael Nittnaus told the drinks business.

Zweigelt will retain top spot for the Austrian producer, a positioning which “in our view is not going to change in the next 20 to 30 years,” the winemaker said.

Indeed, Nittnaus believes Zweigelt, along with other Austrian reds, is “gaining traction” in international markets.

Vanja Miladic, sales and marketing manager at Gebrüder Nittnaus, believes that the UK market “could be bigger for Austrian wines”.

She told db that as a fruity, drinkable wine, Zweigelt could potentially plug the gap left in the wake of the Pinot Noir shortage seen over the last few years.

In early 2022 Liv-ex warned that a scarcity of Burgundy following a run of short vintages and increased consumer demand would likely cause a shortage of the high quality 2020 vintage in the medium term.

The high quality 2020 vintage was sandwiched between two smaller than average vintages, Liv-ex explained – up 8.3% in 2020, compared to -14.6% in 2019 and -37.5% in in 2021. Although this alleviated immediate problems, producers had to take the 2021 shortages into account when determining the allocation of 2020 wines.

Shortage concerns continued into 2022. Berry Bros & Rudd released its Fine Wine Report 2023 in January, encouraging investors “not to overlook other regions” outside of Burgundy and Bordeaux.

And there are concerns that Burgundy is at risk of pricing itself out of the market.

So could Zweigelt be the next big thing? Miladic said she hoped Austrian wine can get into the gap left by French Pinot Noir, giving more awareness and notoriety to the Austrian grape.