Winemaker Notes
A wine of juicy roundness, paired with a long, mineral driven finish, that is an expression of the profound and mineral rich soil.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has a fragrant nose of apple blossom, melon rind, manuka honey and a hint of redcurrant. Concentrated and flavorful, with a full body and deliciously ripe and fleshy fruit riding on textured and lightly grainy layers.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is ripe, with verbena, citrus-oil, white-peach and Jonagold apple flavors seamlessly layered, but there’s firm acidity to keep this balanced. Spice details are carrying through a long, floral finish. Still a bit tight, but this unfurls nicely with air
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.