Winemaker Notes
Langenlois is the centre of the appellation Kamptal and is one of the historical and cultural centres ofwine in Austria. The gentle hills around the historical city have rendered outstanding service to the glory of the appellation. Löss –Alpine material sedimented over the past 2 million years –is the fundamental component of this wine.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Partly fermented in large oak and bottled in May this year, the 2020 Langenlois Kamptal Grüner Veltliner is deep, intense and spicy on the nose that reveals ripe and dense white fruit aromas with very fine oak hints. Fresh, clear and piquant on the palate, this is a medium to full-bodied, textural Veltliner with very fine bitters and a persistent finish.
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Wine Spectator
A little bit shy on the nose, but expressive and textural on the palate with nice white-pepper and yellow-apple character, a positive hint of bitterness underlying the fresh acidity. Drink or hold.
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.