KAMPTAL NOW Part 2: The Cool North of the Danube
Did I say mineral? Of course!
By Stuart Pigott - last revision: 14.10.26
The Single Vineyard Summit at Schloss Grafenegg is a unique annual opportunity to taste the new single vineyard wines of the members of the ÖTW (Österreichische Traditionsweingüter) winemakers' association, the Austrian equivalent of the Union des Grand Crus in Bordeaux or the VDP in Germany. I’ve been every year since 2020, and one of the highlights every year is the almost 20 dry Rieslings from the Ried Heiligenstein site, and its two sub-sites, Ried Heiligenstein-Steinwand and Ried Heiligenstein-Rotfels. Just imagine tasting nearly all the wines produced from the Grand Cru Chambertin in Brugundy, it’s that kind of experience!
Because the Single Vineyard Summit always takes place in the first half of September and this means inquisitive participants get to see the grapes from which the next vintage will be made. So, the event is two snapshots of very different kinds. This means I can remember that neither the 2025 and 2024 harvest - the vintages that made up the great majority of this year's tastings at Schloss Grafenegg - were easy.
In 2025 there was heavy rainfall on the 10th September, and in 2024 there were several days of massive rainfall from the 13th September after a very hot, dry summer. Now, the old wine books all tell you that the wine regions within the Greater Danube Area of Austria are cool climate, but those dates lie within the harvest period for Grüner Veltliner, their "signature grape", so those rain events were of considerable significance.
The 2024 vintage wines picked after that massive rain do a surprsingly good impresonation of cool climate wines, but the underlying ripeness (also tannin ripeness) from the summer is there, and you often feel it. 2025 is a more genuinely cool climate vintage that gave wines with a wonderful brilliance. In the Kamptal 2024 was definitely more challenging than 2025, but the latter vintage didn’t want to confirm to the mouthfillingly rich flavour profile that many critics used to seek in high-end dry whites from the Greater Danube Area.
„We couldn’t make opulent 2025s if we wanted to!“ Andreas Wickhoff MW of the Bründlmayer winery me. The cool and rather moist autumn is the reason for this, and, as in Germany, selective picking was essential to get clean grapes for high quality dry wines. The Riesling Ried Heiligenstein 2025 from Bründlmayer says everything about that situation: normally there's also a Riesling Ried Heiligenstein Alte Reben bottling (released one year later) as well, but all 1,200 liters of that wine went into the regular bottling. But no wine better sums up the vintage in the Kamptal than this concentrated and intensely racy dry Riesling!
In fact, this is what the Kamptal as a whole is for me. Even in hot vintages the best wines retain a cool side, and in the cooler vintages this aspect of the wines fully occupies the foreground. On the other hand, not all Kamptal dry whites are intensely mineral, but the wines from most of the top sites tend to be so. A little-commented aspect is the influence of the alcoholic content on the personality of the wine.
A Grüner Veltliner with 13.5% on the label could legally have 13.9% alcohol, and from my experience the further the alcoholic content climbs from 13.5% the more difficult to retain coolness and elegance. With Riesling below 13.5% is even clearly better than above. Brigit Eichinger's Ried Gaisberg 1ÖTW 2025 and Ried Heiligenstein 2025 are rare examples of Kamptal dry Rieslings with 13.5% where the alcohol is beautifully integrated. These brilliant wines are a real achievement!
Another remarkable achievement is the row of single-vineyard wines from Jurtschitsch, clearly the most exciting wines from this well-known producer in recent times. Of these, the Riesling Ried Heiligenstein-Steinwand 1ÖTW 2024 is the most remarkable wine I can remember ever tasting from Jurtschitsch!
For some of my colleagues seem to take the Bründlmayer for granted, but it nobody in the Kamptal can show such a consistent track record of high quality than the Bründlmayer family. And the current collection of wines, which were tasted at the winery and are presented here in full, is possibly the best to date. A personal favourite is the Grüner Veltliner Ried Loiserberg 1ÖTW 2025 with its terrific mountain freshness.
The wines of Schloss Gobelsburg lie at the other end of the scale, with a fullness and textural richness that make them stand out. They can feel quite Burgundian, but do so without ever tipping into broadness. Did the wines of this region from great vintages 80, 100 and more years ago taste this way? We can't tell what they tasted like as young wines, but already the fact that this question occurs to me says something about Michael Moosbrugger's winemaking.
I have included the notes for the 2024 single vineyard wines from Hirsch that were published earlier in the year for the sake of completeness. The tendency of some wine freaks to obsess about 100 point wines has resulted in the extremely high overall standard at this winery not always gaining the recognition it deserves.
WINES THAT EXPRESS THE SPIRIT OF THE 2025 VINTAGE
Allram Kamptal Grüner Veltliner Ried Gaisberg 1ÖTW 2025 - 13% / Very tobacco leaf, which is one of Grüner’s most important aromas. Super-bright and crisp in spite of the ample weight and concentration, this is a very energetic expression of the grape. From the length of the stony yet polished finish this has many years of life ahead of it! 94 (SP)
Eichinger Kamptal Grüner Veltliner Ried Gaisberg 1ÖTW 2025 - 13.5% / Rich and concentrated, yet vibrant with a wealth of yellow fruit flavours and citrusy freshness. Quite some power and drive at the focused, surprisingly cool and herbal finish. 95 (SP)
Bründlmayer Kamptal Riesling Ried Heiligenstein 1ÖTW 2025 - 13% / Seriously concentrated and no less elegant, this is a great dry Riesling by any standard. Here are all the wild herbs you could ever want! Giant freshness at the super-racy finish. This is the only Riesling from the Heiligenstein from Brüdlmayer in 2025. 96 (SP)
NOTE: Only for paying subscribers the notes for all 91 wines tasted can be found below. The ratings include one wine 100 and twenty eight with 95 or more.