2020 December 1, Tuesday
We shall make an important distinction between durability and ageability. The former only means preserving the quality, while the latter promises an improvement in quality. Long life in wine is valuable because it ushers in improvement. Even the fact that a food item can be kept for years, or even for decades without deteriorating in quality, let alone improving, maturation is indeed miraculous. And a good wine can do that.
2020 December 1, Tuesday
Traditional method sparkling wine – at home
The three pillars of the Sauskas’ traditional method sparkling wine concept is: the uniqueness of Tokaj; the new cellar in Budafok with its great attributes for making traditional method sparkling wine; and the alliance between their permanent advisor Régis Camus (the former chef de cave of Piper Heidsieck) and Krisztián Sauska, under the flagship of making world-class, Hungarian, terroir-focussed traditional method sparkling wine. We recently visited the winery’s new cellar in Budafok, which was both a journey and a trip back in time, and we will tell you how the 20-year-old history of the Sauska-Tokaj story started a new chapter.
2020 November 3, Tuesday
We’ve had a connection with the Pannonhalma Arch Abbey for a decade and a half. Beside the Pannonhalma mineral water and the Abbey’s beer, an even farther link (400 km as the crow flies, plus a border) also connects us. This is the Szilágyság (Sălaj), more exactly the Kárásztelek traditional method sparkling wine winery, where the team of winemaker Csaba Bereczki made three traditional method sparkling wines from the 2017 vintage’s small but perfect crop.
2020 November 3, Tuesday
“When’s the new Infusio coming?” That’s the question we possibly hear the most in the shops. The good news is: now! Ever since the first, 2006 vintage, the Arch Abbey’s top wine has been an icon. It always runs out quickly, one always has to wait for the next vintage. In connection with the 11th vintage, we got hold of winemaker Zsolt Liptai at the end of the harvest. We’ve never seen such a thing at the beginning of October: Zsolt’s face was smooth and he smiled. “The 2020 was the calmest vintage of my life. Every time, everything arrived healthily, in the most perfect state to the cellar,” he started the conversation.
2020 October 15, Thursday
The date is March 7, 2013 - From this day on, every step of sparkling wine production takes place in-house at Zoltán Demeter’s winery in Tokaj. In complete freedom, along own decisions – it is a small producer’s way of sparkling making, just like in case of Champagne growers. Zoltán presses wine, adds liqueur de tirage and does disgorging alone. Additionally, he also fine-tunes the details wherever and whenever he can.
2020 October 1, Thursday
The name of Imre Györgykovács is a concept. And the subject of the concept is not this or that memorable wine, rather some kind of school: methods that worked out well, knowledge of the place, fine-tuning to the extremes, and slow manual work above all.
2020 October 1, Thursday
2017 was a classic, big Villány vintage. It was the promised land, both in terms of quantity and quality...
2020 July 31, Friday
Last August, there was a great party halfway between the Botts’ Muzsla vineyard and cellar in Komárom, on the banks of the Danube, in Radvány. That’s where we first saw the inscription ‘Just Enjoy Rosé’, on the T-shirt of Frigyes Bott’s daughter, Zsuzska. Initially, we didn’t really get it, then it turned out that in the ice buckets there were three wines with the same label welcoming the guests: an unfiltered rosé, an opalescent Tramini and a light red – from which nothing was taken or added during vinification. That’s when the Just Enjoy series started, and now, we’ve asked Frigyes about the fresh vintage.
2020 July 31, Friday
There are many legends linked to the name of Roland Velich, as usually happens with iconic winemakers. What’s for certain is that he grew up in Burgenland, he was once a ski instructor and a croupier, and that he had already been making Chardonnay, on the family estate with his brothers, when nobody else did in the wine region. Then, after an about-turn, he founded his own Blaufränkisch-based estate, called Moric. He is a polarising and unavoidable character in Austrian wine, and since recently also in Hungarian wine, due to his new project called Hidden Treasures, which has been running for a few vintages.
2020 July 31, Friday
When we talk about Boldogkőváralja, then it’s Bestillo. If it’s Bestillo, it’s pálinka. Until now that is. As from now, it’s gin. Or gin as well. And what gin! The harmonious drink is made with the same exceptional care as Gábor Czakó and his partner, Móni, distil the fruit, only in this case, the obsessed fruit brandy team doesn’t process raspberries, instead they peel the organically cultivated bergamot oranges in the kitchen. And instead of the selected, own-grown, chemical-free apricots, they put the organic juniper and spices into the still.
2020 July 1, Wednesday
Good wine by itself is an empty concept. Its values are defined by the circumstances. For whom? When? Where? To find the right wine for an occasion is almost as difficult a job as building up a good team. One needs knowledge, empathy and a touch of luck. When the plan works out, the clogs match, the party comes to life, eyes twinkle and people start talking, and the host can lean back in satisfaction.
2020 July 1, Wednesday
A Babarcszőlős winery, a Diósviszló vineyard. The two are so close to each other that the old GAZ (a military jeep) doesn’t even have time to warm up in the short time that it takes to get to the vineyard. This is the western end of the Villány wine region, and to the south of it, almost all the village names include the name of the Drava. The river is close and so is the Croatian border – this is one of the last vineyards in the region. Ákos Ruppert studied to be an engineer, thus the ideology and precision comes from him, while the finer details are cared for by Katus (his wife) and Andris (his brother). We talked to Ákos, and among other things, we learnt why Alice is so important.
2020 June 16, Tuesday
We usually look at the Champagne wine region as a unit, as the mecca of sparkling winemaking. It’s characteristics – a cooler climate and the limestone ridge that cuts through the wine region – create a unique terroir in the world and are ideal for making base wine for champagne. Although, it isn’t much talked about, there are sub-regions within Champagne, with completely different features and styles. We gathered the most important aspects of the five sub-regions.
2020 June 16, Tuesday
A few attributes that often pop up when Francis Egly is mentioned among the biggest names of the wine region: grand cru villages, an emphasis on Pinot Noir, ripe grapes, long ageing, and a concentrated, vinous texture...
2020 June 3, Wednesday
You only need to meet them once to remember: Béla is the winemaker, Bandi is the grape grower. They were born and bred in Balatonszőlős. They are level-headed and it’s hard to distract them, yet they experiment every day, reacting to the environment on their own naturalistic way.
2020 May 5, Tuesday
We got to know Balázs Sike via the Skizo wines and we’ve been working with his wine with their ‘colourful hands’ labels for many years with great success. Good value wines, reliability and precise winemaking are the things that first come to mind when we think about these light (mainly) single-varietal wines...
2020 April 22, Wednesday
Bordeaux, Burgundy, Tokaj, Rioja, Mosel, Piemonte
2020 April 21, Tuesday
Theirs is a key name on the northern side of Lake Balaton, and one or two of their single-vineyard wines serve as benchmarks on the wine scene. Lately, we’ve grabbed certain details in connection with them: Hét hektár (Seven hectares – the name of a Figula blend), single-vineyard selections or simply the Olaszrizing. But now that everybody has time on their hands, we asked Misi to tell us in a bit more detail.
2020 March 3, Tuesday
Dániel Haberl and his father have a cider winery. We’re writing winery because the concept and the process is the same as in the case of wine. However, the result is a pure cider that’s fresh on the nose and palate.
2020 March 3, Tuesday
Last year, we first introduced the family wineries and the growers of the vibrant Champagne region – those who work alongside the region’s big brands. In order to learn more, we returned to Champagne from where, beside other things, we came back with the champagnes of two young wineries. We are writing about them now.
2020 February 14, Friday
When?
It lasts from February 14 till March 15, online and in our wine shops. The delivery of the ordered wines starts from May 15, 2020.
How much?
During the time of pre-purchase – 6,200 Ft/ bottle, that is altogether 74,000 Ft. We’re taking orders for wooden cases of 12. In the case of ordering 24 bottles, we give a bottle of Kopar 2017 Magnum as a gift.
2019 November 29, Friday
The 200-year-old story started with the marriage of Nicolas François Billecart and Elisabeth Salmon, in 1818. One of them had vineyards, the other had a cellar, which provided the perfect foundations for the birth of a champagne house. Billecart-Salmon is one of the very few champagne houses that while keeping, or rather, constantly growing its prestige during history, could remain in family hands. Currently, the house is producing two million bottles annually, under its name, from 260 hectares of vineyards. The 200-year history, the fame and fortune do not come for free, and it’s not an obvious natural state of affairs. Still, what does it take for a winery to remain on the stage for 200 years?
2019 November 29, Friday
It’s not a rare occurrence that during our winery visits to see sparkling-eyed young people plodding away next to the winemaker, initially observing from a distance, and with time taking part in the conversations more and more actively. Many of them grew up in front of our eyes and have become important figures in winemaking. Now, we’ve asked both the winemakers and their sons and daughters to recall those experiences they felt while making the first wines on their own. They are all different winemakers, from different times and regions, what’s common in each wine (and offspring) is that their fathers have been very proud of them from the beginning.
2019 November 4, Monday
When the Furies got the shears in their hands
2019 November 4, Monday
Kárásztelek, Kreinbacher, Légli, Sauska Tokaj, Tokaj Nobilis
When we taste traditional method sparkling wines blind, at the end of the tasting it turns out that the most favoured ones are always born in pristinely pure, well-organised and designed, well-equipped cellars. Whether they are small or large, it’s always made in the professional ones. Somehow coincidence doesn’t fit into making traditional method sparkling wines. This is supported by the five wineries making traditional method sparkling wines, who we visited in the middle of the harvest.
2019 October 1, Tuesday
On the last Monday of August, we drove in the drizzling rain to Dunaradvány. We’d been invited to the Botts' house, next to the Danube, where unusually, we tasted the wines of the fresh vintage not just with our colleagues but with more than a hundred wine lovers. And we started chatting. We asked writers, wine merchants and sommeliers about the wines that are made from next to the River Hron (in Hungarian Garam) and their experiences about the winemaker who produces them.
2019 October 1, Tuesday
The Rodríguez family, who come from the Basque country, purchased the Remelluri estate, Rioja’s most ancient winery, in 1967. The main building was built by the monks of the Order of St Jerome in the 14th century, while the first written proof about winemaking comes from 1596. Following his studies in Bordeaux, Telmo Rodríguez returned to the family estate but a few years later he turned his back on the comfortable career choice, in order to work in a completely different approach. The new concept was the exploration of the past and the saving of old vineyard ‘fossils’...
2019 September 2, Monday
Why Riesling?
Out of all the varieties, Riesling can claim the biggest right to be called delicious. Its exotic nose is a real fruit cocktail, while there are fireworks on the palate. It’s a scintillating, rhapsodic, flamboyant wine.
