Weingut Loimer

High in the north of Austria, nestled between Kremstal and Wachau in the west and Wagram in the east, lies the Kamptal. Here, in the wine-growing village of Langenlois, the Loimer winery is a modern and at the same time timeless building in the middle of the vineyards.

The beginnings - turning away from agriculture and livestock farming

It was Alfed Loimer who turned his back on the classic blending business in the 60s and focused entirely on wine. At that time the Kamptal did not even exist as a wine region, the wines were rather on the level of clean drinking wines. The Austrian wine scandal of 1985 and the massive drop in sales that followed did not help the region to free itself from its underdog position, but by means of a massive quality offensive it laid the foundation for the excellent reputation of wines from the Alpine republic, which is very good again today.

Exactly in this time the upcoming generation change from Alfred Loimer to his son Fred took place. Fred, who was influenced by his studies in Klosterneuenburg and his experiences on the Nahe and in California, naturally wanted to do everything differently. So Loimers' dispute was inevitable, but was finally settled.

Fred Loimer takes off

1988 marks the official founding year of the winery, for which Fred Loimer was finally able to acquire an old cellar from the 18th century. In 2000, he built an avant-garde wine loft and winery building on this traditional substructure, both of which were connected underground, which brought him all sorts of scorn from neighbouring winegrowers.

Winery as Black Box

Here, form is the reflection of function, because for Fred Loimer, despite all the controls, wine is always a product of nature, which can never be 100% determined. So for him the process of winemaking is always peppered with random aspects.

New millennium - new thinking

In the early noughties Fred Loimer began to explore the concepts of biodynamics. In winemaking, too, everything became more original again. More spontaneous fermentation, vineyard own yeasts, ageing in large wooden barrels, less focus on stainless steel tanks and temperature controlled fermentation.

Conversion to biodynamics

In 2006 Loimer began to convert to biodynamic cultivation and joined forces with other winemaking colleagues who thought and worked similarly to him, but who did not want to submit themselves completely to the extreme guidelines of demeter & Co. Together they founded the association "respect-BIODYN" in 2007

The Kamptal - meeting of extremes

Loimer in the Kamptal can fall back on a very special microclimate. The Kamp, coming from the north and flowing into the Danube, has created a valley that carries cool air from the Waldviertel to the south, where it meets the Pannonian climate from the east. In short, this leads to warm days and cool nights and finally to particularly aromatic, slowly ripening grapes.

6 vineyards in the Kamptal

Loimer, as a member of the Austrian Traditional Wine Estates, can fall back on plots of land in 6 best locations. These are Steinmassel, Heiligenstein, Käferberg, Seeberg, Loiserberg and Berg Vogelsang. Here you can find all kinds of soil structures, from paragneiss and mica slate to feldspar and sandstone, which give Loimer's wines incomparable minerality.

Veltiner, Riesling & much more

Clearly, Loimers Grüner Veltliner and Riesling are in the foreground, but the winemaker has also brought other grape varieties into the soil in the Kamptal. Among them are...

• Chardonnay
• Muskateller
• Pinot Noir
• Rotgipfler
• Zierfandler
• Zweigelt

Wines with respect

Wines close to nature, also known somewhat luridly as "natural wines", are not exactly an easy trend. For some, the next big thing and quite great, for others grossly flawed and hardly drinkable. Fred Loimer has approached the spontaneously macerated natural wines with great sensitivity and, with wines like the Cuvée Gluegglich, has created creations that combine drinking pleasure and accessibility with sophistication and depth.