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Austrian
wines part 11
Schloss
Gobelsburg
Weingut Schloss Gobelsburg, A-3550 Langenlois, Austria
Tel: +43 2734 2422 Fax: +43 2734 2422-20
E-mail: schloss@gobelsburg.at
Website: www.schloss-gobelsburg.at
Schloss
Gobelsburg is a historic winery, owned by a Cistercian monastery and
possessing wonderful old vineyards in the Kamptal region. This is one
of the three top quality Danube areas of Austria and altogether has
just 2500 hectares of vines. Gobelsburg have around 40 of these.
It’s the oldest winery in the region, founded in 1171, and it was
run by the monks themselves until 1995. In 1996 winemaking and
management  responsibilities
were taken over by Michael Moosbrugger (right), who was showing
these wines. He took a soft-revisionist approach, changing the
winemaking process and restructuring the vineyards, but only where
necessary. The leap in quality has been dramatic.
In
terms of varietal composition, the vineyards are split three ways,
with half devoted to Grüner Veltliner, 25% to Riesling and the rest
to red varieties. The relatively high proportion of red grapes stems
from the history of the winery: the Cistercians here had a close
connection with their brothers in Burgundy, and were responsible for
bringing Pinot Noir to the region.
‘In
the future, there will be two sides to wine,’ says Moosbrugger.
‘On one side, industrial wine, and on the other side smaller
wineries that work in a more personal way.’ While he is firmly in
the latter camp, he doesn’t look down on mass produced wine. ‘The
industrial side is doing an important job for us, bringing a lot of
people to wine: maybe 1, 2 or 3% of people will go further and deeper
into wine. They will be the people who come to us’. He continues,
‘for the industrial side it is important to have standardized wines
with clear definition of what they are. The more technology you use in
the cellar, the more standardized the wines. The less you use the more
personal the wines get.’
 Michael
Moosbrugger has been developing a new (or should I say old) wine
called ‘Tradition’, an attempt to make Grüner Veltliner the way it would have been made a century ago. ‘One
reason I am doing Tradition is that I’m trying to learn from people
of the past,’ he says.
In
the cellar he has developed an ingenious wheel system for his larger
casks (left). Because the cellar is 200 years old he didn’t
want loads of pipes everywhere. So he’s making different zones in
the cellar and moving the casks from one room to another according to
its needs. Moosbrugger did an apprenticeship in machinery, which has
helped with projects such as this.
Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner
Steinsetz 2003
From the Gobelsbug area, which is more suited to reds, and from a
very vineyard. This has a pronounced minerally, peppery nose which is
bright, fresh and full. The palate shows expressive bold fruit with
crispness, intensity and good acid. A lovely fresh wine. Very
good/excellent 90/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Renner 2003
From the hills, and soils dominated by Gneiss. Quite a rich,
perfumed nose but still quite focused. Some lemony notes and subtle
peppery spice. The palate is quite rich and bold, but backed up with
lovely bright acidity. Finishes fresh and peppery. A clean, precise
wine. Very good/excellent 91/100
 Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Grub 2003
In between the Heiligenstein and Gaisberg vineyard. 25 000 years
ago this was a small village of deer and mammoth hunters. Spicy,
focused, expressive nose is distinctive with a peppery edge. The
palate is really distinctive and spicy with lots of expressive fruit.
Lovely broad palate. A more forward, complex style. Very
good/excellent 92/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Lamm 2003
Lamm is the footslope of the Heiligenstein. It has a fantastic
open nose with some creamy richness to the focused, minerally
expressive fruit. There's a real freshness to it together with the
richness. Lovely breadth on the palate. Very sophisticated bright,
creamy, nicely textured fruit finishing off with spicy, minerally
acidity. Elegant and expressive. Very good/excellent 93/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Tradition
2002
This is the wine made in a traditional, more oxidative way with
racking every three months, building up a more complex and stable
aroma profile and reducing the primary fruit and fermentation aromas.
Lovely complexity on the nose, with rich herbal and lemon notes. Quite
rich and creamy. The palate is complex with good acidity and a nice
herbal character. Full and complex: this is really interesting. Very
good/excellent 94/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Lamm 2000
Open herby nose is expressive with notes of straw. Quite rich. The
palate is soft and ripe with nice herby, peppery, straw-like fruit.
Smooth and plump, drinking well now. Very good+ 89/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Lamm 1999
Yellow/gold colour. Full, ripe nose with some distinctive peppery
herb character. Smooth and rich. The palate has bracing acidity with
lovely freshness and elegance. Distinctive with a herby twist and a
peppery finish. Hints of oxidation on the palate. Very good/excellent
90/100
 Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Renner 1973
Deep yellow/gold colour. Fantastic nose reminds me of a Riesling:
evolved, petrolly and limey. Fresh and alluring. The palate is clean
and long with lovely delicate limey fruit. Some richness of texture
still and nice minerally acidity. Delicious. Very good/excellent
92/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling Urgenstein 2003
A selection from young vineyards. Vivid, fresh, fruity and focused
with lovely liminess. Crisp, fresh and youthful. Some savoury spicy
character. Very good+ 87/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling Gaisberg 2003
Focused and fresh with a lovely mineral streak and good acidity.
Fresh citrus fruits dominate here. Savoury and taut. Very
good/excellent 90/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling Heiligenstein 2003
Great concentration of pure, tight, mineralic fruit with a taut
lemony character. Some richness and depth underneath. A bold,
concentrated, dark wine that needs lots of time. It’s quite serious.
Very good/excellent 92/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling Alte Reben 2003
Different genetic material in this vineyard: Gobelsburg has a
precious resource of very old Grüner Veltliner and Riesling
selections done by the monks over generations. In the 1970s and 1980s
clonal planting material became popular, but it isn’t as good. This
has a breathtaking, almost exotic nose of deep, ripe melon and lime
fruit. Complex and slightly sweet. The palate is explosive and rich
with ripe fruit. Very expressive with good acidity. Very
good/excellent 93/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling Heiligenstein 1991
Very open, precise lemony nose with a hint of lifted acidity
raising the fruit, and waxy, petrolly notes. The palate is lemony and
crisp with good acid. Very savoury and intense. Crisp, bone dry and
lemony. Very good+ 88/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling Alte Reben 1997
Open, complex lemony nose with notes of dried fruits and herbs.
The palate is bright and fresh with complex herby, lemony fruit. Bone
dry with tangy acidity. Needs food. Very good/excellent 90/100
Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling 1977
The first bottle is weird and oxidised, the second quite nice.
Fresh, petrolly limey nose. The palate is crisp and bright with good
liminess. Crisp and elegant showing nice balance. Very good/excellent
91/100
Schloss
Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Eiswein 2003
Lovely rich almost exotic nose with a striking herb-tinged peach
aroma. Very rich and full on the palate with massive sweetness
countered by explosive acidity. Peach and apricot finish is very long:
a fantastic wine. Very good/excellent 93/100
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