2019 August 2, Friday
There’s a quiet revolution going on in Prosecco. Apparently, there's no reason for change. Although Italy’s largest wine region produces more wine than the whole of Hungary, it can still hardly keep up with the world’s thirst. It’s unbelievable that over the course of just a decade, the number of bottles sold has grown by a 1,000 per cent. However, some producers are not enjoying the ride on the runaway train, those who desire more than just financial success. These seekers and experimenters are the revolutionaries of quality.
2019 July 4, Thursday
Rosé is the art of indication, there is everything in it but not in their complete form, only as shadows or reflections. As Paul Verlaine in Art Poétique ushered everything out of the poem that was heavy, factual and obvious, as the Impressionists putting up their canvases outdoors were more interested in the change, the trailing of the light, capturing the colour of the half-shadow than the forms themselves, rosé is also the genre of the evanescent impressions and subtle implications weightlessly soaring. A rosé is sliding, there should be no struggling or fluttering of wings in it – it leaves itself open to the currents of air and surfs on the waves of the wind.
2019 July 4, Thursday
Huge tuff walls, the office in the circus wagon, memories of the FesztEger music festival and three winemakers sitting on the grass. That’s how our conversation starts with János Bolyki, Gergő Böjt and György Lőrincz Jnr in Bolyki Valley.
2019 July 4, Thursday
At this time of summer barbecues and sipping wine late into the night, there is always a point when someone utters the unavoidable sentence: “I’d love to have a good gin and tonic.”
2019 June 17, Monday
The classic formula remained for the 2016 vintage as well: Cuvée 7 from Villány is a Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend (65%), while Cuvée 7 from Siklós is a Merlot-based (80%) blend.
Pre order from 17. June - 15. July
2019 June 4, Tuesday
Kékajtó Winery - Kőröshegy
Everybody imagines an ideal activity for themselves whereby they feel that they can reach their pinnacle and be happy. Then there are those who also accomplish it. This was the thought that occurred to us when we met up with Miklós Németh and his wife, Gyöngyi, on a beautiful day in May.
2019 June 4, Tuesday
Konyári Winery – Balatonboglár
We’ve had a strange spring. At the beginning of the year, winemakers were talking about drought – they said that the grapes were a month ahead of schedule and that the harvest would start at the beginning of July. And now, as we’re writing this, it’s raining. It’s raining and cold! The grapes have slowed down and the winemakers have more time to talk as it’s impossible to get into the rows between the vines. Nevertheless, that’s precisely where Dani Konyári likes being the most, when he’s not travelling the world.
2019 May 15, Wednesday
A little more than half a year ago, we were visited by two representatives of Dog Point, Murray Cook and Matthew Sutherland. They are in charge of the winemaking decisions at the winery, and while they are professional at their jobs, they don’t make exaggerated statements. They placidly respond to any kind of question and are not bothered to admit if they still searching for direction in any subject.
2019 May 15, Wednesday
Our colleague, Zsófi Szuhai, spent two months in New Zealand recently, where Sauvignon Blanc vineyards paint the landscape green as far as the eye can see, and shares her experience:
2019 May 15, Wednesday
We love the Sauvignon Blancs of Montes, but in this case, there is much more going on than this – the team of Viña Montes went off the beaten track. They sought out a place of growth where they can stretch the variety’s and their own limits.
2019 May 15, Wednesday
We’d walked past the stand of South African wine three times at a wine fair by the time we got to taste the Sauvignon Blanc traditional method sparkling wine. Then we tasted it once more. And once more again. It’s a refreshingly vivacious drink. Later, we sought it out and learnt a few interesting things about the past of the estate that gave us one more reason to be enthusiastic about it.
2019 May 15, Wednesday
South Africa started fascinating us two years ago. We tasted a lot of different kinds of Chenin Blanc and Pinotage, then searched, selected and one of our favourites became the Painted Wolf winery, which was founded by Jeremy Borg and his wife. Beside the wines, we were also impressed by their views and responsible attitude.
2019 May 15, Wednesday
It would be hard to recall when it happened exactly that our friends from the Billecart-Salmon Champagne House called us, saying that they have this friend, Monsieur Jolivet, and that we should help to get his wines into Hungaroring’s VIP section. We started communicating and a few cases of Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc soon arrived, plus a smiley, big-haired French bloke. And since the wines were here, of course, we tasted them.
2019 May 15, Wednesday
If Austria seems green and peaceful from here, then South Styria (Südsteiermark) within it, is very green and very peaceful. So, we were surprised when our first host, Michael Gross, asked us to stop at their Slovenian estate first, at the Stajerska Slovenija, in the Holze wine region. He said the reason they established an estate over there as well is because it’s a lot greener and calmer then Steiermark.
2019 May 15, Wednesday
"With this wine we wish to have more layers, a broad palate and a creamy structure..." - Sándor Mérész
2019 May 15, Wednesday
We are in Dunaszentmiklós, on the northern edge of the Gerecse hills, at the Kösziklás vineyard. Dunaszentmiklós is a beautifully-situated, 400-strong small village full of wine cellars overlooking the Danube that’s towards the north and west, surrounded by forest and limestone vineyards. And of course, rock-hard, diligent Swabians.
2019 May 15, Wednesday
Turning over a new leaf has its advantages – Krisztián Sauska and his company arrived with the Sauvignon Blanc grape in Tokaj-Hegyalja in the 90s. They didn’t instinctively feel the Sárgamuskotály, the Furmint and the Hárslevelű, there were no noble rot covered bottles or guiding principles from grandad.
2019 May 15, Wednesday
We know that there are dedicated winemakers. But when we called Zsolt Liptai from Pannonhalma and asked him if he could talk to us about Pannonhalma Arch Abbey’s Sauvignon Blanc and he replied that he’s tasting wine in Champagne for a week, well, then we got a bit edgy. “No problem, you should talk to Balázs Hangyál until I get back, his Sauvignon is at least as good as ours.”
2019 May 15, Wednesday
The Sauvignon Blanc grape is a bright and shining universe – possibly the one possessing the strongest light among them all. Its nature is a light beam that cannot be blocked in any way. But even this shine has different degrees.
2019 April 24, Wednesday
We’ve been travelling around the world for 25 years, because we want to see the landscape and the grapes by our own eyes, and to get to know the producers and the wineries. This time around, we’ll start off in a different way. We are organising this study trip together with the travel agency Yes Travel – to a wine region that is extraordinary by all means, and where there are doors on which a plain mortal would knock in vain.
2019 April 4, Thursday
We’ve been working together with István Balassa – grape grower, winemaker, guitarist, photographer, Renaissance man – for 11 years. We might presume that we already know a thing or two about him as we’ve talked to him so much.
2019 April 4, Thursday
It was just eight years ago when Marci Ruppert found a job ad on the university bulletin board, written in broken Hungarian, and he sought out Robert Gilvesy. They have changed a lot since their first harvest together – combined they now cultivate almost 25 hectares of vineyards on two hills’ two different soils...
2019 March 1, Friday
Pinot Noir is often called a demanding variety. Nothing is good enough for it. When the harvest is perfect, then Burgundian winemakers start worrying that the grapes can just be spoilt in the cellar. Every year, we study the Burgundies and we curiously anticipate what the actual vintage tells us...
2019 March 1, Friday
Swiss owner Philipp Oser started building up the Villa Tolnay winery 15 years ago. Now the estate at the foot of Csobánc Hill has been expanded with the addition of a modern cellar, while the image is also being changed and new blends are being created. We visited them on a grey February day, but it was still obvious: here, everything is already about the spring and innovation.
2019 February 1, Friday
A good wine is a film, not a photo
Castello di Monsanto is a winery that has made history in a historic wine region. With its iconic wine, Il Poggio, the winery was among the first to show the spirit of the place of growth and the character of the Sangiovese grape, without any compromise.
2019 February 1, Friday
We’ve been to Fertőrákos, the village of Enikő Luka and Ráspi. Next to the table, a snow-white cat with one brown and one blue eye blinks in the sun. The Professor. The flames crackle in the stove of the beautifully renovated TSZ pub, while by the table three Poncichters (the German name for Sopron grape producers) share Sopron’s fairy tale winemaker legend. Csaba and Balázs Orosz are siblings and they both have beards, while their friend, Samu Linzer, smiles continually and pours out his stories. And we also tasted the wines: Zweigelt and Kékfrankos.
2018 December 7, Friday
We’re celebrating with two very good wines
2018 November 30, Friday
We sit down every year and bring out earlier vintages of Burgundian Pinot Noirs. We observe how this exciting and diverse variety develops. Based on our latest tasting, now we voted unanimously for these Pinots.
2018 November 30, Friday
Our winemakers show us which wines they’ve been dealing with the most lately. They tell us how they shaped them and why these wines are special and important to them.
2018 November 30, Friday
Elegant and memorable wines from Tuscany’s indigenous variety, from the Mastrojanni Winery.
2018 November 30, Friday
After a four-hour drive and another half hour spent waiting – we had to give way to cattle – we turned, and arrived in Kérésztelek, which is hidden among the Szilágyság hills. It’s a tiny Hungarian village, located at the western end of Romania, in the Partium, hardly an hour’s drive from the Hungarian border. A new car arrives and people look at it curiously...
2018 November 30, Friday
Sommeliers are our friends, colleagues and partners. They taste at least as much as we do, and talk as much (if not more) about wine than us. We took a bottle, sat down with them to talk and only asked them to tell us what comes into their minds about wines.
2018 November 15, Thursday
November 15 – the date we hugely anticipated this year since it marks the time when the Beaujolais Nouveau wines arrive. The message of this new French wine is: let’s drink delicious wine together, here and now.
2018 October 30, Tuesday
Earlier when we talked about Bordeaux, we mentioned full-bodied, earthy, smoky notes, as well as powerful tannins and long ageing potential, even of up to 15 years. And sometimes barnyardy ‘brett’. There was a style we learnt to accept: the world of slightly aristocratic and not always easy to understand big wines. Bordeaux is changing. The new vintages give lighter, less tannic wines that can be enjoyed earlier.
2018 October 30, Tuesday
When we decided that we wanted to continue our ‘Three winemakers’ series, we had no idea what a tough job it was going to be. Gábor Rakaczki (Sauska), Sándor Mérész (Etyeki Kúria) and Zsolt Liptai (Pannonhalmi Apátsági Pince) fill out the available space by themselves separately, but together they form an explosive mixture.
2018 October 16, Tuesday
We went to Tokaj for our annual report. It’s a fairy tale number. A lot of things have changed over the seven years.
