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Seifried Zweigelt 2024, Nelson. RRP $20.00  

A distinctive, ripe, and exuberant red berry fruit bouquet with suggestions of plums, then violets, blackberry, and boysenberry followed by lees and a delicate positive reduction. A nicely dry wine on the palate with flavours of boysenberry and tart plums, violet and spice. Taut and still developing with best drinking from 2026 through 2030+. 

The Food:  

Zweigelt is a cross from St. Laurent & Blaufränkisch developed in 1923 by Dr Friedrich "Fritz" Zweigelt. It has the softness and elegance from the St Laurant and robustness and backbone of acidity and tannins from the Blaufrankish. This means the wine will work rather well with foods that a little vigour, but not too much.  

My suggestion is therefore a venison sausage with an onion jam and side of lyonnaise potatoes. Higher quality venison sausage has both and earthy quality and meaty quality without being gamy, there’s always a little fat layer in the sausage as well. So the Zweigelt uses it’s St Laurant parent as the contrasting fruity side to the earthiness and the Blaufrankish parent as the contrast and deeper fruit flavours to the fatty side. The wine is also softened by the cream used in the potatoes.  

The Season: 2024   

Nelson had a very good growing season in 2024. There was expectation for an El Niño year —there was 3 La Niñas in a row— however it was a hot, dry summer season. It gave growers a great flowering set and yields were predicted to be high. So overall, a great season – there was however a frost event, but any damage was mitigated by the plants reactive repair mechanism. Truth is there was some variability across the region, yet I do not think wine drinkers will have noticed anything at all. 

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