János Márkvárt Jr’s flagship variety is Kadarka, and his most important vineyard is a 0.41-hectare plot dotted with apple and pear trees, with amost 100-year-old vines at the northern edge of the wine region. This is Sauli, a name that sounded unusual when we first learned it in 2021, but it has since become a reference point. Today, Sauli is no longer just the name of a little-known Márkvárt parcel but also a highly sought-after, successful single-vineyard wine that has elevated the reputation of the family’s small, few-hectare estate and, in the process, created a new style of Kadarka in Szekszárd. The combination of old vines, natural methods, spontaneous fermentation and patient ageing has proven successful – and now, here is the third vintage, which we’re introducing for the first time in this newsletter.

The head-trained bush vines have not been hoed for years – the natural weed flora blooms in spring and covers the loess soil in summer. Pest control is organic, and vineyard work is done by hand, in a slow game of patience.

2023 was distinctly a ‘Kadarka vintage’, with Sauli's harvest falling on September 6 –exactly the same date as in 2022. The destemmed grapes, with a few whole bunches remaining, were placed into open vats, in which spontaneous fermentation began. With gentle punching down, just 16 days passed before pressing, after which the pale, fledgling wine was moved to a single third-fill barrel and a first-fill Kádár Hungary barrel. Then, filled to the brim and left completely undisturbed in the cellar, the wine rested until the next harvest, when the two barrels were blended and bottled in Szekszárd bottles – without filtration or fining.

Right from pressing, the nose was already strikingly vibrant – echoing the floral and blood-orange character of the first vintage, but now it’s even more intense and pure. The richest Sauli yet, it is lively, fruit-driven, low in alcohol and full of life.

1,300 bottles made.