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“You have to become friends with the plot to learn what it’s capable of”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“Don’t come to us wearing a suit!”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“I’m the one on the hill who keeps their trees”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
Story-like characters from the Kozér vineyard
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“2017 was the vintage of richness both in sweet and dry wines.”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
Giving back Tállya’s beauty and richness
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“I’m made of grape matter and zeolite.”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“When you’re over 50, you value the actual movements and not the sentences.”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“This vintage gave more broad-shouldered wines than 2016.”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“Classification is more of a cultural than a scientific result.”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“It should be consumable quickly but also for a long time.”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“I’m going to have seven szamorodnis from 2017. Nobody has ever done such a thing.”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
“I might as well be a cobbler. The main point is that I should do it well.”
2018 October 16, Tuesday
When we started our annual report, we only tasted dry wines. Then we were happy to get astounded again by Tokaj’s miracle – the sweet wines. Now, here is our first annual report in which traditional method sparkling wines also appear alongside the still wines. Maybe we can see the bubbles at the end of the tunnel?
2018 October 1, Monday
We visited Csilla and Csaba Sebestyén in Szekszárd, during the early harvest. We started at Iván-völgy, then it was off to the Porkoláb and the Görögszó vineyards. These are real treasures, which you might easily speed past on the motorway, thinking that Szekszárd is not a nice place and that you shouldn’t stop there. But you simply have to stop in Szekszárd.
2018 October 1, Monday
It was Frigyes Bott who recommended the Wenzel winery to us. The wines were convincing and the story behind them was even more so. We went to the Burgenland in the spring and on the main street of Rust at the house numbered 29, we tasted delicious wines and had a good chat with the winemaker, Michael Wenzel. Michael is a balanced character who makes his natural wine with an extremely logical attitude. Even then it was obvious that he regards himself more as a patient observer than as a grape grower or winemaker. In the autumn, we managed to get hold of him on the phone at the peak of the harvest and we could talk exactly while the press worked.
2018 August 31, Friday
“An entry-level red wine should be rich, flavoursome and zesty. I don’t believe in light bistro wines,” says Gábor Kiss vehemently, getting straight to the point. We also talked about the Rouge 364.
2018 August 31, Friday
It’s Monday afternoon. Two former Kendo masters, Gyula Szabó and his friend András, switched their Budapest lives for winemaking in the countryside, and their bamboo swords for table tennis bats, and they play in Köveskál every Monday afternoon. We talk about village wines, friendship and grapes after the match. Gyula moved to the Káli Basin with his family from Budapest. He started with almonds and continued with the 40-year-old Köveskál Olaszrizling he inherited from his grandparents.
2018 July 12, Thursday
This story is about grapes. About grapes and a grandfather whose daughter needed a change of scenery. It’s about grapes – Kéknyelű and Hárslevelű – about basalt, sandstone and pines. And about a mother, Bea, about a daughter, Dóra, and about a little girl, Lujza.
2018 July 12, Thursday
Péter Váli has always been likeable to us, but somehow we’d never got close to his wines. This year – in order to strengthen the local offerings of our wine store in Balatonfüred – we rang on his bell and bought some of his wines. Then, we went to visit him to talk about the estate and the wines in a bit more detail.
2018 June 1, Friday
It’s mid-May and the sun is shining. We are sitting high up on the slopes of Badacsony’s Öreghegy and below us is the vineyard called ‘God’s slope’ by Zsófi and Bence. Everything is verdantly green, the old-vine Olaszrizling is three weeks ahead of what is normal for this time of the year. Hot basalt, blue Balaton and the high life. It’s Friday before lunch, yet it’s a full house on the Laposa wine terrace and the place is jumping...
2018 June 1, Friday
Prosecco is one of the favourite punch bags in higher wine circles. It’s often compared to Champagne and then comes the bad mouthing: it’s cheap, not serious, fruity and shallow. This is despite the fact that nothing supports the comparison to Champagne beyond the bubbles...
2018 May 3, Thursday
Fifteen years ago, we got a phone call from a friend, Géza Ipacs, a graphic artist from Eger, who suggested that together we should go to Verona, to Vinitaly, to taste wine, to check out the labels and get some inspiration. One of his friends, a really cool flower merchant, who had a tiny cellar in Mór, also came along.
2018 May 3, Thursday
During the last 50 years, the glory that is French wine has had to face up to three challenges. The first happened in 1976 – when at a blind tasting in Paris, Bordeaux Cabernets were defeated by their Californian counterparts. The second great challenge came in the shape of Australian Chardonnay giving white Burgundy a run for its money. This success story came to a sad end after two decades of world dominance: Australian Chardonnay lost prestige resulting in a downward price spiral, while white Burgundy is still a respected member of the wine aristocracy. The third challenge affected Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc – coming all the way from New Zealand.
2018 April 5, Thursday
The words ‘old vines’, ‘vieilles vignes’, ‘alte reben’ or ‘viñas viejas’ can often be found on wine labels. The aim is obvious on the part of winemakers: age adds dignity and commands respect. But is there any rational reason for respecting old vines?
2018 April 5, Thursday
Dr Miklós Illyés’ small scale, organically cultivated wine
We were sitting with a friend of ours in Szekszárd. It was September in 2015, it was pouring rain and the harvest was in progress. “The Doc will not harvest this year either,” said the winemaker. “What Doc?” we asked. “Well, Doc Illyés in the Porkoláb Valley...
2018 March 6, Tuesday
You could debate as to whether the world would know about New Zealand wine had it not been for Cloudy Bay, but one thing is for certain – if it had not been for Cloudy Bay, there would be no Dog Point either...
2018 March 6, Tuesday
Áldás – Hangács – Merengő – Nagy-Eged-hegy Bikavérs
2018 February 6, Tuesday
If we’d have had no idea where we were heading to, we’d never have found out which one the Böjt Winery was among Ostoros street’s small, identical-looking family cellars. Maybe only from the fact that no sign, arrow or battered board signals the Böjt winery – contrary to loads of other neighbouring wineries...
2018 February 6, Tuesday
The year started with two stunning pieces of news in connection with two Tokaj wines, on top of that both are linked to one winemaker – to László Szilágy, owner of the Gizella Winery. Apart from the fact that we sell László’s wines, he’s also a friend of ours, yet he can still surprise us...
2017 December 1, Friday
This year, once again, we asked 14 winemakers about the wine, traditional method sparkling wine or spirits they enjoy during the festive season. This isn’t a Top List, it’s more to learn what varieties, wine regions, styles and colleagues are the closest to them. This year, the most exciting outcome was probably that a surprising amount of them chose traditional method sparkling wine.
2017 December 1, Friday
The first rum was made in the Caribbean somewhere around the 17th century. It started on its world-conquering voyage after the occupation of Jamaica, when the Royal Navy made it the drink of the sailors. The special allowance added greatly to its quick spread. On the British colonies, this went so far that during the American War of Independence, its consumption reached 14 litres/person annually, including women and children.
2017 December 1, Friday
We could see each other more often…
We could start our imaginary letter to aszú or sweet szamorodni this way…
2017 December 1, Friday
Domaine de Bellene and Maison Roche de Bellene
We’ve wanted to show the wines of these two Burgundy cellars for years. Both are the wineries of one of Burgundy’s best known négociants*, Nicolas Potel. While the Domaine de Bellene cultivates 18 hectares of partly its own and partly rented land, the wines of Maison Roche de Bellene are made from bought in grapes and must. Incidentally, the third branch of the enterprise is Collection Bellenum, which sells the older, limited release wines of the most outstanding Burgundy wineries. Now, five wines from the two wineries have made it into our selection.
2017 December 1, Friday
Kreinbacher, Sauska, Veuve Clicquot…
We’ve been selling more and more traditional method sparkling wines over the last few years, and besides the foreign ones, great Hungarian sparklers have also made it into our selection.
2017 November 2, Thursday
“The first Hungarian interdisciplinary barrel ageing cooperation”
István Balassa and László Szilágyi, two Tokaj winemakers who have been spending their free time not just sitting by wine but also next to beer for years. This year, Antal Németh, the brewer of Monyó Sörfőzde, who in his diverse quest in barrel ageing experiments got as far as looking for aszú barrels for his Egypt-inspired Anubis brew.
2017 November 2, Thursday
International, Balkan and Hungarian. The Zvonko Bogdan winery from Vojvodina.
We’re only a few kilometres from the Hungarian border, but we’re dropping in on another world; the taste and the atmosphere are completely different. In Subotica (Szabadka in Hungarian), the cafes and restaurants are full of people chatting and smoking, even in the early afternoon on a Tuesday.
2017 November 2, Thursday
…we sat down to talk on the upper level of the Lánchíd shop. Three winemakers, Zoltán Heimann Jnr, Attila Gábor Németh and Attila Tálos with three bottles of wine. Well, originally with six, but at the end, three remained and it also became late in the evening.
2017 October 4, Wednesday
Winemakers of the distant south: Ernő Sagmeister and Oszkár Maurer
In the first part of our writing about the wines of the exciting sounding Délvidék (lit. Southern territories), we’re now introducing two winemakers from Szerémség (Syrmia), and next time a South Csongrád winery.
2017 October 4, Wednesday
Everything is a question of time
The first thing that springs to mind when hearing the Kreinbacher name is traditional method sparkling wine, although everything started with still wine back in 2003, and even today they bottle and sell more still wine than sparkling wine...
2017 September 19, Tuesday
It happens at a similar time in similar ways every year, or so you might think. The truth is there are as many methods and ideas as winemakers, and sometimes even a certain amount of eccentricity is attached to the harvest. Now, concentrating on these, we’re going to look at the most important steps of the harvest, introducing nine such exciting wines, whereby the making of which saw certain steps of the harvest activities differ a bit (or a lot) from the usual ways.
2017 September 14, Thursday
Let’s start with the good news – 2014 is an outstanding vintage. The aromas and flavours are intense, the colours are lively, the contours are sharp and the wines have all the freshness and lightness of touch we love Burgundy so much for. What’s more, they bring a great experience even at this young age.
2017 August 2, Wednesday
“Grapes are like business cards, they say a lot about someone”
Káli Kövek winemaker Gyula Szabó started making village wine in a totally pioneering manner in the region, and apart from his peers in Tokaj, he was also among the first winemakers to do so in the country a few years back. This year, he’s got six wines out, three of which are village wines (Monostorapáti, Szentbékkálla, Szentantalfa). Three new wines (Furmint, Chardonnay, Riesling) have also been made. We talked to Gyula in connection with the new wines at his Köveskál base and in the Öreghegy vineyard in Monostorapáti.
2017 August 2, Wednesday
“As my father says: some people write dramas, others do reviews”
We went to the János-hegy vineyard in Szőlőskislak for Ottó Légli’s new Sauvignon Blanc but the hill was so beautiful, we didn’t even want to come back.
