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.
