Good old Balaton

That good wines are to be found on the north bank of Balaton I knew ever since I met the Figula winery in the late nineties. It’s just difficult to find them, I suspect because of the tourists flooding the region during summer period and these crowds don’t seem overly wine-conscious people. I’ve been back to Badacsony once or twice since I blocked that beautiful mountain out because of one particular “winemaker”, but I wasn’t impressed (with few exception like Laposa) and I never got to meet the Domaine Edegger people (they were always closed when I passed by). Tamás Pince is amazing but expensive and Figula keeps up to its name with Mihály Jr. in the cockpit. I encountered a few light, promising wines during this summer’s Füred Borfeszivál (wine festival) but the only truly exciting winemaker in the region to me remained Tóth (Scheller) Sándor. (I keep on searching though)

The Scheller winery’s website is a joke (www.schellerbor.iweb.hu/) and since internet is my prime source of information I won’t be able to tell what exactly this cuvée was made of.

The review – Tóth Sándor (Scheller) – (Áldozóhegyi) Opeonbor, 2003

Medium pale golden yellow color and a fast move.

The nose is clean, with cheerful floral (and slightly herby) aromas and a stony undertone. Very light too, not intense at all. Later it will have a light tangerine/lemon peel note too.

Very appealing texture on the palate but even this medium-small bodied wine would require more acids. The mineral notes mingle with litchi, but not very expressively. The wine still offers a young, fresh sensation in spite of its age and it’s still pretty enjoyable. Only the acids disappeared too early.

Score: 5-/- (it probably used to be a 5+ 2 years ago)

Price: HUF 1 650