St. Laurent

St. Laurent carries the VIVC prime name Saint Laurent, variety number 10470, and its berry skin colour is noir. Its likely country of origin is France. VIVC records Pinot Noir as one parent (pedigree marked as confirmed by markers); the second parent is unknown. St. Laurent has offspring: WineWiki's VIVC-derived lineage data lists two, Zweigelt and Rondo.

• VIVC prime name: Saint Laurent; VIVC variety number 10470; berry skin colour: noir
• Country of origin: France (likely)
• Parents: Pinot Noir (pedigree marked as confirmed by markers) and an unknown second parent
• Recorded offspring: Zweigelt and Rondo

The exact origin of St. Laurent has not yet been clearly established. The variety was already known in Alsace in 1850. By other accounts, the German pharmacist and viticulture pioneer Johann Philipp Bronner introduced it to Germany in the middle of the 19th century, and from there it is said to have spread to Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Interest in St. Laurent grew in the first years of the 21st century.

• The name is thought to refer to St. Lawrence's Day (10 August), around which the variety's ripening phase begins
• In 1863 the Klosterneuburg school laid out its first trial vineyards, and August Wilhelm Freiherr von Babo, its first director, began experimenting with the variety
• Austria's agriculture ministry records that St. Laurent plantings in Austria grew by 91% between 1999 and 2008 and have slowly declined since
• St. Laurent is also a parent of Zweigelt: a 1922 crossing of St. Laurent and Blaufränkisch produced the new Austrian variety, bred by Fritz Zweigelt

St. Laurent prefers warm, light, calcareous soils and does best on mid-early sites. In Austria its main areas are the Thermenregion in Lower Austria and the Neusiedlersee area in Burgenland. Outside Austria it is grown in Germany, mainly in the Pfalz and Rheinhessen, in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. The largest areas of the variety in the world are in Moravia. Its many other names include Svatovavřinecké.

• Thermenregion: stretches south-east of Vienna, with Tattendorf among its main wine villages
• Neusiedlersee: northern Burgenland, with a Pannonian climate; Lake Neusiedl acts as a heat store
• Czech Republic: the world's largest St. Laurent areas are in Moravia
• Germany: grown mainly in the Pfalz and Rheinhessen

St. Laurent makes strongly built, deep red wines with a fine, fruity bouquet that recalls cherries, morello cherries, coffee and chocolate. Young, it tastes austere and high in acid; with age it becomes velvety and dry, full-bodied and pleasantly tannic. The variety does not build up much sugar, so its natural alcohol does not normally exceed 12.5 or 13% abv.

• Bouquet: cherry, morello cherry, coffee and chocolate
• Young wines taste austere and high in acid; older wines are velvety, full-bodied and pleasantly tannic
• Wines are strongly built and deep red in colour

St. Laurent is particularly suited to longer ageing in oak casks. If yields are limited, it can be worth oak and bottle ageing. It is vinified as a single-variety wine and also used as a blending partner in cuvées.

• Particularly suited as a blending partner for Blaufränkisch

Johanneshof Reinisch in Tattendorf, in the Thermenregion, makes two single-vineyard St. Laurent wines, Ried Frauenfeld and Ried Holzspur.

• Johanneshof Reinisch, Thermenregion: organic (Bio); single-vineyard St. Laurent from Tattendorf, including Ried Frauenfeld

Primary sources: https://www.vivc.de/index.php?r=passport%2Fview&id=10470 ; https://www.vivc.de/index.php?r=passport%2Fview&id=13484 ; https://www.bmluk.gv.at/themen/lebensmittel/trad-lebensmittel/getraenke/st_laurent.html ; https://j-r.at/ ; https://j-r.at/shop/?rebsorte=st-laurent Reference sources: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/grape-varieties/red/st-laurent Last verified 2026-10-27