Budapest Daily Review

Vinagora Borgála is the Central-Euro-Disney of grownup kids obsessed with wines. Honestly, I cannot emphasize enough how much I’m thankful for it. But let’s get to the point.

So you have to start the tasting with the dry white wines, that’s stating the obvious, right? WRONG! Vinagora’s red lineup was so much better than the white wines this year that they weren’t even in the same league, there were actually 2 or 3 leagues in between. It’s not that you  couldn’t find good white wines there, cause you could. Bargain hunting can be fun. But if you have the chance to taste 50-100 wines at once (that’s what I think is the capacity of a normal people) then you should go for the best ones, don’t you? And this year Vinagora’s red section was so much more to offer than the dry white wines’ (just so you know, the red raw started with 2 of the best Bock wines and continued with 2 of the best Heumann wines, and that was just the beginning of a raw of approximately 200 wines). Of course, I didn’t notice this until I got to the red section. And by then, I was full, exhausted, and bored. That’s why you’ll read about the white wines here, which were, after all, a good lesson as well.

I was determined to focus on the Hungarian wines, which was a major sacrifice considering the attractive foreign wines from Slovakia, Slovenia and even Peru and Brazil. Brazil, btw, was a major player in the sparkling wine section, which I left completely unnoticed until my departure.

Vinagora is a contest, for those who care about it, although in my experience you should be very careful with the points, and also with the description of the wines (which are displayed near each wine at the venue). The award list can be downloaded by clicking here.

I started with a ripe continental fruit-aromatic Sauvignon Blanc of Nyakas from 2008 with a nettle accent on the nose.  Lot of acidity on the palate with a green apple note and a slightly sparkling bitterness (3+/4- points). I liked a bit more Erwin Petz’s Saucingnon Blanc from the same year, although much lighter, this wines is more elegant and interesting edition of the samel apple and nettle character.

Esterházy’s Lama Chardonnay 2006 has a melted butter character from the beginning to the end with hints of asparagus and litchi. Nagyrédei’s Chardonnay 2008 is a real bargain, scoring relatively high by the judgement of Vinagora judges. I found it very perfumy, in an intense but light way with clear ripe apple and apple-pie notes (with cinnamon). On the palate unripe apple in a small body (3+/4- points). Bakkhosz’ Mátrai Chardonnay 2007 (2+/3- points) was a big mistake from my part and so was Tátrai Tamás’ Etyeki Chardonnay 2008 (3+ points). Nyakas Budai Chardonnay 2008 was a decent effort and little more (4- points). Haraszthy Fantástico Chardonnay 2007 has a more exciting nose, a bit sweet, with lovage, veggie soup and turnip notes. There’s a flint note on the palate which surprised me a little. Interesting wine (5/5+ points).

That’s it for now, I’ve got some notes left and maybe I’ll write another post tomorrow.

For most people Brazil is football, samba and Rio. To me, Brazil is an important piece of my past, present and future. It’s my second homeland. But according to my friend Paulo Queiroz, Brazil is also an emerging producer of white wines, especially sparkling wines which are getting better and are already beating foreign competition in value for money in the lower segments, Paulo explains. In an effort to collaborate on certain wine topics, Paulo sent me some thoughts about Brazilian wines some months ago which I now could like to share with you. Why now? It’s overdue actually but I didn’t want to publish it before I write my part for Paulo’s blog nossovinho.com about Hungarian wines. But I was looking at a picture of Ronaldo celebrating the combined 4 x 2 victory of my beloved Corinthians over Internacional in the two final matches of Copa do Brasil (giving the seventh national title to Corinthians only equaled by Flamengo) yesterday and I thought this would be the time. I couldn’t identify the brand which Ronaldo was drinking but I can recommend a couple of other wines based on Paulo’s evaluation.

