The Kamptal and the Kremstal

Sometimes it is “just” a farm with a few vines and apricot trees, right in the heart of Austria. There is no doubt that Austria knows wine. That the Wachau knows wine goes without saying. It could hardly be clearer. The Kamptal and Kremstal are home to the Jurtschitsches and Steininger....but also to Josef and Ingrid Ettenauer from Rohrdorf. Not so familiar with them? A big mistake, I say.

Because what goes into the bottle here as DAC Grüner Veltliner and Riesling is probably the most honest wine I have had the pleasure of drinking in a long time. Not that the others are in any way bad – but this farm in the Kremstal is the very home of rustic charm. The wine does not sit on countless pallets in warehouses; no, here it is bottled ten bottles at a time in their own loess cellar, each bottle labelled and then prepared for sale to the campers and visitors on the farm. “It’s a lot of work,” says Ingrid, laughing as though it really were no trouble for her at all.

The Ettenauer Winery

Grüner Veltliner belongs on even the smallest farm

And although demand has continued to grow, the Ettenauers, including husband Josef and their two young daughters, want to keep the farm and wine production at their current level. Others can expand; the combination of holidaymakers on the farm and their own small winery is quite enough for them. A rare answer in this age of relentless obsession with expansion. As for the wine itself, one could now trot out all the descriptors, from dry to fresh, from a little acidity to typical Veltliner, but there is really no need. These are classic, straightforward white wines that turn every balmy summer evening into a shared pleasure and immediately call for a delicious salad, cheese or pasta. Oh goodness, yes, we are in Austria: meat is naturally an option too.

The famous Kamptal

Just around the corner, in Langenlois in the Kamptal, there is practically a winegrower on every street, and on some there are two. The region takes its name from the River Kamp, and its main town is Langenlois, Austria’s largest wine town – with 3,907 hectares under vine and numerous internationally renowned top estates, the Kamptal is one of the country’s most successful winegrowing regions. And the moment you drive past the town sign, that typical wine-town feeling is there. Half-timbered buildings everywhere, and once you have negotiated the entrance to the courtyard with the vine on its sign, a smile immediately begins to form.

The best wine museum in the world, for children too

The welcome, the first sip and the warmth are impressive. And anyone who has not yet visited the Loisium in Langenlois has never wanted to reach out with a finger deep in the cellar and touch a loess vineyard directly, giving the sensation of what comes out of the bottle a vast space to unfold. A museum this hands-on is rare, and even makes children’s eyes light up at the subject of wine – without alcohol, of course. No one is forgetting the Wachau, Wagram, Weinviertel and all the other regions that do not begin with W, but from now on the two Ks, Kamptal and Kremstal, have won me over.

This is the Loisium