A river gives the name
From Mautern, the Kamptal lies just beyond Krems. It takes its name from the Kamp, a river about 150 kilometres long that rises in the Waldviertel, flows south in its lower course and joins the Danube east of Krems. Its main town is Langenlois, according to Austrian Wine the largest wine town in the country.
According to Austrian Wine, the Kamptal today has 3,567 hectares of vineyards. Grüner Veltliner covers 55 per cent of them, followed by Zweigelt at 13 and Riesling at 10 per cent.
Early traces
According to the Langenlois town archive, the area was settled in prehistoric times, with finds from every prehistoric period. In 1933 a mammoth tusk 3.34 metres long was found in Zöbing, and bronze rings from the Bronze Age come from the Burgstall near Schiltern.
Around Schloss Gobelsburg too, according to the estate, excavations and cellar extensions have repeatedly turned up finds from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and Roman times. When exactly winegrowing began here cannot be read from them.
Liubisa: Langenlois and the wine tithe
The oldest form of the name Langenlois is Liubisa. It is recorded in the tradition books of Göttweig Abbey and dated to between 1072 and 1091. Because these records concern the wine tithe, the first mention of the place also documents winegrowing in Langenlois.
According to the town archive, it is considered fairly certain that the name goes back to a word root meaning dear or lovely. Later forms such as Liubes, Lubes or Leubs appear, and the short form Lois has survived to this day. The name Langenlois is first documented in 1413.
1171: the Zwettl monks on the Heiligenstein
Schloss Gobelsburg is first mentioned in a document in 1074, with an Azzo de Gobatsburich whom the estate describes as a forefather of the Kuenring family. The Cistercian abbey of Zwettl in the Waldviertel is also a Kuenring foundation, and according to Schloss Gobelsburg its monks received their first vineyards on the Heiligenstein and the Gaisberg in 1171.
On 17 September 1740, Zwettl Abbey bought the castle for 40,000 guilders, together with further vineyards, some of which the abbey still owns today. After a fire at the Kammern estate in the late 18th century, the administration moved into the castle. Since 1996, Eva and Michael Moosbrugger have run the winery as tenants of the abbey.
The Heiligenstein
The Kamptal's best-known hill is a geological rarity. The Heiligenstein consists of conglomerates and red, feldspar-rich sandstones which, according to Austrian Wine, were deposited around 320 to 250 million years ago in a hot, dry climate, with pebbles of volcanic origin. The hill used to be called Hellenstein. Popularly, the name is explained by the hellish sunshine that creates a hot, dry microclimate here.
The terraces on the southern slope are so steep that no lasting layer of loess could settle on them. The vines are mainly Riesling, which gives powerful, mineral and very long-lived wines here.
Why wine grows here: soil
Four types of rock meet in the Kamptal: loess, gravel, striking bands of crystalline rock, and red, feldspar-rich sandstones and conglomerates like those on the Heiligenstein. Austrian Wine describes this as a colourful geological puzzle that tells of ancient seas and volcanoes, shifted riverbeds and wind-blown dust from the ice ages.
Towards the Danube the soils change. There, broad terraces of loess and loam offer good conditions for classic but also powerful Grüner Veltliner. That is why two wines from the same village can turn out very differently, depending on whether they come from primary rock or loess.
Why wine grows here: climate
In terms of climate, the Kamptal sits between the hot Pannonian basin to the east and the cool Waldviertel to the north-west. According to Austrian Wine, hot days and rather cool nights give the grapes great aromatic finesse and lively acidity.
You can taste that cool breath from the north in the glass too: many Kamptal wines feel fresh and agile despite their power.
From the Langenlois area to the Kamptal DAC
The region has existed as a wine region called Kamptal only since the 1993 wine law amendment. Before that, the town of Krems, several neighbouring municipalities and the Langenlois court district were combined in the Kamptal-Donauland area. Since 1993, the Kamptal has covered the Langenlois court district.
Since 2008 the Kamptal has marketed its regionally typical wines as Kamptal DAC, initially with Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. Since the 2024 vintage, Chardonnay, Weißburgunder and Grauburgunder have also been permitted. From the 2025 vintage, Kamptal DAC may only use grapes from certified organic or Nachhaltig Austria certified production, with an exemption for producers of under 5,000 litres a year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, that makes the Kamptal the first wine region in Austria with such a rule.
Cellars beneath the town
Old cellar passages run beneath Langenlois. In 1994, Tuula and Gerhard Nidetzky came across a historic wine cellar when they bought a house. This led to the Loisium. The wine world was presented in 2003, with modern architecture above and centuries-old cellar passages below.
Our tip: walk up the Heiligenstein once, look out over the valley, and then in Langenlois put a Riesling from the Heiligenstein next to a Veltliner from loess. Then you understand the geological puzzle without needing a geology book.