About Brazilian wines (by Paulo Queiroz, translated by me)

Brazil has about 60 000 hectares of vines which makes it the third largest producer in South-America. Mostly concentrated around the area of  Serra Gaúcha in the southern part of the country, varietals such as Chardonnay, Sémillon, Gewürtztraminer and Riesling of Italy (I’m not sure if this is the same grape as the Hungarian “Olaszrizling” , but I know that Hungarian experts were active in Brazil’s viticulture in the 1990s - admin) are produced on high altitude. The volume of sparkling Brazilian wines have shown tremendous growth in recent years. According to Madia Mundo Marketing the yearly output increased to 14 million liters in 2007 from only 6.6 millions in 2002. The quality of these wines has been improving a lot in the same time resulting in various international awards in Italy and in France. These winners include:

Espumante Garibaldi Moscatel (Gold medal winner of Effervescents du Monde (Dijon, France))

Clean and appealing with numerous medium-sized bubbles and with terrific foam shape of bright color with greenish reflections. The nose has clean and powerful aromas of melon and passion-fruit and white floral notes with a hint of honey. It has a delicate and clean palate, with good balance of sugar and acidity and elements of ripe citrus fruits.

Amadeu Brut Rose (Silver prize from Effervescents du Monde)

Made using Champagnoise method, it has a lovely cherry color with intense aromas of red fruits like strawberry. With good acidity on the palate, the wine goes well with many foods. Made of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir.

Still in the southern region of Bento Gonçalves from Rio Grande do Sul state (serra Gaúcha) there are several good options of red wines too. Salton Talento 2004 is an intense red wine with light and inviting aromas on the nose, even sweet a little bit with a hint of wood. On the palate it’s all different, intense, perfumed, with a bit too aggressive tannins and a bitter finish. Made of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 10% Tannat. Aged in oak barrel for 12 months and 12 months in bottle.

All three wines (and more from Brazil) are available in Europe.

I’d like to thank to Paulo for his contribution and congratulate for his great blog.

The same Ráspi wine is usually described by the divided wine society (including regular drinkers and serious professionals) as either i) extremely complex ii) dull iii) simply faulty. I spent, I may say, quite a sum already on trying to understand the hype behind Horvát József’s wines. After several blind tastings, a visit to the master himself, a dozen bottles consumed at home I now tend to agree with the latter group in most cases. Despite all the expressed fanaticism with which Ráspi arguably dedicates himself to winemaking and his obvious efforts to distinguish himself from almost all known winemakers in the country (not to mention the rest of the world) I came to the conclusion that buying Ráspi wines doesn’t pay off. Yes they can be complex and pleasant.Yes I understand how important handicraft winemaking is to him and I admire his work and sophistication in the kitchen. I also used to think that I’m very unlucky in selecting the right bottles. I also came to a point when I thought I may not appreciate enough the exotic finess of the really good wines. After so many purchases and having drank really fine wines I now know that neither of these was the case, or not entirely. Still, I let you decide. This Kékfrankos, although being one of the cheapest wines of Ráspi, has many of the typical elements of 90% of the Ráspi wines I’ve tasted so far, including some of the most expensive wines you can buy in this country.

It has a pale brownish-ruby color. The nose is a mix of different fungi and not just the ones you appreciate. The wine is thick and lacks substance. It’s too acidic for such a small body and the wine becomes more and more sour as time passes. The palate has no clean fruity or mineral elements, it’s a muddy mixture of undefined ones. It’s short on the finish except an appalling sour sensation.

One might simply say that the wine I opened was corked. But then 9 out of 10 Ráspi wines are corked in my experience, regardless of the vintage.

I still have a bottle of Máté Cuvée 2006 left which now sells for a fortune. I’m afraid I may never get to know why.

