Barbara Ohlzelt Zweigelt Verjus

‘Beautifully pure, super high quality Verjus from Barbara Őhlzelt. Many, many uses … lots of opportunities.’

Verjus … literally ‘Green juice’ is made from under-ripe grapes harvested around the first week of August … some 4-6 weeks before they are ‘wine-ready’. In effect it’s a late green harvest but instead of dropping the bunches to the floor, they are taken to the winery and pressed. There are no additives and there is no fermentation … in the bottle it’s just ‘green’ grape juice with zero alcohol. It sounds ‘sharp’ and it is but the flexibility and number of uses you can put Verjus to are remarkable … Zero alcohol, zero added sugar ‘adult’ drinks … Cocktails … Mocktails … dressings … sauces… patisserie etc etc. Whereas vinegar is acetic and therefore argues with wine, Verjus is grape juice and therefore tends to compliment wine.

The Zweigelt version is just that little bit ‘softer’ at the edges than the Gruner. More accessible as an undiluted drink, though you’ll definitely still register a fairly crackly acidity, it still dilutes really nicely. Again the flavours of the grapes come through quite clearly in the background