Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Straw-yellow in color, the 2015 Gruner Veltliner Vincents Spiegel 1OTW is Vincent Bründlmayer's interpretation of the cru. Fermented on the skins in an open wooden vat (just the final grams of residual sugar were fermented in stainless steel) and aged in 300-liter barrels for one year, Vincent's Spiegel offers a deep and rich nose with ripe fruit, smoky notes and a hint of caramel aromas. On the palate, this is a rich, intense, full-bodied and densely textured Grüner Veltliner with a firm (tannin) structure and a long and complex finish. Still terribly young and more built on structure and power than charm or fruit, this is a promising wine that needs several years to gain finesse and elegance. But isn't this the destiny of any good Montrachet as well? Bottled with 20 milligrams of sulfur (total).
Rating: 93+
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.