Fred Loimer: "I always had an eye on the sparklers"
Fred Loimer has been making well-loved wines in Langenlois, Austria, since the early 1990s. His biodynamic practices and contemporary vision may have raised eyebrows over time but, at the heart of his winemaking, is a deep concern for origin.
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“To respect your place is, for me, the most important tool to produce wines talking about their origin and their appellation,” says Fred, for whom that all-important word, ‘origin,’ has quite a basic definition:
“The origin might be more the place itself, whereas appellation is the combination of place and people with their culture and history.”
Right from the beginning, Fred Loimer made noise in the Austrian wine business: first by vinifying the country's beloved Grüner Veltliner in barriques back in the early 1990s and, then, by introducing distinctive bottle labels when he took over the winery in 1998. He further bucked the trend for traditional aesthetics when, in 2000, he commissioned a minimalist black cube to be built right in the middle of the domain.
“The place where you work and live has the biggest influence and impact on oneself, as well as the environment, team and customers,” says Fred. “So, architecture on a good and high-quality level influences your life, your way of living, your work, your team, your wines, and your customers. Architecture is influencing almost everything.”
Based in Langenlois, the largest winemaking town in the Kamptal, Fred describes the area where he works as a mix between “climate, soil, varieties and people.” From this, he produces a style of wine that is “dry, pure, fresh, well-balanced! More vertical instead of horizontal.”
A biodynamic authority
The Loimer winery began conversion to biodynamic viticulture in 2006, and in 2007 Fred co-founded respekt-BIODYN, an international community implementing and championing biodynamics in viticulture.
“First of all, working biodynamically changed and transformed myself and my team,” he says. “No searching for the maximum in any respect. Instead, the focus lies on finding harmony and balance, and attention to details, always with a holistic approach.
“The change is step-by-step and will never end. Nature is a far too complex and sophisticated system. Some vineyards are showing your work quicker than others. They are showing it with a healthier and balanced growth, which leads to a much better resilience of the vines. The balance in growing is something you can taste in a balanced wine.”
To Fred and his team, biodynamics is also part of that whole idea of origin: “biodynamics is very much about respecting the place, which includes no manipulation of the soil and only little intervention in the cellar. Nothing added, nothing taken.”
Adding a touch of sparkle
Over the years, Fred Loimer's sparkling wines have also gained a lot of attention, among both consumers and critics.
“I always had an eye on the sparklers,” says Fred. “I like to drink them! They are light, fresh and, if there is quality, also pure and complex.”
His first was a Blanc de Noirs made from 100% Pinot Noir, back in 1991. And since 2011, based on a decision made in 2009, the Loimer winery has been even more focused on sparkling production, believing their vineyards to be the perfect origin (that word again!) for making high-quality sparkling wine.
“Cool climate (even in warm years), biodynamic mindset, so searching for balance and therefore physiological ripeness on lower levels of sugar. Ripe, but light with a vertical approach. For me, that is ideal for sparkling.”
As he looks to the future, Fred is focused on “preparing for the next generation. Staying open-minded and curious. I have the feeling that there was never a time before when we focused on such big questions as today: climate change, sustainability, great ecological possibilities, and big economic questions. The future will not be boring.”
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