Kövérszőlő (Fat Grape)

Kövérszőlő means „fat grape” due to its large berries and it had been one of the most widely planted grapes in Tokaj until the destruction of the vineyards by phylloxera in the 19th century. Today it’s the main variety in the Romanian Cotnari region. It regained a state classification in Hungary in 1998 and a small but increasing number of respectable (and more innovative) winemakers have achieved very nice results with them as sweet wines complementing the far most popular Furmint and Hárslevelű. It’s susceptibility to botrytisation and its high sugar content made it suitable to making Aszú as well as late harvest sweet wines, which in better years produced equal quality to 3-puttonyos Aszú .

I think however that Kövérszőlő is capable to demonstrate its own character therefore it should not be necesserily compared to Aszú. Moreover, it can be harvested one or two weeks before Furmint which extends the harvest period, giving another rational argument in its favor.

Interesting fact is that Királyleányka, a popular variety in the northern regions is a hybrid of Kövérszőlő and Leányka, another variety of Transylvanian origin.

The review (Hétszőlő – Kövérszőlő, 2006)

Hétszőlő’s perfectly oriented, loess slopes will never provide its wines with the minerality of its counterparts in Mád, for instance. This wine represents another style which is lighter and extremely lovely in both smell, taste and acidity.

It’s almost totally transparent in color and it’s very lively in the glass. I prefer serving it chilled between 5-10 degrees then it’s an extraordinarily light, lovely fresh sweet wine. It hides its almost unnoticible bitterness so you might want to let it heat a bit to fully enjoy it. The high level of extract sweetness is supported by very nice acids but with tannins almost totally absent.

It’s taste is not really comparable to anything so instead of trying to force associations let’s just say it tastes not too intensly, a little bit spicy but not as much as Hárslevelű and if you really want, you can associate it with „Multivitamin” juices (yep, even with that carrot/papaya taste in the background).

It’s 11,0% alcohol and the 0,5 liter bottle allows you and makes you wanna open another bottle very quicky, provided that you are willing to pay another 15 euros for another 10 minutes of weet curiosity. Not cheap, but still slightly more affordable than even the best 3 Puttony Aszús and its an excellent choice for a change. Especially if You’ve already had a purely Hárslevelű Aszú, but this will be another post.

Score: 6+/7- (because of its curiosity)

Price: EUR 15 (500 ml)