JoisephZweigelt “Tannenberg” 2021 (750ml)

This wine is honestly kind of a mind-fuck so I don’t know where to begin. It’s Zweigelt, which they ignore completely not because of the Nazi stuff, but because the wine just has nothing to do with Zweigelt, and this is immediately and obviously evident. If you were blind tasting it you would call this old school Northern Rhône, no doubt – maybe one of those old-school Cornas masters. Allemand, though less polished. This is the Tannenberg vineyard, so that’s what they call it. This is a hot and dry place (you can taste this too); serious poor schist soils and the vines struggle. Windy as hell. The vines are about 40 years old and the wine is just nervous, angular tense, that rustic black olive, smoke, sawdust, that integrated orange zest brightness; supremely smoky and ashy, but energetic and light, sinewy, as well. This is the most interesting Zweigelt I’ve ever had. Wow. The wine had nearly a month-long maceration with the full stems, elevage in 400 liter barrels of the winemaker’s grandfather, just because.