What’s wrong with the Ráspi wines?
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.
Hi,
Actually I had the same problem with Ráspi. Many hard core wine lovers told me that these wines are exceptionelly good. Frankly, I wasn’t able to find the real value in them. I appreciate the attitude of Ráspi to the nature but I am still not convinced about the wines though I spent a large sum of money on tasting them. Maybe I am too simple to understand them…
For a short time I felt the same about Gróf Buttler (I tasted some very bad wines), but the last 10-12 bottles were marvellous and I really enjoy Buttler wines.
Yes, Gróf Buttler rules Eger, Bukolyi’s emergence in Eger was like Sauska’s recent appearance in Villány to me, something Hungarian winemaking desperately needed (I’m not saying it solved the problems though, we’re very far from that). They’re very close in style, and even background and mentality.
Btw, I come to think about selling my Máté Cuvée 2006, probably it worth more to some people than to me. Any good offer, anyone?!
Yes, please tell me a bit more about the wine and I may be interested.
I don’t know about the 2006, not from first hand.
Máté 2005 had a complex nose of beet, minerals, crab, almond, strawberry and even citrus, very intense and a little bit chemical like a shower gel. And a smoky character. Relatively thick and not so concentrated, pale in color. Nicely tannic but a bit sour especially at the finish.
This was a year ago and my notes from that day are a bit messy, that’s why I never published them. I noted that the 2004 was in better shape back then.
