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In the same way that in Tuscany, Sangiovese has two clones (Grosso and Piccolo), in Tyrol, Lagrein has two, Dunkel (Dark) and Kretzel (Light). The Dunkels have a nice concentration of black fruit, wrapped around a food-friendly, acidic core with pronounced tannins. These are beautiful wines for winter coming up, for braises, game and mushrooms.
Ignaz Niedrist makes beautiful examples of these wines.
To write off any wine categorically, let alone one as fine as Lagrein, is pitiable.
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re: chefdilettante
maria lorraine
Nov 7, 2011 05:25 PM
Agreed. There are fine Lagrein wines. I spent a couple of weeks tasting through the Alto Adige/Sud Tirol area and tasted many. Lagrein could be described as being very similar to Zinfandel: red/black fruit often with spicy accents. Two weeks ago, I tasted a few more good Lagreins at a domestic tasting as well. Get good guidance on which Lagrein wines to try, then go for it.
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re: Maximilien
don't get too worked-up about lagrein. there is a reason you haven't heard too much about it. there are an awful lot of unexciting varieties that are primarily only consumed locally. i have tasted a couple of dozen in the past five years and found nothing to even remotely get excited about.
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