Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Good depth and concentration, but light on its feet, this has wonderful elegance and a very long, silky finish with the coffee-cream, chalk and herbal complexity you expect from a high-end gruner veltliner. From biodynamically grown grapes with Respekt certification. Drink or hold.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This elegant white has intense minerality that is joined by vibrant acidity, together creating firm structure. There’s a fine balance, with notes of hominy, lemon oil, spice and hints of sage that all decorate the velvety texture. The finish is long and precise, echoing the savory profile.
-
Wine Spectator
A distinctive style, with a glossy cascade of expressive citrus, lemon oil, nectarine and fresh apricot, plus chamomile, floral and honey highlights. Shows impressive concentration and energy, with a subtle buttercream note and thread of green herbs coursing through the silky, smoky palate. Drink now through 2028.
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.