2017 July 18, Tuesday
One of the TOP 3 questions posed to us in our wine shops – mainly from spring till the autumn – is whether we can recommend something with low alcohol. Luckily, we can. But when exactly can we say that a light, summer white wine has low alcohol?
2017 July 18, Tuesday
It goes without saying that we still favour dealing with wine the most, but – especially in the summer – we enjoy a good look around, whether it’s about grilling, making salads or doing a picnic. Of course, we haven’t forgotten about beer either...
2017 July 18, Tuesday
When we arrived in the Garam Valley, a tea made from field horsetail and nettle was simmering in a huge pot next to the grapevines. They spray some 300-400 litres of it on the vines on a weekly basis. Alongside the horsetail and nettle, they also add anise, mugwort and osier to it. Different green and medicinal herbs grow between the rows of vines, and the orchard on Muzsla’s Öreghegy exudes friendly tranquillity and joviality, the same way as its owner Frigyes Bott does.
2017 July 11, Tuesday
We’ve talked about wine from many angles, but we recently heard a good story about the origins of the Babszökő vineyard and we realised that we hadn’t approached wine from the perspective of vineyards. Of course we knew that there’s a vineyard (or rather more than one vineyard) behind every successful wine and winemaker. Then, when we started approaching it from the direction of vineyards, we also realised that there’s a story behind every single vineyard. The interesting vineyard names even kick-start the imagination and mystical legends behind them can be conjured up...
2017 July 11, Tuesday
“We’ve gone to Prosecco,” we said incorrectly when we left to check out the who, where and how of Italy’s and the world’s most popular tank-made wine. As a matter of fact, we didn’t actually go to Prosecco...
2017 July 11, Tuesday
We taste wine, see it, buy it – but somehow there has always been something missing as we wondered how we would do it if it was ours. This year, we finally had a go at making it: we are going to have our own wine. We wanted a light, fruity, contemporary red of the lovable kind. Our aim is also to create it in the most natural way, with minimum intervention.
2017 July 11, Tuesday
Gergő Sámson, our colleague in Pécs who reported on Porto Tónico straight from Porto, isn’t just a regularly returning visitor to the city but he also lived there for a while. During university – as a meteorology student – he became interested in the Portuguese language (alongside his knowledge of German, Italian and English), which is how he arrived in Portugal in August 2009 on an Erasmus scholarship.
2017 July 11, Tuesday
József Vajda (Pékműhely)
The pairing of bread and wine sounds pretty much commonplace but what can we do if we really like bread? At the Borsuli wine school, we offer it freshly baked alongside the wines for those participating in the tastings, and we also keep an eye on the newly opening bakeries where truly delicious bakery products are sold and we also know that the secret of good bread is leaven. But what’s the secret of good leaven?
2017 June 23, Friday
In June we talked to five winemakers from the hilly northern side of Lake Balaton about Olaszrizling. We said farewell by saying that we would continue because there are so many great Rizlings (a derivative form of Olaszrizling) that we wish to introduce from Hungary and from over the border. Now, we’re going to talk about some special wines...
2017 June 15, Thursday
It was two years ago when we first noticed that we’d started to look at Olaszrizling in a different light. Like in the case of an old, faithful friend we’ve known for years, who we thought we could rely on – but it suddenly turns out that we didn’t really know that person so well. He or she comes up one or two surprises, like writing a successful novel, which is actually rather good as well. Maybe it’s so good that it could even win the Nobel Prize.
2017 June 10, Saturday
The 2013 vintage of the Sauskas’ two flagship wines first arrived last autumn: following a tasting held together with the winery and an extremely successful pre-order period, another few months of bottle ageing followed from the middle of October...
2017 June 8, Thursday
The gin is extremely colourful: the base distillate is vodka in all cases but the number of spices, herbs and fruits used in its making are limitless. The way of consuming it is totally up to us: whether by itself, with spices or in cocktails, while the most popular way is of course as a gin and tonic.
2017 May 4, Thursday
Novelties, classics and a sparkler
In wine circles, Sauvignon Blanc is like the first ray of spring sunshine. It charges us up, energises us and turns us into addicts until the final autumn evenings. One of the world’s most recognisable varieties, it’s the provider of instant ecstasy to inexperienced tasters. For the more experienced, it’s a must have on warmer days. It may well not be by accident that Sauvignon Blancs have been the most popular wines in our selection for years.
2017 May 4, Thursday
Ádám Wágner has been our colleague for years in the Lánchíd utca shop. Last year, for a couple of months, he lived and worked at Pascal Jolivet, one of the most famous winemakers of the Loire Valley from whom we’ve been getting wines for almost a decade. Ádám spotted the ad on Facebook, whereby they sought workers for the harvest. Following several rounds of interviews, he was chosen for the job from among applicants from all around the world. Now, we’re introducing the region, the winery and their wines through his account.
2017 April 3, Monday
We know the road well but anyone who comes here for the first time would be looking for the Györgykovács sign in vain, as they don't like being disturbed while they’re working. And they work constantly. The first minutes after our arrival are spent with Imre excusing himself: a couple of weeks earlier our colleague, Gábor Csorba, who was around called them and said that he would drop by to say hi, but Imre and his wife were busy with racking and then it’s not good when visitors mess about. There is no fooling around when it comes to work.
2017 April 3, Monday
With a wine glass in hand, we tend to forget that the Old World-New World distinction didn’t spring out of Robert Parker’s head but from Amerigo Vespucci’s and the way we use it today differs greatly from the original meaning.
2017 March 10, Friday
We've once again collected the most exciting data of last year – we counted, schemed and drew, and now we're sharing it with everyone: from grape varieties through wine regions to the big screw cap dilemma: this is what 2016 looked like in numbers.
2017 March 6, Monday
On the Balaton-felvidék (the northern uplands of Balaton) and almost everywhere else in Hungary where the grapes traditionally grow on hills, the hill is used as a synonym for vineyard. The hegybíró (lit. hill judge) is in fact responsible for the grapes, and anyone who goes to or into [as is also used] the hill, goes to the vineyard...
2017 March 1, Wednesday
February felt horribly long, and then one day we went to Balatonlelle where the temperature was 16 degrees Celcius. There was snow in Pest, but there we found snowdrops growing. We talked to Dani Konyári on the terrace about Kékfrankos, travelling and family. No big stories or far-fetched ideologies. Just Kékfrankos, Malbec, Syrah and Páva.
2017 March 1, Wednesday
While making our own wine, we've been thinking and working together with Gábor Kiss in Villány and we've been reporting back about the work month after month. We experienced that despite all the goodwill and endeavor, it’s nature that dictates when creating wine...
2017 February 1, Wednesday
There are endless possibilities in winemaking. Varieties, wine regions and methods, with the last one able to be influenced by the winemaker by the most. There could be adventurous blending, whole-bunch pressing, fermenting, skin contact for white grapes, or using amphoras instead of barrels...
2017 February 1, Wednesday
We had time to talk on the long journey to Balf. We argued about biodynamics, lunar phases and natural wines. It soon became clear that it’s one of those subjects that’s like football: everybody has an opinion about it. Then, in Balf and in Horitschon, we chatted and tasted with Petra and Franz until late in the evening about their experiences with biodynamics as a winemaking family that stretches back several generations.
2016 December 5, Monday
There are certain staples on every table at Christmas: wine, fish, meat, cakes… We can always talk a lot about wine, but this time we asked three friends of ours what has changed over the last 10-15 years, what the new favourites are and what the classics are. Anna Niszkács from Gerbeaud, fishmonger István Nusszer and butcher József Károly talked about their perspectives on the holidays.
2016 December 5, Monday
Year after year, we ask our colleagues what wines those who spend the greater part of their lives among wine like to drink during the festive season or what they would offer to their favourite customers. This year, we tweaked the tradition a bit and put three questions to a few winemakers: what, why that one and when?
2016 November 3, Thursday
When we reached Gilvesy’s cellar on the hill, we could only smile at Robert’s idea: “Let’s march up to the top of the hill and have a picnic as it’s wonderful up there at this time. We can taste the ’15 Mogyorós Sauvignon and the Tarányi Riesling there,” he said.
2016 November 3, Thursday
4 Argentinean Malbec, a Bordeaux vintner is Argentina, Bordeaux
2016 October 4, Tuesday
Móni, Gábor, Klári and Zsolt. Two married couples, four good friends. Three of them are from Boldogkőváralja, while Klári is from the Balaton area. Always together at school, then at weekends in the picturesque castle.
2016 October 4, Tuesday
Frankly, we’re having a strange year. After the beginning of the warm autumn spell over the last few weeks, 35mm of rain fell unexpectedly in Szekszárd. We’re walking among the Kadarka rows with the Heimanns as they discuss which clones should be picked and when. Ági and the two Zolis argue and loudly, too! We are treading in the mud and tasting the berries. Eventually, the younger Zoli makes the decision: “We’ll start tomorrow with the 111 and 113 clones.” The decision is accepted by everyone and we sit down to taste on the terrace. While Zoli calls some people, Ági starts the story.
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“I cannot imagine another engine at the front of this train than Tokaj. We can only get back on the world map like this.” – Zoltán Demeter, winemaker
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“The wine doesn’t make itself”
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“We enjoy the fact that we can spend time on details” – Gábor Rakaczki
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“My 2015 wines stand like trees” – Attila Homonna
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“When I work my mind is always set on whites” – Ádám Molnár
2016 October 4, Tuesday
"Only 2013 was even better than this”
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“We had to put everything on one card, because we were pushed too far in 2014” – László Szilágyi
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“The grapes were with us” – Stéphanie Berecz and Zsolt
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“2015 was about organic cultivation for me” – Sarolta Bárdos
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“We’ve got to win the championship”
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“We are not looking for the easier way” – István Hudák
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“Winemaking without barrels? I simply can’t imagine that” – András Bacsó
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“If necessary there should be less, but that should be really good”
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“Everything depended on the timing”
2016 October 4, Tuesday
“The keyword is naturalness” – László Alkonyi
2016 October 4, Tuesday
An annual vintage report could never be complete if we only returned to the same places every year. Each year we intend to provide the opportunity to small, upcoming wineries, although we have no idea for how long we will have enough room on the Tokaj shelves. In connection with 2015, we tasted the wines of more than a dozen wineries, and it’s apparent that Tokaj is unstoppable in producing new talents...
2016 September 6, Tuesday
If anyone entered a pub or a restaurant in Hungary a couple of decades ago and ordered a glass of Ezerjó, they most likely would have got one. This is because the grape could easily have been among the three most widespread varieties in Hungary in the 1970s. Indeed, hardly anyone had heard about Cserszegi Fűszeres at that time in Hungary. If we go back further in time, we encounter completely bizarre varieties, like Csókaszőlő, which practically reigned single-handedly as the country’s red variety. Where are such grapes now?
