| Grape variety |
Zierfandler |
| Synonyms |
Spätrot, Cirfandli, Czirfandli |
| Grape colour |
White grape |
| Variety |
Autochthonous |
| Vigour |
Good |
| Areas of cultivation |
Zierfandler is a light-skinned grape variety that is indigenous to Austria's Thermenregion, just south of Vienna. These days, the variety is grown almost exclusively there, and is usually blended with Rotgipfler to form a traditional wine known as Gumpoldskirchener. |
| History |
Zierfandler may be the inadvertent origin of the name Zinfandel, which has its roots in a Croatian grape collected by the Habsburg monarchy in Vienna. George Gibbs, a horticulturist on Long Island, received several shipments of vines from the Imperial nursery in the 1820s, one of which he called "Black Zinfardel of Hungary". This doesn't correspond to any known grape, but Webster suggests that Zinfandel is a corruption of tzinifándli (czirifandli), a Hungarian word derived from the German word Zierfandler. |
| Characteristics of the wine obtained from this grape variety |
Zierfandler's high sugar content and late-ripening fruit can create powerful, spicy wines with exotic aromas, and high acidity levels mean that the wines can be vinified both as rich, dry white wines or as lusciously sweet dessert wines. |