2003 produced some of the first really remarkable great white wines this country’s seen in this millennium (just think about Mandolás Furmint). We learend to appreciate this vintage even more after the tough 2004 and 2005 vintages. The glory of most of these wines, however, didn’t last for more than 4  years, some of them starting a sharp decline as early as in 2006. On the other hand, some of these wineries couldn’t repeat their performance up until now (again, think about Mandolás). The wines from the north bank of Balaton have been having hard times as well. Still, or maybe because if this, I was very happy to discover this already forgotten Kereklevelű (known as Chardonnay beyond the Carpathians) in my cellar from Tóth Sándor (aka Scheller).

The review

Medium-deep hay on the glass, the wine opens slowly to show some flinty notes on the nose. On the palate an almond element mingles with lot of rustic, but attractable minerality. This latter becomes denser, just as the whole wine, after one hour and a half. Medium-large bodied wine supported by lower-medium acidity (which means there could be a little bit more) and a slightly bitter minerality. A bit sweet, the wine is still fresh and in good shape right now with soft, slightly sandy tannin. The marzipan and almond is later faded by dried apricot and even richer minerality. I sometimes sense a botrytis-ish element in the background.

This wine will give you lot of pleasure for only HUF 1 600 especially if you can give it an hour or so before drinking.

Score: 5+

Price: HUF 1 600

I first appreciated the affordable wines of Paternina of Rioja on my first trip to Madrid and the Banda Azul brand accompanied us through our journey through Toledo, Córdoba, Sevilla, Ronda, Cabo de Gata to Segovia. When we went back few years later to visit le Pays Basque and País Vasco, we visited their winery near Haro (I think, btw, that everyone should visit that land if for nothing else but their tapas bars). I picked up a cheap Chardonnay there, from 2006. This ultra-light wine of pale greenish color is fresh and young with a celery and fennel character supported by crisp acidity in smaller quantity. It’s still slightly sparkling on the palate. This wine is a decent 3+ points effort and provided a good basis of comparison to the very different Áldozóhegyi.

A cheap Szürkebarát with a relatively deep hue is always suspicious. Of course you don’t see it through a bottle (which, in this case is rather pretty). I don’t know why I keep running into oxidized wines in this segment but this one from Dörgicse wasn’t different. It’s like all went wrong with this wine: it has a slightly appalling nose of rotten grape, slightly sweet, the alcohol burns and it has no substance whatsoever. On top of this the finish is bitter. The wine comes with a plastic cork. The nose didn’t show typical corked character. Still, this wine is barely drinkable.

Last weekend was a typical late October Saturday weather so we decided to go for the red wines after a short warm-up with what was supposed to be the best Királyleányka out there (according to our wine merchant friend, but perhaps the meaning has lost in translation).

Bolyki’s Királyleányka 2008 is a very pale of its kind, almost watery. Very closed on the nose with hints of apple aroma. Brutal acidity on the palate, very fresh, harsh with unripe gooseberry and grapefruit notes. Thick wine with young acidity, bringing back not too far memories of Levendula wines.

Score: 3+/4-

Price: HUF 1 100

Ebner Cabernet Franc 2007 has deep purplish color and a nice move. Very closed on the nose only opening a little bit after an hour with chocolate aroma. On the palate dense but a bit one dimensional, rather small-medium bodied. This dischotomy also aplies to the tannin which is powdery and hard in the smae time. The palate has a plum character. Pleasant to drink, but a bit too pricy.

Score: 4+/5-

Price: HUF 3 000

I’ve been very much looking forward to the Pók Tamás/Kovács Nimród Winery - Nimród 3 (I I I) 2003. I liked the Nimród 2 for its soft heaviness. Nimród 3, named modestly after the cash-man behind the Monarchia brand has a deep ruby color. Quite closed nose, at least more closed than I expected, with aged ham and red meat elements and later fine dark chocolate. The same flesh character on the palate supported by very rounded, subtle acidity and velvety, soft and slightly oily tannins. The wine wouldn’t open even after two hours. Dense, but not intensive, with hints of cherry aromas. The wine has an overall soft character. It’s a pleasant wine but ridiculously overpriced. (Only 1500 bottles made).

