Austria is one of Europe’s most exciting and underappreciated wine countries — a nation of passionate, meticulous winemakers producing wines of extraordinary quality and character that are only now beginning to receive the international recognition they deserve. The Wagram is one of Austria’s most distinctive and dramatic wine regions: a plateau above the Danube defined by its famous loess cliffs — ancient, mineral-rich deposits of wind-blown soil that give the wines grown here a quite unique texture and depth. Fels am Wagram — ‘rock on the Wagram’ — is the heart of this remarkable region, and it is here that Waldschultz farm their Zweigelt vines with a dedication and precision that is evident in every glass. Zweigelt is Austria’s most celebrated red grape — a crossing of Blaufränkisch and St. Laurent that produces wines of a quite distinctive and deeply appealing character: juicy, vibrant, and full of red fruit, yet with a structure and depth that sets it apart from lighter European reds. Waldschultz’s 2023 is a beautiful expression of the variety and the terroir: ripe berries and cherries on the nose, with a lovely refreshing note of sour cherry that gives the wine a wonderful freshness and vitality. On the palate it is sophisticated and elegant, with mellow, soft tannins — the result of careful steel tank maturation that preserves the purity and freshness of the fruit — and a refined, lingering finish that speaks of both the grape and the remarkable loess soils of the Wagram. Austrian red wine at its most compelling — and a discovery that will delight anyone who tries it. At £26.49, it is outstanding.