Which wines did you bring to the exhibition?
We brought olaszrizling, furmint, hárslevelű and tramini. We poured all of them to the bottles with a sampling-tube yesterday.

Do you always apply traditional technologies? What do you do for that you always have such a high quality wines?
We did not change the technology, so we do not intervene into the development of the wine, we do not use yeast, refrigerators, in hotness we harvest in dawn. But we cannot do this as a routine, renewing is important and the weather forces this as well. We pay more and more attention to the wine; we spend more and more time in the wine lands. Since only from nice grape we can get nice wine. We would not like to have bigger land, but it is important that we should create the best here.

Is it true that you personally acquainted with every cluster?
Yes, my wife, Gyöngyi and I are in the vineyard every day. We examine the berries one by one and select them because we try to not overload the vine-stocks. Great things depend on smaller ones. If we leave Somló after a day we are anxious about the grape. Like a child the grape is for us and we deal with it in this way. Many times our instincts lead us.

You were rewarded for the development of the domestic wine-growing with the Knight's Cross Honour of Hungarian Republic. Do these rewards count to you?
Yes, of course, we are glad at them. But the fact that people trust us means the most. Which we get from them it cannot be expressed in money.

In your opinion which is the greatest Somló wine?
The furmint, by all means. It has been being the brand of the Somló for a long time. The furmint grows in the best place, on the upper part of the field; there it is forced upon producing nice harvest. It has intelligent, nice acids, there it is the most ripen and the most succulent, while lower, at the foot of the hill the grapes is rather sour. Its berries are still very delicious, I like eating these crispy grapes.

But most of the people consider the juhfark the mark of Somló. What do you think of this?
The juhfark is a fashion now, but my father always told me not to deal with it since it is very sensitive of freezing and rot. That is why we have not got juhfark field but if we find some delicious grapes we make juhfark wine. In 1997 I was curious about what the real juhfark is like. I bought the grape from our neighbour, but I was afraid of the result. So we applied for the competition of Somló under my wifes name. Finally our wine was the second. An English trader was present and told us that he would bring our wine to the Queen's court with pleasure. Later we made juhfark wine in 2000 and then in 2006, now we have just launched the latest into the market. The result of 2008 is still in wooden barrels, we keep it for at least 18 months in order that it becomes very delicious.

The Györgykovács is a real family cellar. How did this happen?
My grandfather was the vine-dresser of Somló estates of the Abbey in Zirc, my father is also a viticulturist. I started as a weekend viticulturist, then after the success achieved in the international festival in Pest, 1993 I became a full-time viticulturist. We do everything together with my wife, taste the samples, and select the grapes. In the harvest only three women help us and one of our daughters who graduated a sommelier course as well. She tastes the samples very well and can convey her feelings toward the wines very nicely and realistically. My mother-in-law helps guard the vine-land if we are not present.

What place is the Somló like?
If the wine is good, the place will be not enough - as the saying tells. This is true for the Somló as well. There are a lot of good cellars; additionally the Somló is a beautiful place. We can make pleasant excursions on the hill, up to the castle or the Szent István belvedere from where there is a great panorama on the Badacsony. It is good to visit Bazaltzsák or Taposókút. Our little cellar is not marked in the village, there is not any board of us, but who wants to find us he can.

Györgykovács Imre

Györgykovács Imre

GYÖRGYKOVÁCSNagy-Somlói Sárgamuskotály 2020

GYÖRGYKOVÁCSNagy-Somlói Olaszrizling 2020

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