St Laurent from Stift Kloster Neuberg

This is a wine from the Klosterneuberg Monastery, situated in the Lower Austria town which takes its name from the monastery, just north of Vienna. Founded in 1114 by St Leopold III (patron saint of Austria, who is also buried there), the monastery also has been growing wine for centuries and owns one of the largest wine estates in Austria. The vineyards are in Klosterneuberg, Vienna, Gompoldskirchen and Tattendorf. This latter is a red wine village and plantings include varieties associated with this part of the world such as St Laurent, Blaufrankisch and Zweigelt as well as international varieties as Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir.

St Laurent is the monastery's flagship variety, being a grape related to Pinot Noir and having been brought over to Austria by the monastery in the 19th century. Although the grape is the most widely planted variety in the Czech Republic, the 40 hectare Stiftsbreite vineyard, where grapes for the above wine was planted, remains the largest St Laurent vineyard in the world. I tasted this wine in last year's wine fair: deep ruby with a slightly fruity woody nose, the wine was off-dry with fruit, acid and oak on the palate and a good dose of acid to keep structured till the finish.