Schloss Gobelsburg, Ried Heiligenstein Riesling Erste Lage, Kamptal DAC 2020 - 75cl
If the 2015 shows you where a Heiligenstein Riesling ends up, the 2020 shows you where it starts. This is the taut, coiled version of the same wine — a cooler, more classic Kamptal year that Michael Moosbrugger has bottled young and nervy, with years of upside still ahead of it. Falstaff and Parker both scored it in the mid-nineties, and it is easy to see why.
The site does the heavy lifting here. Heiligenstein — "holy stone" — rises above the village of Zöbing on a rare geological quirk called the Zöbinger Perm: desert sandstone, silt and volcanic sediment from a time before the Alps existed. Nowhere else in Austria tastes quite like it. Schloss Gobelsburg, whose cellars trace back to Cistercian monks in the 1100s, ferments the wine in large Austrian oak casks, which builds texture without ever masking the rock underneath.
Give it a moment and the nose lifts — fresh apricot, lime zest, a whisper of chamomile and wet slate. The palate is where its youth shows: dry, linear, with a creamy mid-weight that then narrows to a fine mineral beam. Crisp acidity keeps everything upright, and the finish carries that saline hum the site is famous for, going on far longer than the price suggests. Drink a bottle now to see its energy, but this will reward a decade or two in the cellar. A wine for the patient and the curious alike.
How to Serve
Serve cool, around 9–10°C, in a tulip-shaped Riesling glass to focus the aromatics. No decanting needed while it's this young — though a splash of air softens its edges.
Where to Drink It
The Wolseley, with a plate of oysters before the theatre. Scott's in Mayfair, where its precision cuts through rich shellfish. Brat in Shoreditch, alongside something straight off the wood grill.
Food Pairings
Grilled langoustines with nothing more than lemon and salt let the wine's tension sing. For something heartier, try it with a Wiener Schnitzel — a nod to home, and the acidity handles the crumb beautifully.
