“Kadarka flows through my veins, I grew up here, I know every ravine, vineyard and field. I have been working since I was a child, I start at dawn, rest at home at noon, and finish among the vines in the evening. I'm a Szekszárd winemaker, viticulturist and farmer," says János Márkvárt Jr., the straightforward and honest winemaker from Szekszárd. Kadarka is one of the greatest treasures in the wine region, yet it grows on barely 100 hectares of the total 2,100 hectares. Compared to this, on Jani Márkvárt's 4-hectare family estate, a quarter of the vines are Kadarka, with such kind of old and gnarled vines that we last saw in Rioja.

His newly released, fresh Kadarka is a blend of several areas and younger vines, from organic growing. There’s no hoeing between the vines, the natural weed flora blooms in the spring and keeps the balance with the vines in the summer, the berries are smaller, the skin is thicker and the flavours become deeper. Winemaking is carried out traditionally – the destemmed grapes ferment in open vats, briefly macerated, and after half a year of ageing, the wine is bottled unfiltered. It’s a textbook wine, original, spicy and juicy.