2016 August 9, Tuesday
We’ll be honest: we don’t understand this whole orange wine thing. We have tasted orange wine several times here in Hungary, in Austria and in Germany, and from amphoras, concrete eggs, barrels and tanks. It’s an exciting undertaking for winemakers; a journey of exploration to discover the direction towards traditional maceration or whole bunch fermentation. However, the outcome is usually more ‘interesting’ than truly enjoyable.
2016 July 5, Tuesday
We’re not entirely sure whether the expression ‘vineyard tour’ actually exists but it sounds so scientific that it’s even appeared as a name of a wine in our portfolio (Dűlőtúra). In fact, it’s all about us enjoying our visits to the wineries we work with. There are many kilometres behind us; travelling by car, in the back of pick-up trucks or clinging onto trailers...
2016 July 5, Tuesday
We initially only had two or three different beers in our shops during the summer months and at the end of the year, but last year we stepped it up and 13 different kinds of beer graced our shelves. By the spring, all the beer was gone, and since then, the question keeps popping up on a daily basis: “When will you have beer again?” It was obvious to us that we should offer at least as many as that for the summer, but during the year and at our tastings we found so many exciting beers that eventually the sum doubled to 26. It’s an almost industrial amount but only includes craft beers.
2016 July 5, Tuesday
Harvest, ageing, tasting, blends, peppery or citrus tones, terroir or points achieved in international competitions… Within Bortársaság’s walls there would be no question that we’re talking about wines. Yet, we aren’t. Indeed, the world of olive oils has a lot in common with that of wines. We might say they exist in parallel universes.
2016 June 2, Thursday
The winemaking philosophy of Lower Austria
2015 is the vintage of the decade. While most of the more serious 2015 wines haven’t even hit the market yet, winemakers and experts unanimously agree that it is the most outstanding vintage of the last 10 years. What surprised us during our tastings was that even though it was an especially hot summer, the wines are remarkably fresh with intense aromas, and we haven’t experienced any signs that would imply overripeness or botrytis. The wines are dense without being heavy, fruity without forcing the spiciness and minerality into the background. As is typical with stellar vintages, all this is true with the entry-level wines.
2016 June 2, Thursday
Re-planning. That’s the first thing that sprang to mind when we stood on the Diósviszló hilltop next to the smiling Kata, Ákos and Andris, plus the new GAZ tractor arrival. Perhaps subconsciously, because we’d heard the word ‘re-planning’ so many times from the Sat Nav before we arrived in the westernmost corner of the Villány wine region, but more likely – even though we’ve been working with them for years – it seemed like we were at a new winery.
2016 May 3, Tuesday
At the beginning of April, one of the most renowned Austrian winemakers, Roland Velich, was our guest at the Borsuli. Between two ‘Winemaker in the House’ tastings, he talked to us about past and present, the birth of Moric, and Blaufränkish.
2016 May 3, Tuesday
Patent. We came out of the cellar with this word. In Hungarian it means that it’s small yet everything still fits into it. You can make a virtue out of your limitations. The wines are really okay, too. We are introducing three now, then we will have a think about the packaging of two with Kriszta, our graphic designer, and those will arrive at the beginning of the summer, too.
2016 May 3, Tuesday
János Konyári’s younger daughter came up with the initially unusual sounding name of Késa. The tiny, fledgling family winery was named after Bori’s daughter and Szent István’s wife: Késa, which is an ancient diminutive form of Gizella.
2016 May 3, Tuesday
Szőlőlé - Sauvignon blanc, syrah
2016 May 3, Tuesday
“Elegance ahead of intensity: in addition to a wine having good drinkability, it can be harder to recognise richness when it comes along with rustic and overly direct notes. However, one should seek elegance as joy is more important in wine than seeking intensity.”
2016 May 3, Tuesday
Here are some extremely delicious and immensely distinctive Sauvignon Blancs from our selection.
2016 April 5, Tuesday
Some winemakers emphasize that grapes have to suffer in order to be able to produce fine wine. According to others, the suffering of the grapes does not have any beneficial effect on the outcome of the wine, in the same way that it isn’t any good for winemakers to be stressed. Tokaj winemaker István Szepsy has an apt response to put the whole question in its right place: “struggle makes it noble, but suffering makes it crippled.”
2016 April 5, Tuesday
‘A warm and sunny climate’ – is what we can read about it, which in the case of Germany, definitely raises one’s interest...
2016 April 5, Tuesday
With respect to Riesling, the Mosel (its complete name is Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) is the most important region along the sharply winding River Mosel.
2016 April 5, Tuesday
The second largest wine region in Germany, which stretches for 80 kilometres between Rheinhessen and Baden.
2016 April 5, Tuesday
Despite its considerable size, Rheinghau actually belongs to the smaller German regions, yet globally it’s the most widely known wine region in Germany, besides the Mosel.
2016 March 2, Wednesday
Wines, wine regions, trends.
How the ratios have changed over the last five years?
2016 March 1, Tuesday
This is our fourth vintage overview.
Although the vintage was almost a write-off, we sat down to taste the wines and we were not disappointed.
2016 March 1, Tuesday
We always spend the first few months of the year making plans. We ask ourselves which wines, regions and varieties we ought to explore in more depth. We work out what should happen in our wine shops, as well as the subjects that are exciting for ourselves, our customers and which ones we should therefore focus on. Among these topics there is one that especially occupies us: how is a wine made from pruning through to bottling. Our winemakers make their plans in a similar way, although the next year starts slightly earlier for them – right after the harvest in fact.
2016 March 1, Tuesday
German Pinot = Spätburgunder
2016 March 1, Tuesday
Nagyon BIO Muskotály and Rizling
2015 December 2, Wednesday
We hit the road to Tokaj once again. Although we knew there was little wine made in the vintage – or that some winemakers didn’t even make any – we felt that Tokaj deserved as much for us to check out the wines of such an adverse vintage. 2014 will remain in our memory as a difficult vintage, although we can’t emphasize enough that this doesn’t automatically mean bad wine. It was a challenge for the grape growers and winemakers, but for us it sometimes brings surprises.
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“Development requires a medium, as well as walls that have seen something similar”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“A lighter vintage with more intricate wines”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“Looser than in previous years”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“I couldn’t give up on the barrels”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“The idea came at 5 a.m. on New Year’s Day”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“Tállya needs more ageing”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“I can see Zsolt smiling again”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“We were able to catch the ripe acidity”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“Freshness is the goal in sweet wines as well”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“I was really pleased with the Hárs”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“A bit of residual sugar is necessary for elegance”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
“The most important measurement is the second glass”
2015 December 2, Wednesday
Are we chatting or playing cards? – as the Székely joke goes – when one of the shepherds, who has been playing cards in complete silence for weeks, accidentally utters a word...
2015 November 19, Thursday
As is the case all over the world, the most popular new French wines will arrive in our wine shops on Thursday, in limited number. We have to admit we couldn’t wait to get them and tasted all four: the Louis Jadot, the Pierre-Marie Chermette, and the Beaujolais Nouveau of two organic winemakers from Terroirs-Originels – Jean-Michel Dupre and Lucien Lardy – who are new in our selection.
2015 November 4, Wednesday
November always brings tons of new arrivals and we don’t just mean the new wines of the current vintage. For years, it has been the month when most new things arrive: lots of fuller, barrel-aged white and red wines. There are so many new wines that we can hardly get our heads around them but we want to categorise them, and we’ve picked out a few of them for that very reason.
2015 November 4, Wednesday
We’ve just got home from an exciting, three-day trip. We visited 14 of our wineries, and we mainly inquired about the 2014 wines. “It was a rainy, difficult year,” the winemakers said, “yet lots of great wines were born. But, the 2015s have just fermented! Now, they’re amazing!” We tasted them from the tank, in Etyek, Villány, Szekszárd and Pannonhalma. We all agreed: November is going to be exciting.
2015 October 1, Thursday
When we started dealing with barrels and whites made in barrels last month, we knew that this story was going to have several parts. That’s not just because we obtained a huge amount of information from the coopers but also because when we think of barrels, it’s more of a serious, full red wine that springs to mind.
2015 September 2, Wednesday
In the ‘90s, the whole wine world was buzzing about barrique. It was a cool thing to be able to recognise the barrel in the wine, which essentially came from the toasting that suppressed all the other flavours. Today, the trend is quite the opposite: wine should be fruity, fresh and should only see a barrel in the other corner of the cellar. Nevertheless, barrel making has developed so much that by today several hundred kinds of barrels can impart influences which do not hinder but rather emphasize and enrich the wine.
2015 July 8, Wednesday
10+1 chefs’ easy summer recipes served with salad and paired with 12 good wines
We selected a dozen wines that we enjoy tasting regularly; wines which we often take a bottle home of or show to our friends. Then, the idea of how great it would be to find matching recipes for them popped into our heads. We sought recipes that are fairly straightforward and can even be prepared in the garden in summer.
2015 July 8, Wednesday
We got underway last month with Dr. Bürklin-Wolf’s entry level Riesling. Now, here’s the next instalment of the great unknowns from the best places of growth. Great, because according to many, German Riesling is the only rival of Burgundian Chardonnay for the title of the world’s greatest white wine, and now it’s Riesling which seems to be winning...
2015 July 8, Wednesday
We met Andrej a good few years ago. He designed a label for us, for Gellavilla’s 2006 Málnás, and he has since designed the labels for two of our summer sparkling rosés (for the Nagyon nyár and the Nagyon pezseg) and also for János Márkvárt’s great Kékfrankos-Merlot blend, the Ezerötös. He constantly works on creative graphic designs, for example he has been preparing the materials of A38 from the beginning and has an exhibition on the boat every two years.
2015 June 10, Wednesday
There are white wines that can be tasted and analysed for hours as they keep on revealing new flavours and aromas, since they are complex and have weight. Then there are whites that we don't even feel the need to talk about; they just feel nice to drink and if tasting can be measured in terms of hours, then most likely we won't still be stuck on the first bottle.
2015 June 10, Wednesday
We had an eventful Tuesday afternoon tasting and after Bussay’s Esküvé came around, it was then the turn of their Tramini. Only one question subsequently remained: when could we visit László’s wife and daughters? In fact, we were already there by Thursday: driving through Tormafölde, Szentmargitfalva, Kányavár and Csörnyeföld; such are the fairytale names they give to the villages over there.
2015 June 10, Wednesday
Members of the underground resistance from among our team, who are also beer enthusiasts, have been meeting up sub rosa once every six months over the last few years in the office of our Lánchíd shop. We understand each other by half words and we communicate with secret beer expressions...
