Winemaker Notes
Delicate play of fruits reminiscent of red currants and white nougat. Many details, immediately prefiguring finesse and depth; fullbodied and sprightly, above all shows fine details in spite of its power. Very fine nuances, highly elegant and polished, purist premium Veltliner with great length.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
It’s not often that a young Austrian gruner veltliner reminds you of Burgundy, though mature examples often do. The ripe-mirabelle, candied-pineapple and dried-herb aromas are married to a palate that’s rich and creamy. But beneath the waterline this is also a highly structured wine. Rather imposing finish, suggesting excellent aging potential. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The intensely yellow-colored 2019 Kammern Ried Lamm 1ÖTW was vinified in new 50-hectoliter oak vats and aged on the fine lees until July 2020. The nose is clearly influenced by its crystalline subsoils and delivers a coolish-mineral, flinty tone next to the perfectly ripe, elegant and finely concentrated white fruit that is discreet and refined like green tea. On the palate, this is a rich, piquant, very elegant, highly refined and persistently salty Veltliner that develops an enormously long and complex, finely tannic and sustainably structured finish. This is a great, very promising wine that assembles everything in the starting block to go a long distance. 13.5% alcohol. Tasted at Schloss Gobelsburg in June 2021.
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Wine & Spirits
Michael Moosbrugger pulls this wine from a parcel on the southeast slope of Heiligenstein, where the loess is mixed with TOP 100 WINES Fall 2022 WINE & SPIRITS 9 5 moisture-retaining clay. The vines seem to have appreciated the soil in the hot, dry 2019 vintage, if the joyousness of this wine is any reflection. Raised in large casks of oak from local forests, this feels rich and expansive, with an almost meaty density. It’s more ripe than sweet, a seamless blend of flowers, fruit, earth and spice that lasts for minutes after each sip.
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.