Score: 6,6+

Price: HUF 15 000 (if you can find one)

Bországgyűlés’s been over for a week but I still have some notes left that I would like to share here. The shift towards white wines which started when I decided to drink more Hugnarian wines  a bit more than a year ago has left its mark on the ratio of reds and whites but I didn’t entirely give up.

Sauska Cuvée 13 from 2008 is a beautifully colored medium-dark ruby wine with purplish reflections made of 70% Syrah and 15%-15% Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Jammertal area. Light, young, warm and slightly sweet nose with anise and clove aromas. Nicely textured on the palate with powdery (later oily) tannins and polished acidity. 14% alcohol is a bit over the top for this upper-medium bodied, but dense wine. Score: 5+/6-

Bujdosó Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 is an average medium-bodied wine without major faults or character. Fresh tannins and nice acidity. Score: around 4+

You may remember that I was quite satisfied with Bujdosó’s Altanus white cuvée. Now Bujdosó Altanus 2007 has seen 10-12 months in oak barrels of 225l. It has a warm nose with a celery-vegetable character and black pepper notes. Quite average on the palate. Score: 4+/5-

Szeleshát Merlot 2007(?)was aged 80% in second use and 20% first use barrique. The 15% alcohol might be too much for some in this medium-bodied wine with the slightly unripe tannins. The palate has a black pepper character. Interesting enough.

Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite grapes and I believe that Hungary would be able to produce good Sauvignon Blancs but so far little effort has been made to fill in a gap on the market left by a virtually non-existing supply of foreign wines, including SB. Where is Hungarian Sauvignon Blanc standing compared to its European and new world competitors? Do we stand a chance as long as quality is concerned, especially when price is taken into account? Is New Zealand really better than France? Should Hungary destroy all its SB plantations once and for all? Are we ever going to export Sauvignon Blanc?

We’ll not necessarily give an answer to these questions, perhaps we’ll be only scratching the surface but at least we’ll try: Peter from borwerk.de and I decided to try to taste as many Hungarian SBs as we can put our hands on and taste each of them in pair with a foreign Sauvignon Blanc. Here’s the first sprint’s result.

Domaine Des Corbillieres is a family winery from the Loire (Sologne wine region) near Blois, Tours and Chambord (boy, do I love the Loire castles!) with a long history and consisting today of 23 hectares of which 13 are Touraine Blanc Sauvignon. 2008 was excellent year in Touraine, on the South-bank of Loire. The Touraine 2005 was a Wine Advocate 90 points wine.

2007 was a year in Balaton described by many winemakers as “rather difficult” but the Figulas didn’t complain. So let’s see.

The tasting was blind but not for long. After the first sniff when our noses got near the glass there were no secrets any more.

The Touraine has pale lemon color with greenish reflections. Very intense nose, soft and gentle with lot of litchi, papaya and maracujá (passion fruit) aromas. On the palate very fresh and firm with lot of grip, metallic (and grapefruit flavored) acidity and perfectly integrated structure. Crisp, buoyant, young but elegant acidity with a salty accent, flowing into a virtually endless finish. Very zippy wine. Goodness, what a wine this is for the price of a small pizza.  Score: 6+/7-

In my eyes it’s a real bargain not just for everyday drinking.

The sauvignon Blanc from Balatonfüred (Balatonszőlős, actually) has a slightly deeper hue and a it’s closed on the nose with green apple, salt cured and spiced Iberian ham (or pancetta?) and veggie soup notes, definitely more closed than the Touraine. Shows also little on the palate with some greenish freshness and veggie notes with a softer texture. Medium acidity but structurally much inferior to Touraine. Score: 4

The wines, believe it or not, are both priced at around HUF 1800 even with the recently week forint and shipment cost included (well, the Touraine was brought from Germany free of shipment cost, but still). I always feared that I’d been a little bit biased in favor of Figula which may have been the case but this blind tasting reveals I’m afraid what the real value of this wine is.