2015 May 6, Wednesday
In connection with the 2012 vintage, we recalled the history of Cuvée “seven” together with the Sauska team, sitting out on their Villány terrace in the spring sunshine. The first 7s from 2006 were bottled after two years. They were concentrated, heavy, Bordeaux style wines, partly owing to the vintage and also because all the cellar’s barrels were new at the time. The style has since been refined.
2015 May 6, Wednesday
We spoke to György Lőrincz Jr. in the St. Andrea Wine Bar in the basement of the freshly renovated Eiffel Palace. The subject was Borünnep (Wine Celebration) as there is always cause for celebration. Now, it’s because the 2013 Boldogságos and the 2011 Merengő have arrived along with young György Lőrincz’s own first wine, Kedves (“Kind”). It is only offered in a gourmet case, offered by the two György Lőrinczs under the name Borünnep.
2015 May 6, Wednesday
It’s a bit of a cliché talking about Sauvignon Blanc in May. Sure, we also do the same every year...
2015 May 6, Wednesday
It’s now 20 years since Ottó Légli’s wine first made it into the Bortársaság selection. The wine in question was the 1994 Pinot Blanc. To mark the occasion, we sipped wine with Ottó and Bogi and tasted the two latest releases of the winery.
2015 May 6, Wednesday
Everybody uses it on a daily basis; it’s essential for the human body and a must-have in the kitchen, yet we know very little about it. When we first came up with the idea of learning and writing about salt, we feared there might not be enough in it. Then we realised this topic is just as manifold and rich as writing about wine.
2015 May 6, Wednesday
Benedictine monks have been drinking water from the well that’s known by the locals as the Well of King Béla for centuries. This pristinely pure water has a healing effect and it was decided five years ago that they would bottle it. It is going to take decades before the investment pays off but that’s not the primary aim. As with the winery, they planned for the long run with Vis Vitalis as well.
2015 May 6, Wednesday
One current and one former Lánchíd colleague of ours, Gábor Csorba and Máté Szedlacskó respectively, came up with an idea and recently launched Borstore Berlin, a Germany-based start-up company selling Hungarian wines.
2015 April 8, Wednesday
"Climate change is seemingly reaching us too. 2012 was an exciting year full of menacing twist and turns, the end of the world seemed upon us, like a proper Scandinavian crime story. ”
László Latorczai, wine maker
2015 April 8, Wednesday
The last time we visited Imre Györgykovács in Somló was a year ago. Before we left for Somló this time around, we hoped that nothing had changed at Imre’s. On the other hand, we knew that there had been major development and redesign going on at the Kreinbacher estate. The size of the two wineries, their technologies and experiences are radically different. Yet, both work in the name of making high quality wines with great ageing potential in Somló.
2015 April 8, Wednesday
A Kreinbacher Birtoké a legnagyobb és leglátványosabb beruházás egész Somlón. Az épületek egy lávafolyamot mintázva egységes képet adnak, mégis más-más funkciókkal bírnak. a borok és pezsgők külön helyszíneken születnek. Még Várszegi György, a pincészet borásza is úgy fogalmaz: teljesen át kell állítani az ember agyát. pezsgő vagy bor – választani kell, és az épület ebben is segít!
2015 March 5, Thursday
We wanted to find out whether there really is a group of reds that can be labelled “bistro” reds. We sampled a few reds offering good drinkability in four bistros we like going to. Then, we got together and tasted another two dozen of them.
2015 February 24, Tuesday
Burgundy wines have been appearing on our shelves for a good few years now. Pinot Noir is hardly a straightforward phenomenon since at times it can be truly discreet, secretive, fragile, yet colourful and exciting. We fell in love with it when we set off for the Côte d’Or with a small team in the autumn of 2011 and visited a few winemakers...
2015 February 9, Monday
We compiled our first Tokaj roundup in 2012, which covered the 2011 vintage, with the aim of introducing the newly arriving wines, saying a few words about our meetings with the winemakers and providing a general overview of the wine region. Since then, every time we’ve visited Tokaj, there have been so many changes that we feel the necessity to provide an update every year...
2015 February 9, Monday
“Small details change, everything becomes more refined”
2015 February 9, Monday
“We are making lighter, fresher wines.”
2015 February 9, Monday
“2013 tired me out completely.”
2015 February 9, Monday
“I’m planning things in a more bohemian way. I look at the stones and conjure up the wine within ten minutes”
2015 February 9, Monday
“2013 placed another serious opportunity into our hands”
2015 February 9, Monday
“We wanted lower alcohol, playful, lighter wines with good drinkability.”
2015 February 9, Monday
“2013 was a big change in the life of Kikelet.”
2015 February 9, Monday
“For us it’s almost the dream vintage”
2015 February 9, Monday
“Fullness and serious composition, high acidity.”
2015 February 9, Monday
“I took the risk of higher acidity.”
2015 February 8, Sunday
The wines of the 2011 and 2012 vintages - re-tasted
2014 December 9, Tuesday
A traditionally aged, non-vintage sparkling rosé from Tokaj. A blend of 63% Furmint, 23% Chardonnay, 9% Hárslevelű and 5% Pinot Noir made by the traditional method and aged on the lees for nine months.
2014 December 3, Wednesday
This year we once again visited several great winemakers and even though we can’t give an account of all our journeys, we’d like to share the best memories with you.
2014 December 3, Wednesday
“A few years ago, I was in Shenzhen with my friend, Péter, and we were having some tea with Mr. He (pronounced approx: her). The first top up was astounding. “Chill out,” said Péter, “have a few more cups and then feel the full effect…”
2014 November 5, Wednesday
György Lőrincz. 23-years-old. He originally wanted to be a professional football player. He became a winemaker and a Greek Catholic lector. György Lőrincz. 47-years-old. He originally wanted to be a professional water polo player. He became a winemaker and a Greek Catholic catechist. We talked to them at the end of October in Egerszalók about wine, Eger, family and malolactic fermentation, accompanied by a bottle of Örökké and one of Valóban Méltó.
2014 November 5, Wednesday
Somló and Furmint. A widely-travelled, cosmopolitan Swabian who brought life to the hill. A cellar master from Champagne who tried his knowledge out on a completely new field; traditional method, bottle aged sparkling wines; and a team with which one can only win…
2014 October 1, Wednesday
Zoltán Heimann Jnr. and the reinterpreted tradition
We are standing in the Baranya-völgy with Zoltán Heimann Jnr., on the beautiful plateau of red clay and loess terraces, and everybody is speaking in superlatives. And then what does Zoli, who has been travelling around the world for nine years working around and learning about wine, then go and say? ...
2014 October 1, Wednesday
Dani! Stop caressing the grapes!
We are standing in the Tavaszó vineyard, above the Ravazd on the hill with Pannonhalmi winemaker Zsolt Liptai and Attila Drozdik, the viticulturist cum chemistry teacher. The students are harvesting the grapes, slowly and noisily, but selecting them nicely. Someone manages to out-shout them, however...
2014 September 3, Wednesday
Ours is a Swabian family from Pécs and even though my father used to work in the building industry, the history of our family has always been linked with farming, to the soil. At first, Babarcszőlős only meant a holiday to us. Then the hill, the climate and the rich soil had such an impact on us that we started planting grapes...
2014 September 3, Wednesday
When did you first deliver wine to Bortársaság?
In 2013, but we’ve knew each other well before that. You have tasted my wines several times, and I was a regular customer at the Lánchíd shop. I used to go and buy good cheese next door, and at Bortársaság I mainly bought foreign wines and a lot of them at that, so that me and my friend, Miki Rácz, could learn about them and learn from them.
2014 September 3, Wednesday
The truth is that ever since meeting him last year, we put Jani into a box. For us, he has been about the Kadarka, the Kékfrankos and the blue Lada 1500. Every time we think or talk about him, Jani Márkvárt is associated with that...
2014 September 3, Wednesday
Small producer or artisanal winemaker? What would you call yourself?
I’m a second generation Villány winemaker from the 1986 vintage with a small, barely six and a half hectare plot.
2014 September 3, Wednesday
There are some people who make great wine in Diósviszló, in the south-western outpost of the Villány wine region, at the gate of Orámság. (Among them is Ruppert whose vineyard is partly located in the village). The first one we met here was Miklós Tamás Rácz. He is a nice, hard working chap making good wines...
2014 September 3, Wednesday
"Time flies with us. Or do we fly with it? We synergised energies: the music teacher’s and the grape grower, namely those of Josef Kerl from Weisenburg and Péter Bakonyi from Nagyatád. We already have a cellar in Villány and a so-called “modern winery” as well..."
2014 July 7, Monday
Péter Rack, Bortársaság – Parlament
Finally, it’s truly hot. As far as I’m concerned, ice-chilled rosé tastes even better now, whether by itself or as a frocks (spritzer), the latter along with the football World Cup. Crispy, fresh and thirst-quenching, and that’s just fine...
2014 July 7, Monday
Áron Németh, Tábor wine bar
In May, we put up a camp (thus the name “tábor”) at Millenáris. Together with the team from Hello Wood, we built up our first winery in the Budai Zöld, where we can be found all summer in the company of the artisan beer minibus, as well as the Italian pasta and gourmet bus restaurant, among others...
2014 July 7, Monday
Dani Gyana, Balatonfüred
Summer has three truly important ingredients: swimming trunks, Balaton and good Balaton wines. The lake doesn’t only equal deep-fried bream, peddalos, swimming and having fun, but it’s also one of our most exciting wine regions as well...
2014 July 7, Monday
András Kelemen, Rózsakert
Undoubtedly, the most exciting area for wine lovers is the world of limited release wines. However insignificant in quantity, these wines are often outstanding in terms of quality and distinctiveness, among them wines from the so-called artisanal wineries, small producers or the limited series of the bigger cellars...
2014 July 7, Monday
Brigitta Kristófand János Gavallér, Debrecen:
Sultry nights, BBQs on the terrace, chilling out on the beach: it’s summer. If wine is too much by itself but you’re already bored by spritzer, then it’s time for a sparkle...
2014 July 7, Monday
Gábor Csorba, Lánchíd
We taste a lot, more than 30 wines a week and sometimes a hundred. Always something else, always something new, usually good ones, at times not so good ones. We taste them, we evaluate and discuss them, leaving enough time for each wine...
2014 July 7, Monday
Krisztina Tóth, graphic designer
What makes a wine look good? Sometimes it’s due to the precise design work, at other times, it’s down to a spontaneous idea. Sometimes I like something because it’s so clear-cut, other times, because it’s complex and one can get lost in it.
2014 July 7, Monday
Csaba Reszler, Árkád
It can sometimes be engaging and intense like a tropical fruit cocktail or the Chilean football team, at other times it appears differently: accompanied by minerals and green herbs dressed up with French elegance...
