“2022 was the hottest and driest year ever and it overturned everything we thought or knew about the impact of hot vintages. Until August, we were not even certain about having any wine at all. It’s fresh, crispy, ethereal but still a Nyúlászó wine. There’s the masculine character, the compactness, the richness in it, but it’s still elegant,” says István Balassa.

The key to the terribly difficult, but ultimately successful vintage lies in the more than 40-year-old vines that have a very deep root system. The water found in the deeper layers of the 1.5-hectare area with the soil rich in rhyolite and quartz helped the grapes through this stressful period. The wine was spontaneously fermented and aged in 300-litre barrels for 7 months. It has aromas of honey and quince aromas, it’s lean and refreshing, yet rich and smooth. The acids, which lead the palate, are surprisingly fresh and crispy. The palate is pristinely pure, elegant, long and mineral – it’s a real place-of-growth wine that shows the harmony of opposites, just like the vintage.