Touraine Corbillieres facts sheet andquotes from their website:

GRAPE VARIETY
-Sauvignon blanc

AGE OF VINE
-13 to 43 Years

TYPE OF SOIL
- Sand on a clay bed of the Sologne region.

VINE GROWING

-No chemical fertilizer, only organic matter, controlled production by a very strict debudding. Leaves thinned out.

PRODUCTION METHOD

-Steeping for 1 month with natural ferments, at a temperature of 16 - 18º, then left to lie until spring.

WINE TASTING

-Delicate and with a floral aroma, this wine is rich and fruity, well balanced and give a lasting freshness to the palate.

SERVING METHOD

Goes well with Asparagus, fish and all shellfish
Serving temperature 10º.

We went on a lazy sunny Sunday afternoon walk with my wife and we eventually landed in Városliget. This time I wasn’t just wandering intuitively but I was focusing on wines I heard of from others or read about (albertgazda might sound familiar to some) instead.

I found Gedeon Rajnai Rizling 2008 a bit dull after the eye-opening tasting last week of German Rieslings but to tell the truth the cheapest was about twice or three times as expensive as this Gedeon Rajnai Rizling. This is a decent wine from a winery I heard about for the first time here, with a pale hue with greenish reflections. What really disappointed was the lack of acidity and body. With ripe continental fruits (a bit tutti-frutti-like) on the nose and a sweet sensation on the palate this was a bit disturbing indeed. Soft texture with a medium-short finish supported by a slightly bitter underpinning. Score: 4-/4 points

Gedeon - Órajnai Rizling 2006 - now this one has more style. With grapes harvested in early December, this is a bright golden yellow wine with clear marzipan nose (maybe not entirely as a consequence of new oak) . It’s gentle, also on the palate with the same marzipan character, not too firm but glycerin sweet with greenish-grassy accents. Score: 5 points (at least)

I  like Tornai wines very much ever since last year’s Somló Tavasz festival. Even the cheap entry-level wines are more than acceptable and of good value for the money. Their premium range took them to the next level, becoming one of my top 3 pics from Somló (if you look at the entire sortiment). Aranyhegyi Olaszrizling 2007 is a Pannnon Bormustra “csúcsbor”.    It has an appealing vibrant ripe corn color and a lovely, dense nose of sage in melted butter. This character continues into a similar palate of similar intensity and loveliness, with quite a lot of substance supported by very subtle acidity, flowing into a soft and seemingly endless finish. Score: 6+/7- points

Béres Lőcsei Furmint 2007 has a bit flinty nose. On the palate a slightly sparkling minerality sliding on butter mingled with tutti-frutti.  Actually what this palate most reminds me of is “robbanócukorka” (blasting candy) from my childhood which were sweet tiny rocks blowing when in contact with the saliva (its discovery was a major milestone in my life). This along with  a mineral character make this an interesting, although not exactly huge wine. Relatively thick. Score: 5 points

Kovács Nimród Winery Chardonnay Battonage 2006 was a great wine reasonably priced. Chardonnay Battonage 2007 seems a bit lighter already in the glass. Very gentle nose with melted butter mingled with papaya and banana. Medium-bodied, grip but silky-soft with very subtle acidity. Very long butter finish with a hint of minerality. Classy. Score: 6+/7- points

I was a bit surprised how similarly three wines of different grape from different wine regions were structured and had similar character (Sauska Chardonnay, KN Chardonnay and Tornai Olaszrizling). Critics will say that these wines show nothing at all of the terroir and where they come from. If you ask me, they show little of the grape either (except maybe Tornai’s).   But these three were by far the most outstanding wines I tasted (which didn’t include most wines on offer, of course).

Impressions about the festival: almost all the wines were served at close to proper temperature. I also noted that about 10% of visitors were foreigners which means hundreds of them (dear organisers, for gods sake, put some english/german speaking staff to the entrances at least). The location is very beautiful and although I wished some people stayed at home (including those on the stage) most people behaved in a civilised way and the nature suffered only minor damages as far as I could tell. And on my way out I bought organic nettle and walnut marmalade which are simply delicious.

