Punkt Genau 2008 Sparkling Rosé

*Bottle #96: Punkt Genau 2008 Weinviertel Sparkling Rosé
*Price Tag: $19
*Running Tab: $1,299
*Retailer: Madison Market, Central Co-Op

You read it right. Punkt – as in the producer of the wine, not in an Ashton Kutcher sense of the word, thank God.

“Punkt Genau,” meaning “on the dot” in English, captures the quintessential Austrian’s own Blauer Zweigelt in a pink fashion. I’ll be the first to admit I do not know too much about Austria or fashion, for that matter.

With nearly 70% of Austrian wine production consisting of white wines (most familiarly Grüner Veltliner), the remainder made up mostly of the red wine varietals Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt. Austria is on the wine map for their unique grape varieties, a classification system that was put into place in Hitler’s rule and makes about as much sense as a screen door on a submarine and as the motherland of the Riedel wine glasses.

Out of the Weinviertel, also known as “the wine quarter,” is the country’s largest wine producing region, located in lower Austria and home to this wine. Made of flinty soils and plenty of sun, Weinviertel wines tend to be earthy with a fruity bouquet and a serious peppery kick.

Zweigelt only takes up 9% of the vineyards in the country, a note to be made in Weinviertel which is land of the Grüner. The varietals is named, yup – you guessed it, after Professor Fritz Zweigelt in 1922. Typically soft, jammy with a full body of cherry fruited and spice.

Now the Punkt Genau Rosé is produced exclusively from Blauer Zweigelt grapes from Weinviertel. This rosé takes on frissante style, elegantly matching its feminine characteristics of the varietal with floral tones, cherry and spice.

On the nose, violets were the most prevalent upfront with strawberry, raspberry and Maraschino cherries. The spice tones flowed over the fruit in secondary aromas of nutmeg and cinnamon, giving the wine a sweet cherry pie trait that made me salivate.

Red fruit of that familiar cherry and creamy spice filled the palate. Dry with lasting acidity and a clean, crisp with a fruity finish smoothed out and balanced this Zweigelt of the pink.

A stranger to Austrian wine, I don’t have the highest of trained palates but this wine was fun, effervescent (in both senses of the word) and fabulous. It was… On the dot.

Score: 8.