After the schnitzel lessons and luncheon at Schloss Mühlbach, we departed to the town of Langenlois in the Kamptal DAC.Our accommodations were at the justly-famous Hotel Loisium, a combination hotel/restaurant/spa and wine museum designed by US architect Steven Holl.
Set among vineyards on the outskirts of town, our room had a great view of the vineyards that surround Langenlois. Some of the rooms are named after local wineries (we were in one of the Schloss Gobelsburg rooms). After getting checked in and dropping off our stuff, the group headed past the pool and through the vineyard to the adjacent Loisium Museum. The entrance is tough to miss, with heiroglyphics telling the story of wine, food and the way they come together in life (or at least that's how I interpreted them).
Upon entering the museum, we descended via elevator to a room containing a huge vat of bubbling liquid (wine? water?) whereupon a show worthy of the Bellagio Hotel burbled to life.
Fountains spewed liquid in all directions, lights flashed and changed colors and there was enough misty spray to please anyone who's ever enjoyed the splashy water rides in amusement parks.
The show concluded with a glowing amber bust of Bacchus rising from the depths of the tank like something out of a Conan the Barberian novel and spitting a stream of wine at the open mouth of the ghostly, mysterious figure undulating on the wall above our heads.
It was a little bit Wagnerian, a little bit Las Vegas, and overall as entertaining as it was mystifying. We left this wine-creation pageant through a side door and entered some ancient wine aging caves that led us to a slightly (well, entirely) more normal museum experience. I enjoyed seeing the recreated kitchen with its bread rising trough, along with the cooperage display, the cobbler's room, and the general sense of what it was like to be living in Langenlois 100+ years ago.
After wandering around through the last century, we found our way up to taste through some 50+ Grüner Veltliners and Rieslings from the Kamptal DAC. We were welcomed by Fred Loimer, one of the highest-profile winemakers in the region.
In addition to Fred's 2009 Steinmassl Reserve Riesling, I was also impressed with the Jurtschitsch Dechant Alte Reben GV, Hiedler Kittmannsberg November Reserve GV, the 2009 Hirsch Gaisberg Reserve Riesling and the 2010 Schloss Gobelsburg Kammerner Gaisberg Riesling. In general, all of the wines showed beautifully, and palate fatigue hadn't yet reared its ugly head. But we'd only tasted about 80 wines thus far (including the morning's Weinviertel DAC bottles) thus far and the day was yet young...
Comments