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H.-M. Lang

Markus Lang’s work as an engineer in Bavaria has afforded him the dream of reviving family wine-growing roots in Krems-Stein, where he and his wife Heidelinde have restored the small house beneath which an uncle used to made wine. The scale and part-time nature of Lang’s fledgling viticultural project might lead one to dub him a “Hobbywinzer,” but within the first ten minutes of discussing it with him last year, I knew that to do so would be a grave miscalculation. Having now spent several hours touring Lang’s vineyards; visiting the riverside bomb shelter that he is turning into a rock-encased, tunnel-like future cellar; discussing his plans for a back-to-the-future press house (or possibly no house, but instead an open-air press of his own design); and of course tasting his wines, I can confidently state that this is among the handful of most audacious wine ventures I have ever witnessed unfolding.

Lang is taking biodynamic viticulture and soil regeneration in a rigorously experimental (among other things, virtually copper-free) direction, reflecting obvious attention to both historical records and the latest scientific research, even where that research is far from being biodynamically inspired. His approach permits him a by local standards shockingly early harvest of manifestly ripe-tasting fruit, putting Lang, along with the Stagårds (also profiled in this report) in the company of the Nikolaihof. “The earlier you harvest,” opines Lang, “the cooler in personality and more intensely fruity the resulting wine.” The inaugural 2012s here harbored 13% to 13.5% alcohol, the 2013s 12.2% to 12.7%, and the 2014s 11% to 11.5%, another trend that calls to mind the approach at neighboring Lesehof Stagård, and will have been given increasingly long élevage (the 2014s prospectively two full years).

Lang’s experimentalism may have temporarily gotten the better of him in the cellar. He introduced new barrels for the 2014 vintage in an effort to move away from stainless steel, and from cask the initial results, on which I’ll postpone reporting further, are handicapped by the new wood. One other innovation must be noted: at 40 Euros for private customers, Lang has set an unprecedentedly high price for Kremstal wines. Lang’s immaculately tended 0.6 hectares in the gneiss-dominated vineyard called Schreck (“fright”) will be joined by other plantings as opportunities arise.

From 2013: A Great Vintage for Austrian Riesling and Grüner Veltliner (Nov 2015) by David Schildknecht

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2013 Grüner Veltliner Schreck

Color: White

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2012 Grüner Veltliner Schreckberg

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2013 Riesling Schreck

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2012 Riesling Schreeckberg

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H.-M. Lang

2013 Grüner Veltliner Schreck

2012 Grüner Veltliner Schreckberg

2013 Riesling Schreck

2012 Riesling Schreeckberg

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