Crowd, folkloric music and drank people singing are the main reasons why I don’t like wine festivals (and Bországgyűlés features them all). But I couldn’t say no to a friend’s invitation so I went and did the most obvious thing to distract my attention: took a note book and took notes as diligently as you can when you are standing and being pushed from all sides by unknown people. And guess what, soon I was starting to feel good.And then I suddenly had to leave the scene, but before that I had some nice first encounters.

(On the picture above: a bunch of morons singing pro-national border revision songs)

Font is a 28 hectares family winery in Soltvadkert and known as a reliable source of value wines. Kövidinka 2008 was well located to start with. It’s pale and light with some apple notes on the nose and a slightly unripe and a bit bitter tannic palate. Thick, fresh, and quite like what the wines from Duna borrégió tend to be. Score: 3+ points

Maul Chardonnay Barrique 2007 has a vibrant golden yellow medium-deep color and a dense nose of floral notes and lots of oaky vanilla. On the palate a bit too harsh tannin but the wine’s relatively well-balanced, medium-large bodied. The finish is too short with a tart element. Little fruity wine with hints of quince. A little bit one dimensional and barrel-woody but it’s a pleasant drink. Score: 4+ points

Bujdosó Altanus 2007 is a blend based on Chardonnay with 30% Sauvignon Blanc, Szürkebarát and Királyleányka. Chardonnay and Szürkebarát both have seen barrique. The average yield was 2-2.5 Kg/vine.  Lower-medium deep golden color with Savory notes on the nose mingled with other fresh green spring spices. Complex and exciting in the dimension of spicy vegetables and fruits. Sweet and warm. The palate is sweet but only because of glycerin (with less than 2 grams of residual sugar). Lower medium bodied. Score: 6- points

Bujdosó Szürkebarát 2007 is lighter, with much more closed nose. Medium-small bodied and a bit sparklingly bitter.This one didn’t impress me, remained very closed so I’ll have to try it again.

Degenfeld Furmint Barrique 2007 is relatively closed on the nose with hints of vanilla. Light, a bit perfumy with ultra-light acacia and honey elements. On the palate light punch and vanilla notes with a hint of minerality. Small-medium bodied. This Furmint has a Degenfeld-ish character very similar to their Muscat Lunel. Not a usual Furmint for sure. Score: 4 points

Lelovits’ Olaszrizling 2008 left its mark with some lavage-based vegetable soup notes but not much else.

Sauska Chardonnay Makár 2007 was the the revelation of the day to me. This is the debut of Sauska on Budapest Daily Review, I’d always been repelled by their price tags suggesting lot of ambition from a relatively new brand supported by aggressive marketing.

My senses were blown up by a very determinate, firm, dense but fresh nose of a very clean, soft vanilla pudding character rounded by tons of melted butter. But before that, the bright, vibrant, beautiful color of the wine was already very impressive too. The palate is in perfect harmony with the nose, it gives back the exact same character. Medium-large bodied, slightly lacking acidity but it’s a huge wine with a terrific mouthfilling sensation and a long finish I haven’t seen for a long time. Yes of course many terroir fans and patriots will complain loud about the overuse of oak and the new worldliness of the wine but it’s a perfectly executed task of a class that has just started to build in Hungary. I’d been waiting too long for this school to emerge in Hungary and I always knew that if once it happens, it would be in Villány. It’s pure liquid vanilla with some floral notes here and there, delivered in the finest silky texture supported by very gentle acidity, yet in a firm body. It’s an engineering masterpiece. Score: 6+/7- points

I took some nice pictures of Andrássy avenue on my way to Buda after the festival. They’re here, if you wanna have a look at  Budapest’ (and probably one of the worlds’)  most beautiful main avenue viewed by a drunk photographer.