Attila Homonna a guy, who got out of the drudgery, scraped off his mobile phone from his ear and started to build up his craftsmanship winery in Erdőbénye.
Not a whole acre. That is in two parts: one part of it is in the Határi field, the other part is in Meszesmajor. Homonna Attila expands space, time and consciousness around himself.
Why the wine and why Tokaj?
My family on my grandfather's line is from Sátoraljaújhely, my chaffing for this land originated of this aspect. But in fact it was a question of decision. My devotion for wines is long-standing. Then the more serious changes started in this field, the wine making in this country. And the most important thing is that I managed to win the biggest freedom in this activity.
In your craftsmanship winery you do everything manually from the renovation of the wine press to the reviving of the 100-year-old vine-stocks. Does it mean that you returned to the roots literally?
In the case of stake furmint absolutely.
What is this stake furmint like?
They are 100-year-old vine-stocks; they are so old that the people of Liszka call them manorial. Long time ago the vinestalk was planted under the ground and the vinestalk grew sprouts on its every buds. The stalks grew from the ground and entwined the stake that supported the whole grape.
So did you cut back 100 years? What is this like in practice?
I took 30 cm soil off under every vine-stock and looked for buds where the stalks sprang forth. I made plates around them where the water can stop. They look like the vine-stocks in La Mancha. This is not head but buck cultivation. A vine-stock like these can produce only three, maximum five clusters; from the almost three thousand vine-stocks we can harvest only six quintals grapes.
The two furmints of 2005 were made of the grapes of these vine-stocks in Határi field. What is the difference between them?
One of them, the so-called Rhine bottled wine is the standard land wine, basic wine, I don't know exactly how I should call it. It is made of solely healthy, nice yellow clusters, it is from the harvest of the end of October, the year of 2005 was very good. It is discreet but the acids are sensible with mineral features. One third of the lot fermented in tank, the rest fermented in casks rill July, August. It hardly gave 750 bottles.
And the other furmint in the Burgundian bottle?
I chose this type of bottle for this wine because this is the best wine in my whole viticulturist life.
It was written in Borbarát that this was the best furmint of 2005. How is it made?
I selected the nicest clusters from the stake plantation in the second week of November. Only one botrytis grape did not get into it. I could fill up only one cask with it, the wine fermented and mellowed in this cask. The primary aromas has remained, it is a citrus whine with apricot, thick with large body. I am glad of that it is a great wine.
You produced a hárslevelű as well. Have you had such a wine yet?
This was my first attempt with this grape. This grape is from Meszesmajor field, there are clayey soil and no rocks. This is a nice fruit with tiny clusters; I am just learning which kind of wine I can strike out of it. It has a very light color, it is a semi sweet wine with 20-30 grams sugar and low acids. This is seeking ways and means in every aspect. I can offer it the most gladly to those people who are just familiarizing themselves with what the wine is.
The "sweet trio" debuted with success last year. In what respect has it changed compared with "sweet trio" of 2004?
It is an improvement in vintage, it is more elegant, its flavor is more discreet, the whole wine is more balanced, moreover it can be let lie for a couple of years. Considering its character it is simultaneously aszú, late harvest and szamorodni. Three in one. It means that almost every sweet wine category can be found in it. It fermented and mellowed strictly in used cask, so the wood taste is excluded.
You design your labels. Why is the mandible of stag-beetle on it?
It is a childhood memory, I had always been liking to see how the males clung to each other with their mandibles or how they rose into the air awkwardly. I was very glad when I came across a stag-beetle family. I felt something like self-justification. That is the reason.
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