“The 1998 vintage was the first Gellavilla. We made it without electricity, and for the Olaszrizling I bought a 1,000-litre barrel from a cooper in Füred. Since then, no two vintages here have ever been the same, but I love each of them exactly as it is,” says Attila Tálos, our colleague and founding owner of Bortársaság, about Gellavilla, where Olaszrizling has been a defining variety from the very beginning. Around the stone cellar built in 1799 lie nearly seven hectares of vines, most of them planted in 1972. The entire estate is farmed organically.

A great classic of our Balaton selection, the 2025 vintage brings a lively nose, floral character and fresher flavours. Alongside these come the familiar fine Riesling-like flavours, thirst-quenching palate and roundness. Its substance and delicious flavours come not from oak ageing or another blending variety, but from old vines, restrained yields and harvest timed for the right day. From there, the technology is very simple: fermentation in cooled tanks and ageing on fine lees until bottling.