2014 July 7, Monday
Ripka Gergely, Árkád:
A spontán erjesztett borokat azért szeretjük, mert van bennük valami ősi természetesség, valami hagyományos. Régen nyilván nem volt fajélesztő és hűthető acéltartály, mégis örömmel boroztak az emberek.
2014 July 7, Monday
Gábor Kálmán, MOM Park, Hegyvidék
It almost goes without saying that a beer revolution has been taking place in Hungary over the last few years. If it’s true (and indeed it is) then now we can start preparing for the beer consolidation.
2014 July 7, Monday
Fresh vintages of Telmo Rodriguez's natural wines have arrived from Spain from rediscovered regions, from hard to cultivate plots that have been avoided by the big wineries, from local grape varieties organically cultivated, mainly from bush vines, winemaking without intervention, spontaneous fermentation, a modern attitude but in accordance with local traditions.
2014 July 7, Monday
We got to know the tomato in Hungary in 1649. Back then, the new word “pomodoro” – lit. “golden apple” in Italian – was known as the “apple of paradise” here and mainly used as an ornamental plant, then later as a herb. Its Spanish name, tomate, originates from its original birthplace of Mexico, and comes from the Aztec word xitomati. It has as many different varieties as the multiple possibilities for its use. Indeed, wherever it grows, we can find it in most national dishes.
2014 June 3, Tuesday
"2013 was a remarkable year for white wine but it was also a very extreme vintage. Due to the cold, long and wet spring, I faced the latest bud break ever at the end of April. Then the heat in July evoked that of 2012. Following August 20, not only the holidaymakers but also the sun disappeared from the Balaton. ..."
2014 June 3, Tuesday
Bandi says he’s got two siblings and they are both about the same age: himself, Béla and the tractor. Nevertheless, one of the brothers will be replaced by a new one: by the American John Deere. He’s going to be green, since according to Bandi, a tractor should be green and American. Actually, there are four of them: most people also know Béla’s wife, Éva Mentovics, for the books she has written for children and adults, but only those who have not tasted her pea soup.
2014 June 3, Tuesday
It’s a unique experience to meet Roland Velich. He is self-assured, convincing, calm and open. He speaks firmly in the knowledge of the security of the concept elaborated in every detail that has met with considerable success in practice...
2014 May 6, Tuesday
The name card of Sauvignon Blanc is neon green and it’s on buzzing mode. If Chardonnay is the silk tie wearing dandy then Sauvignon Blanc is a skateboarder in a baseball cap. It’s the super kid of the single varietals, as well as the world’s most easily recognisable variety: its freshly cut grass, gooseberry, elderberry, crispy acidity and explosive fruitiness make it non-confusable, even for beginners.
2014 April 1, Tuesday
We travelled again, visited Köveskál and walked around the early-blossoming almond trees and closed restaurants waiting for the season to start. Coming in from Balatonfüred on the left hand side, we stopped at the last house of the village. Stone built walls, racka sheep and their lambs grazing on the meadow next to the house, and the ubiquitous almond trees...
2014 March 25, Tuesday
At the beginning of the 20th century, the majority of the Hungarian red wine grape plantings were made up of Kadarka. A paler coloured wine could be made from its thin-skinned berries, so therefore, a day or two after the harvest winemakers often drained off some liquid from the fermenting must. Thus, with more skins coming into contact with a smaller amount of liquid, the wine would come out darker. This raw material that is redder than a rosé but more rosé-like than a red brought about Siller; the wine referred to among Szekszárd winemakers as “fuxli” (a small fox) or “fixli” due to its fox red colour. It was reawakened from its Sleeping Beauty slumber by the Heimanns.
2014 March 4, Tuesday
The good thing about Imre’s wines is that ever since 1992, they’ve come from the same nicely looked after micro-parcels and are made at the same place, in the same way, and more or less in the same immaculately clean, old barrels...
2014 March 4, Tuesday
Telmo Rodriguez is a cool guy. He’s a long-haired, handsome Spaniard who even at the time of our first encounter enchants us with his straightforward, natural way of thinking, his attitude towards the local varieties and to forgotten wine regions...
2014 March 4, Tuesday
We first met Philipp Oser many years ago at what was possibly the first wine bar in the country, Vörös és Fehér (lit. Red and White), which today is Klassz. Oser had just started making wine in the Csobánc, in the former villa of the famous Hungarian actress Klári Tolnay, which was turned into a cellar 10 years ago...
2014 February 14, Friday
The secret to the recipe of a good Burgundy is not to add even more meat, or extra salt and spice. On top of that, it appears that in order to evaluate fine Burgundies not just good Burgundies are necessary, but also an experienced, composed recipient with sensitivity for more delicate tones.
2013 December 4, Wednesday
Back in Tokaj
It is only worth starting an annual overview if we continue with it. The feedback provided by our own team and friends has also greatly helped and told us that we’re heading in the right direction. Therefore, it was kind of natural that we should proceed with an update. Before we actually hit the Hegyalja, we retasted what was still available from the 2011 series, and the experience also confirmed to us that Tokaj is indeed important.
2013 December 4, Wednesday
“I could say it’s a cellar, but it’s really just a wood turner’s workshop”
2013 December 4, Wednesday
“The aim is simple: to make wines that are good to drink. For pure pleasure.”
2013 December 4, Wednesday
“2012 was a clear-cut year. Sugar up, acid down, and we tried to catch the balance.”
2013 December 4, Wednesday
“We channel the alcohol from below and the acidity from above”
2013 December 4, Wednesday
“We’ve been learning until now and we’ll be learning from now on as well. Otherwise we’d get bored.”
2013 December 4, Wednesday
“Tokaj for me can’t be about anything else other than diversity”
2013 December 4, Wednesday
“What looks more now, may not be more later”
2013 December 4, Wednesday
“With less oak, tuned to be crispier”
2013 December 4, Wednesday
“Life is beautiful, the work is a lot”
2013 December 3, Tuesday
There are in fact two Beaujolais. One is THE famous and less valuable, the other is relatively unknown and valuable. The famous one is the new wine – the Nouveau or Beaujolais Nouveau AOC, which arrived on November 21 and has almost run out by now. The other is the Cru Beaujolais, which takes up two-thirds of the region’s complete yield, and is a noble wine with long ageing potential. Since we couldn’t initially provide a complete picture of the wine region, we’re now introducing a few beautiful wines from three winemakers based on the recommendations we received. Next year, we’ll go there, taste and bring over whatever we like the most.
2013 December 3, Tuesday
We learnt this expression from Gyuri Lőrincz, and we use it regularly: only experience can create tradition. That’s how it became a tradition of ours that we ask our colleagues about their greatest experiences during our tastings and travels over the last 12 months. We are sharing ten of these again this year.
2013 November 20, Wednesday
This year, four Beaujolais Nouveau wines have arrived the southern part of Burgundy. Until now we ordered one village level Beaujolais Nouveau from the esteemed Maison Louis Jadot, while consciously avoiding the mass producing wineries of the region. This time we also sought the recommendations of our friends in Burgundy. Based on their opinions, on top of the couple of hundred Jadot Primeur we’re already familiar with, we’ve brought over new wines from three small local wineries.
2013 November 8, Friday
Starting up a large new winery in Villány at the beginning of the 2000s sounded like a crazy idea at the time, especially given the fact that the majority of the founding team isn’t even from there...
2013 November 8, Friday
The individual character of the two Cuvée 7s from the exceptional 2011 vintage is defined by two factors: the marked difference between the two terroirs and the proportion of the grape varieties that produced the most stunning wines from the particular vineyards. In this vintage, the two Bordeaux-style blends also differ in their composition...
2013 November 5, Tuesday
The problem with big wines is not just that they are expensive, but also that it’s always too early to drink them. In the home of really big and very expensive wines, in Burgundy, customers are regularly disappointed by being told that they should forget about any current vintage for at least a decade. Basically, anybody who reaches for a corkscrew before that will never know what kind of treasure they wasted. However, it seems as if times are changing, even in Burgundy...
2013 November 5, Tuesday
Take a village with a location and a name that could fit easily into a fairy tale, plus a fairytale castle on its outskirts. Then take three kids who, already at the age of six, spent the summer among the Gönc apricot trees of the village and who, by the time they grew up, between them became an economist in Budapest, an artisan baker in New Zealand and a building engineer. Add a young woman from Balatonalmádi, loads of hand picked and selected fruit, a hint of positive craziness, a top quality distillery and piles of work. Then wait for the pálinka to come out of it...
2013 October 31, Thursday
Most of them will be here by St. Martin’s day, while on the third Thursday of November four Beaujolais will arrive. If you’d like to be up-to-date about the new wines, keep an eye on the internet or visit our shops as we’re going to be tasting the freshest new arrivals throughout November and December. Then, by the end of the year everyone can decide what 2013 was like.
2013 October 22, Tuesday
We are often asked by friends, customers and winemakers on what basis we decide on the wines that make it into our selection and who makes the decisions.
2013 October 7, Monday
Stunning reds from 2011 keep arriving and since this category was for the most part absent in Hungary in the 2010 vintage, the ripe 2009s will soon disappear from the shelves. Therefore, we tasted the 2009 reds and selected the nicest ones. Twelve plus one – without trying to make a comprehensive list. These are thirteen pieces of evidence that prove 2009 was indeed a special vintage, in which balanced, rich and full-bodied wines with long ageing potential were bottled. For those who’d like to obtain a more complete picture of this vintage, or would like to lay down 2009 wines, we’ve compiled two selections.
2013 October 7, Monday
Even though we remain faithful to wine, especially since that’s what we are best at, we would like to introduce a delicacy month by month.
2013 October 7, Monday
People who say that Pinot Noir makes the most sophisticated red wines usually hand that accolade to Riesling when it comes to whites. Big Rieslings are like a perfectly smoothed diamond: transparent, yet sparklingly colourful.
2013 September 4, Wednesday
When the whole wine world is buzzing with the fever of diversity and originality, then we can count our lucky stars that we are blessed with a red grape that makes a unique and elegant wine, with long ageing potential, and one which practically only grows in the Carpathian Basin.
2013 August 5, Monday
Even though the apple season is just about to start, we managed to get yet one more small batch (600 bottles dry and 600 bottles semi-sweet) of cider from the Vértesboglár “Czider girls”.
2013 July 18, Thursday
If we were handed the task of summing up Hungarian wine in three words; then possibly the trio of fröccs (spritzer), Bikavér and aszú would be the smartest choice. Being translated into grape varieties, it would be Olaszrizling, Kékfrankos and Furmint. Aszú, which is known as “the Wine of Kings” is more a source national pride than an everyday staple.
