Anita & Hans Nittnaus, Zweigelt Blend "Anita Red" Burgenland, Austria 2020

75% Zeigelt, 15% Blaufränkisch, 5% Merlot, 5% Roesler

Mostly Zweigelt with splashes of Blaufränkisch, “Anita” shows off the Nittnauses’ knack for producing lip-smackingly delicious reds. Soaring acidity lets the spice-drenched red and black fruits dance on the palate, and the wine—with only 15 milligrams per liter of added sulfur—bristles with energy. There is just enough structure here to keep the wine from feeling simple, but it stays out of the way of the fruit-and-spice main event.

Burgenland is Austria’s easternmost wine region, situated south of Niederösterreich and north of Steiermark, and bordering Hungary along its entire eastern flank. Its 28% share of Austria’s vineyard area produces the country’s best and most respected red wines, from vineyards whose proximity to Hungary’s warm Pannonian plains ensures proper ripening for the indigenous Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt. The northern sector of Burgenland is dominated by Lake Neusiedl (or Neusiedlersee), Europe’s largest steppe lake, which straddles the Austria-Hungary border, and the Nittnaus family has resided in the town of Gols, on Neusiedlersee’s eastern edge, since 1684.

Hans & Anita are regarded today not only as influential pioneers of contemporary Burgenland’s dynamic wine scene, but as among the greatest growers in all of Austria. The family’s white wines are breezy and balanced without being simple, and their red wines are simultaneously refreshing and serious—eminently digestible without making a huge deal of their ease of use, and sneakily solid in their construction despite their spicy exuberance and lip-smacking fruit.