Winemaker Notes
Juvenile bouquet, purely flavored with pome fruit (pear, apples) accompanied by fragrant notes of citrus and hay- and acacia flowers, still slightly yeasty; dry, fresh and fruity with a touch of appealing roundness, moderate body and a fine grip; again sappy pome and stone fruit tones; great harmony, hints of tea leaves, minerals and spice in the mouthwatering finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Cool and elegant, yet juicy and wonderfully fresh, this medium-bodied gruner vetliner has the garden herb and celery aromas of the grape. As lightly as this skips over the palate, and as crisp as it is in the finish, there’s very good substance here. It should stay fresh for quite a few years. From organically grown grapes.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Just bottled with 12.5% stated alcohol, the incredibly charming 2023 Grüner Veltliner Terrassen opens with an irresistible, pure, bright and intense as well as coolish and aromatic bouquet of white seed fruits yet also a saline background. Lean, fresh and juicy on the palate, this is a medium-bodied, saline, savory and highly stimulating Veltliner that will probably never tastes as attractive as in its first year after bottling. It's an irresistible picture-book Veltliner.
Fun to say and delightfully easy to drink, Grüner Veltliner calls Austria its homeland. While some easily quaffable Grüners come in a one-liter—a convenient size—many high caliber single vineyard bottlings can benefit from cellar aging. Somm Secret—About 75% of the world’s Grüner Veltliner comes from Austria but the variety is gaining ground in other countries, namely Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United States.
Climbing north and slightly east of the Kremstal region, Kamptal has very little vineyard area bordering the Danube River (unlike Wachau and Kremstal, whose vineyards run along it). The region takes its name from the river called Kamp, which traverses it north and south. Kamptal’s densely planted vineyards represent eight percent of Austria’s total.
The area experiences wide diurnal temperature variations like the Wachau but with less rain and more frost. Its vast geologic diversity makes it suitable for various experimentations with other varieties besides Grüner Veltliner and Riesling, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder), Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, St. Laurent and Zweigelt.
But the region is probably most noted for the beautiful and expansive terraced Heiligenstein, arguably one of the world’s top Riesling sites, as well as some of Austria’s most extraordinary Grüner Veltliner vineyards. Kamptal’s soils, which are mostly loess and sand with some gravel and rocks, make it suitable for Grüner Veltliner, so much so that actually half of the zone is planted to that grape.