Hot Day, Cold Bottle, No Notes
Every year, our team at Gordon’s tastes through dozens—sometimes hundreds—of rosé to find the very best bottles to usher in summer. This year, our favorite value still rosé is the 2024 Weingut Bründlmayer Zweigelt Rosé from Kamptal, Austria. Bright, fresh, and deeply rooted in Austrian winemaking history, this is the still rosé we’ll be sipping all summer long.
Crafted from the native Zweigelt grape, this wine is not only delicious but historically significant. In 1921, Dr. Fritz Zweigelt, an Austrian viticulturist, created the variety by crossing Blaufränkisch and St. Laurent. His family once owned vineyards in Langenlois and today, some of those very parcels are tended by Willi Bründlmayer, one of Austria’s most acclaimed winemakers–the Bründlmayer family even owns Dr. Zweigelt’s former cellar.
Under the guidance of legendary winemaker Willi Bründlmayer, the estate has become a benchmark for Austrian wine. With 90 hectares of organically farmed vineyards across the Kamptal’s unique mosaic of loam, loess, pebble, and ancient sandstone soils, Bründlmayer crafts wines of precision, character, and grace. This rosé is fermented in stainless steel for peak freshness, and every grape is hand-picked with zero shortcuts taken—just pure, clean expression.
This is my image of this rose and my summer; a few bottles of the Bründlmayer Zweigelt rosé at a casual backyard hangout. It will be hot, the floaties will be out in full force, and someone will attempt synchronized swimming in a flamingo raft. But here’s the thing: every single person—wine nerds and casual sippers alike—will be sipping the Zweigelt rose...it was made for poolside refreshment.
If you want to take your summer seriously and sip this with smoked salmon canapes and a big fancy hat, that’s fine with me too. But I know where I’ll be, and it’s a happy place.
From Previous Vintage: James Suckling, 90 Points
"The 2023 Rosé Zweigelt is purpose-made, i.e., it is not a by-product of red winemaking but directly pressed. Stone and strawberry on the nose already announce tension. The palate delivers bright, tart red fruit on a stony, vivid, slender and bone-dry palate with vivid drive. The freshness and stoniness set this wine apart. (Bone-dry)"
