Winemaker Notes
Initially somewhat reductive and coy, this wine opens up with notes of Havana tobacco and black pepper. It is zestful and only beginning to develop. Full-bodied, dense and earthy, peppery -- compact in every way with great potential to mature.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Tons of candied citrus of all types and an exciting balance of mature fruit with subtle tannins, creaminess and acidity that lifts the long, powerful and layered finish. Matured for 18 months in large, neutral oak, as was the norm 50-100 years ago. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
An aromatic style, boasting lilac and freesia accents. Apple and grapefruit notes prevail as this elegant white winds down on the graceful finish. Drink now through 2023.
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.