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It takes a lot of time and precision to turn a good sparkling wine into an excellent sparkling wine. The other ingredients are outstanding soils, healthy vineyards, experienced craftsmanship and love for the product. This is how Austrian Fred Loimer sees it, who this year has brought in one accolade after another with his Reserve and Grosse Reserve Sekts from his vineyards in Langenlois in Kamptal and Gumpoldskirchen in the Thermenregion. The award of the Langenlois Blanc de Blancs 2013 as "Sparkling Wine of the Year" by Gault&Millau Austria in mid-November was probably the crowning achievement of this 2022 success series. Shortly before that, Falstaff magazine Austria named the Langenlois Blanc de Blancs 2016 and the Gumpoldskirchen Blanc de Noirs 2016 as the ex aequo best Brut Nature sparkling wines in the country. And Robert Parker, the most important international wine guide, says of the Gumpoldskirchen Blanc de Noirs 2016, rated 94+ points in June: "This is a spectacular, complex sparkling wine from Austria's once-famous commune in the Thermenregion." The Rosé Brut Reserve and Extra Brut Reserve were also consistently ranked among the best sparkling wines this year and also in 2021 by national and international guides such as the British Decanter. Fred Loimer: "When we started with Sekt in 2013, I was not sure whether we would find enough customers. Today we are bottling many times the amount we did back then and we can hardly keep up. That is a great acknowledgement! Of course, the good reviews from the experts make me particularly happy." More than taken with the high quality of Loimer's sparkling wines is also Willi Klinger, managing director of the Austrian wine trade chain Wein & Co: "Fred Loimer is redefining the word 'Sekt', which was discredited by cheap mass products only a short time ago, at the highest level!" Loimer's sparkling wines are available via the winery's online shop and in well-stocked specialist shops.
Today, sparkling wine accounts for about 15 percent of Loimer's total production, and there are currently four different Sekts. His high quality standards led him to biodynamic farming in 2006, and since then, in his opinion, even more terroir and finesse have manifested themselves in the wines and sparkling wines. By the way, the demand for biodynamic sparkling wines is increasing all over the world, also for Brut Nature sparkling wines that are completely dry. Says Sascha Speicher, editor-in-chief of Germany's Meiningers Sommelier magazine and the special edition of Champagne Magazin: "Fred Loimer is one of the leading minds for the new, exciting Austrian sparkling wine world. Dust-dry, sophisticated, and craftsmanship at the highest level. From Blanc de Blancs to Rosé."
In the top international culinary sphere. Loimer's sparkling wines are in demand particularly in top Scandinavian and American restaurants. Among these are the Michelin-starred Kontrast in Oslo and Speilsalen in Trondheim, as well as Winebar & Restaurant Spontan, also in Trondheim.And at Hotel at Six in Stockholm, Selma in Copenhagen, Seks Café in Copenhagen, and - also in Denmark - Kosken pa Odden. Loimer sparklings are imbibed also at SOMM and Grand Hotel Kempinski Vilnius in Lithuania, Restaurant Publique in The Hague, Aberdeen Marina Club and Hapi Fish in Hong Kong, and Wallsé in New York.
Weingut Loimer. Since 2013, Fred Loimer has been producing sparkling wines in addition to his internationally renowned Rieslings, Grüner Veltliners and Pinot Noirs. The sparklings account for about 15 percent of Loimer's total production and are sold in 22 of his 55 export countries - and the trend is growing. The dedicated biodynamicist cultivates a total of 85 hectares of vines around his hometown of Langenlois, which is in the Kamptal region, and on the completely different (climatically and geologically) eastern slopes of the Vienna Woods in Gumpoldskirchen. The Kamptal is marked by harsh northerly winds, hot days and cool nights, and soils of loess, gneiss, sandstone, gravel and clay. In Gumpoldskirchen, it is warm and dry as this region, located southwest of Vienna, is under strong Pannonian influence. The nearby Vienna Woods provide oxygen-rich air and soils consisting of sandy loam, loamy clay, calcareous brown earth and limestone gravel. Fred Loimer is a founding member of the biodynamic winegrowers' group, respekt-BIODYN, and his winery has been biodynamically certified since 2006 and has been a member of the Austrian Traditional Wine Estates for 30 years.
