Schloss Gobelsburg is indeed an awe-inspiring property: The Zwettl Monastery secured their first piece of vineyard land in 1171, but the Gobelsburg castle that overlooks them dates back even further! From the time the monks farmed these vines (up until the 1700s), great change occurred here: No fewer than 19 different families have called the estate/castle home. However, due to both World Wars and Soviet occupation, it all fell into a state of disrepair. After the wars, it was Father Bertrand Baumann who restored Schloss Gobelsburg to its former glory, and, as of 1996, the property was acquired from the monks by Michael Moosbrugger and Willi Bründlmayer.

Moosbrugger was named the 2006 “Winemaker of the Year” by Austria’s Falstaff magazine, and he has continued to practice organic farming as his monastic predecessors did. The Gobelsburg estate has an enviable collection of vineyard parcels to work with, including holdings in “Heiligenstein” and “Gaisberg,” the two oldest documented single vineyards in the Kamptal. The mineral-rich soils in these sites give rise to Rieslings of profound depth, freshness, and aromatic complexity.

This is an entry-level bottling from Gobelsburg, but they don’t skimp on the raw material: Most of the fruit for this wine hails from younger vines (15 years or less) in the famed Heiligenstein and Gaisberg vineyards, where the soils combine volcanic sandstone, mica slate, and gravel. It is fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks to preserve Riesling’s soaring aromas. The style, as is typical of the Kamptal, is bone-dry and mineral.