2013 July 5, Friday
On the one hand: summer, kecskeköröm (shellfish fossils), sabre carp, lángos, Boglár, campfire, blue ribbons, night swimming, the ferry, trains tooting, childhood, golden bridge, pedalos, “Balaton” hake, Füred, etc. On the other hand: Olaszrizling, Köveskál, basalt, loess, Béla and Bandi, bush vines, Kéknyelű. In other words, a definitive wine region where several hundred, smaller and larger, grape growers make their best wines.
2013 July 5, Friday
Summer is here. We let the genie out of the bottle and we posted on on Facebook that we would like to taste Balaton wines. Out of the seventy samples that arrived, we selected six for the summer to make the Balaton picture even more colourful.
2013 July 5, Friday
The 13 hectare Szent György Hill estate is a real lovechild. After moving back from Canada in 1993, Robert Gilvesy fell in love at first sight with the view from the terrace of the ruined Eszterházi press house. The winery dreamt up way back then has become reality by today, after the listed house and the modern winery were renovated and completed on the picturesque hillside and the first three wines made it into bottle.
2013 July 5, Friday
“This was the warmest growing season since 2003 and on top of that it was preceded by the hot 2011 when the soil lost all its moisture. Subsequently the vines suffered from early spring onwards. You could frequently see it with the Riesling that next to the tiny shoots, the vines were bearing even bigger bunches than the shoots. In the drought the Olaszrizling and the Riesling concentrated on the bunch, in the fruit. On the contrary, the crop wasn’t the first thing for the Kéknyelű, which sought to save itself...
2013 July 5, Friday
“I started off in Budapest, now I'm making wines in the village of my grandparents. We make village vines here from the grapes of the Káli Basin,” says Gyula Szabó, winemaker of Káli Kövek (lit. Káli Stones). “Over the last few years, I’ve spent half of my time visiting the surrounding villages and vineyards looking for the nicest locations and promising grape growers.
2013 July 5, Friday
“The estate will be 25-years-old next year, but we have something to celebrate even now: the must of the 2012 vintage was fermented in our new processing facility, then aged there in 500-litre barrels and tanks, and turned into wine. Riesling, Olaszrizling, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc: my four most important varieties here in the loess, always in a different order..."
2013 June 19, Wednesday
Ten years ago it was still major news that Jancis Robinson MW had confessed her love for Grüner Veltliner. Today, it’s one of the most happening varieties; it appears on the wine lists of every serious restaurant around the world, and you can’t get hold of the top Grüners of the Wachau superstars for under 50 euros a bottle, even at the cellar door.
2013 June 4, Tuesday
“It’s a big thing that has been built at our place in Etyek; not only architecturally but also in terms of the winemaking and grape growing. The key behind it is that Sándor and myself work together in utmost harmony. We discuss how the market is changing, what the customers are looking for, what they like, what they prefer here at the winery and at the merchants. He puts his heart and soul into the wines and I do the same with the winery. To create something together is the greatest gift..."
2013 June 4, Tuesday
“I’m from Szekszárd, I’m a winemaker, grape grower and a farmer. I make good, enjoyable wines.”
2013 June 4, Tuesday
“Since the only ingredients in our wines are the grapes themselves, it is logical that they taste different every year. This is a fascinating and great thing. I can only react to the climate with my work in the vineyard. While pruning I try to predict the year ahead and my intuition helps me as I’ve been doing this for over 13 years now..."
2013 May 17, Friday
Oremus was founded in 1993, which is exactly 20 years ago and also the same time Bortársaság came into being. If you count back 190 years from this date, you’ll arrive at the time of the vineyard classification of Szirmay (1803). This date is important since, according to this old and scientific classification, all the holdings of the Oremus winery are ranked under the first class category.
2013 May 3, Friday
“What would an artisan winemaker do if he had money? He would develop the technology.”
That’s how our conversation with Miklós Rácz and Gábor Kiss started in front of the theatre in Pécs...
2013 May 3, Friday
To complete our 2011 vintage overview, we talked to Krisztián Sauska and winemaker Gábor Rakaczki about the dry wines of Sauska-Tokaj.
2013 April 18, Thursday
We don’t know how jokes start in Chile but a big chunk of them are likely to be about the Argentines. On the other hand, some Argentinians think that Chile is not a country but a long beach. These are two giant countries divided by the third longest border between two countries in the world, which runs along the 6,000-7,000 metre high spine of the Andes.
2013 April 3, Wednesday
While in the former "Greater Hungary" half of all grapes grown, and two-thirds of red grapes, were known as Kadarka, its share today is only approaching one per cent of overall plantings. So why are we still talking about it you may ask? We are pursuing our curiosity since over the last few years we have encountered flashes of brilliance with the “Hungarian Pinot Noir” that put it firmly back in focus. That's why we followed it up, tasted it, and asked for the opinion of a few winemakers.
2013 March 20, Wednesday
“Burgundy has never, ever, been in better shape, and my advice is to buy ‘while stocks last’,” exclaimed Steven Spurrier about the 2010 vintage.
2013 March 1, Friday
We tasted the new Konyári wines: the 2012 Szerecsen, the new Jánoshegy Kékfrankos and the Syrah, at the beginning of February. János is in South Africa with the grandkids, Dani and his two colleagues are fining the wines in the cellar while outside winter is still in full throttle on Kishegy. No wonder the dog wants to come in, but Dani doesn’t let him. Things are getting serious in Balatonlelle, from every aspect.
2013 March 1, Friday
In his mind our photographer had conjured up a cellar on the side of Somló hill, an underground labyrinth with a press house above it and an ageing chamber with barrels and bottles.
2013 February 7, Thursday
We tasted the Olaszrizling, from Róza, or actually from Ambrus. We were curious to know how the wines of the Badacsony biologist have changed in a year. Then it turned out there was only one of his wines left on the shelf.
2012 December 6, Thursday
Heti rendszerességgel, évente körülbelül 1000-1200 bort kóstol a csapat. Ebből talán már leszűrhető néhány tanulság, stílusok, áramlatok, felbukkanó és eltűnő divathullámok, trendek. Megkérdeztük kollégáinkat, mi volt számukra a legérdekesebb 2012-ben. Hadd osszunk meg néhányat ezek közül, a teljesség igénye nélkül.
2012 November 19, Monday
The Bortársaság team paid a visit to Tokaj on observing that we’ve increasingly been tasting dry Tokaji. The story of our four days there is a first impression of the incredible changes that are going on there. Not only were we enchanted by the dry wines of Tokaj-Hegyalja from 2011, but also by our hosts; with their enthusiasm, dedication and modesty.
2012 November 19, Monday
„Five hectares is the limit for me. That’s the upper ceiling of quantity and quality that one can control. For me, that point comes at five hectares. The character of a vineyard shows itself the most if we wander around it incessantly; if we live together with the parcel and nature. We experience, learn and improve year after year. Something that worked in 2010 had to be redefined in 2011. In such a dominant and warm year, the differences between the vineyards appear more slowly."
2012 November 19, Monday
„Maybe this special vintage was necessary so that after 13 years myself and Bortársaság could get to know each other again. The vintage made it obvious that something is happening in the world that both nature and winemaker should adapt to. The starlings knew what their task was: they arrived a month early, and we started the harvest at the beginning of September, instead of the usual end of October."
2012 November 19, Monday
„The 2011 wines were created via 16 small harvests and through heaps of experimenting, although they were always made in a conscientious manner. This was our seventh harvest in the small cellar that was named after my grandmother. It was a special experience, the end of a year of learning, in which we’ve been lucky that every detail could be the work of our hands. What gave us the greatest joy and the most work was our latest discovery: ..."
2012 November 19, Monday
„I’ve been running a simple estate since 1999, making two wines per year. I blend estate wines solely from hand-cultivated grapes from small parcels with extremely low yields. In 2011, I hoed more than I’d ever done before in my life. We broke up the cover crops between the grape rows and I deep ploughed so that every single drop of rain could be utilised. I was worried about the warmth and the tannins resulting from the thicker skins."
2012 November 19, Monday
„We are on the road of learning in Tokaj. As the base of the sweet wines are the dry ones, we firstly have to become acquainted with the character of a good dry wine, then the next step will be the realisation of the vineyard character in sweet wines. 2011 was the best vintage for dry wines from loess soil. We experimented in small batches from September to the end of November with grapes of different levels of ripeness, without noble rot, for choosing the perfect..."
2012 November 19, Monday
„2011 was the opportunity to make the ideal dry white wine. The grapes were so healthy that they were smiling at you. This is the 13th vintage of our dry estate wine, yet we learn something new from nature every year. The most important thing we’ve experienced in the past ten years was balance. The precise timing of the harvest, but even more giving..."
2012 November 19, Monday
„The road we started out on in 2009 with the dry blends has been far more exciting than I ever expected. We are still just at the beginning and remain in the learning stage. We taste a lot, we constantly look deep into the eyes of every wine and we’re often amazed by their beauty. And if we don’t make mistakes, the whole thing is as pure as a matrix. If we stick to mathematics, the wines that should make it into the bottle..."
2012 November 19, Monday
„I’ve been saying for 20 years that we’d stop adding new areas. However, we just can’t stop ourselves! Now it’s the andesite soil of Tállya and its five first-class vineyards that excite me. Once it accounted for most of the grapes in the wine region. My wife’s hairdresser has even asked me why I go there so often. We discover 800-year-old vineyard names and each parcel hides a surprise."
2012 November 19, Monday
„In 1999, while I worked as a winemaker at Degenfeld, I thought that I wanted to try myself out at home as well. Me and my husband, Péter, started at my grandpa’s family vineyards and by today we cultivate six hectares. The showing of our vineyards is at the centre of winemaking. Where there appears to be a difference in the soil, we divide our vineyards into sub-vineyards, like with Susogó in Csirke-mál."
2012 October 3, Wednesday
Frigyes Bott and his family live next door and we sometimes drop in to visit them. We only have to drive to the other side, over the green Mária Valéria bridge at Esztergom, then turn right at the first hill. Anyone who does it once will long to go back. “Gentle hills, honest people, beautiful rivers, and in a dry year ‘may green’ grapes even when October is approaching.
2012 October 2, Tuesday
We went to Gyöngyöspata to visit two bright-eyed friends who think in a way that’s very similar to the way we do about wines, life and – about what is also very important to us and them – terroir. They believe in a wine region, they see its beauty and also bear its hardships with love. We talked to Tamás Szecskő and Bálint Losonci in their favourite vineyard, the Gereg, on the Monday...
2012 October 2, Tuesday
Toro, which means “bull” in spanish is a wine region of unique character, located in the zamora province in the north-west of spain, which is famous for its robust, full-bodied reds. Toro has 8,000 hectares of vines with two-thirds of them coming from the highest DO (denominación de origen) classified area in the river duero valley