2011 Jagini Blaufränkisch Zagersdorf

It’s rare that we get to try well-aged versions of Austria’s greatest red variety, blaufränkisch, especially from old vines and two of the country’s top producers. But here you have it! Jagini is a collaboration between Austrian wine superstars Roland Velich of Moric and Hannes Schuster of Rosi Schuster. Schuster means shoemaker in German, and jagini is an old dialect word for shoemaker - so a pair of shoe(maker)s, as it were. The organically-farmed vineyard is part of the Shuster estate in Zagersdorf, in Burgenland, west of Lake Neusiedl. Soils are ​​clay and loam on top of limestone, and vine age ranges from half a century to a century. This is simply a great site for blaufränkisch. Indigenous fermentation was in open wooden vats. Aging was in used, untoasted Austrian and German oak barrels for about four years, followed by more years in bottle before release.  Dark cherry and berry fruit with medicinal herbs and a whiff of forest-y earthiness. It's decidedly youthful for a 12-year o