Budapest Daily Review

I’m currently in New York, I’ve been here for almost 2 weeks now and I had a couple of great wine experiences but none of them Hungarian. It’s not that I would order a Hungarian wine in a Meat Packing District restaurant (not only because Spice Market is better known for its cocktails) but apparently Hungarian wines are totally absent in Manhattan, as opposed to, say Slovenian wines which are everywhere. No kidding. I’ve been browsing the wine list of some fine restaurants and the shelves of wine stores (I even passed by a Balfi van today in the SoHo) for some days now but I didn’t see any Hungarian wine. Slovenia is, however, present in many establishments of NYC.

I’m not complaining, I’m just confirming my reinforced idea that Hungarian wines are world famous only in the mind of Hungarians. And I doubt Hungarian wines will ever play a somewhat more important role in international wine drinking. The only problem with this you see is that Hungarian producers have no other choice than turning their attention to the domestic market, which they’ve been serving so far anyway. The realisation that they have no chance abroad combined with a biased (patriotic) domestic demand and little sofistication of the internal market will result in slower development of quality. This is my concern. This doesn’t help preserving the diversity of wines either because there’s little to be preserved here.

Today the hippest buzzword in hungarian wine marketing is versatility. This doesn’t seem like a strategy we chose. The is the only way left apparently, at least until dessert wines become fashionable again.

I don’t want to write a long post about this topic (I’m on vacation after all) so let’s just finally have a picture here from Les Halles (a bistro I highly recommend to anyone visiting the city btw), where half a bottle of Sauterne (sic!) cost appr. USD 250. The question you may ask yourself is why there couldn’t be an Aszú there too, perhaps at somewhat lower cost, to start with?

Click picture to enlarge!

Instead of writing about wines I’ve been drinking over the past  days (Hungarian food doesn’t go too well with wines and the holiday season is an endless feast in this country apparently) I decided to post a picture I shot yesteday of the lake Balaton’s northern coastline, the Balatonfüred area to be more precise (from where these wines come from).

The temperature suddenly changed from minus 15 Celsius to close to 20 above zero in two days in this area which enabled the formation of foggy cloud spreading up to few meters above sea level. I think it’s a stunning view (but I love fog anyway). The lake that reflects precious morning sunshine right to the vineyards of the hills nearby (and is at least partly responsible for the region’s micro-climate) is still frozen keeping the water still and cristal clear.

This mood cries for a late harvest wine!

I just read an article about Vincze Béla quitting Pannon Bormíves Céh (an association best known for Pannon Bormustra, a yearly contest of wines). Apparently the same people who elected him the “best of” now made him resign from the elite. Is there anyone who takes these guys seriously? Do you?

This of course would be just another boring (and slightly unsellting, considering the point) press release of a group of winemakers representing probably 0,01% of Hungarian wine production which alone wouldn’t make me grab the keyboard. What upsets me really is this fingerpointing again, which I already complained about on these pages, and which occurs every f….n’ time you meet a Hungarian winemaker: innuendos about oversas techniques, complaining about the mass wines of the new world (even questioning whether these wines are actually made of wine grape), the winemakers being the devil itself. Like 99,99% of wines made in Hungary weren’t nearly unsuitable for human consumption. There are shops in Hungary where you can buy off-the-shelf all ingredients you need to make a decent looking Furmint or Olaszrizling without ever getting close to a cellar or a vine.

Will anyone every punch these guys in the face? Not to bleed their nose (I’m an orthodox pacifist, you see), just symbolically a little to wake them up. I mean, let’s take Heimann and Gere, two prominents of the Céh: are these guys really comparing their products with the cheapest imported wines, which cost half the price of their cheapest offering even after transportation cost from across the ocean, having went through all the chain of the importer, wholesaler, distributor and the retailer? Or are they suggesting that all Australian and Chilean wines are made in a process more similar to oil refinery? Are these guys ever going to learn to distinguish? Are these guys ever going to stop talking bullshit, fingerpointing and accusing others for their (non-existing) problems? If they’re unable to make profit then perhaps they should quit and go back to where they belong or they’re qualified for (forest engineering, in case of Gere, if I’m not mistaken) but I seriously doubt they have any problems, looking at the investments these guys have been making in the past 15 years, investing and reinvesting millions and millions of euros into buying new land, purchasing the newest technologies etc. I’m not taking about Györgykovács of course, but most of these guys made a fortune by making wine (let’s not talk about the ones here who lost a fortune by trying). Ofthen very questionable ones.

These guys should finally decide who they consider competitors, chose their peer group carefully where they feel like home ground and try to do their best and let the consumer decide. And stop blaming others for their non-existing misery.

This whole country is sick, I’m telling you. This story is, of course, just a snowflake on the tip of the iceberg.

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.

All you have to do is

name 3 major German wine regions of outstanding Riesling quality

and send the answer to me via em-mail to wineguide at budapestdailyreview.com. You can also leave your answer in the comment field below, giving your contact details (this post and the comment will be removed tomorrow afternoon).

The tasting will take place tomorrow at 18.30 in the Buda Castle. The wine list is very impressive, to name a few:

Traiser Rotenfels 2007, QbA, trocken
Weingut von Racknitz
Nahe

Hochheimer Hölle 1993, Auslese, trocken
Franz Künstler
Rheingau

Wiltinger Scharzhofberger 2004, QbA
Weingut van Volxem
Saar

The wines offered for the winner are courtesy of a friend of mine planning to open a wine shop specialized in German Rieslings. So watch out, be prepared, because for the first time ever Hungarians and ex-pats in Hungary soon will have easy access to a wide range of excellent German Rieslings delivered to their doorsteps!

I hesitated to write about it. It’s because some months ago I decided to be more positive about the “poor” Hungarian wine industry. Then I came across Juhász Testvérek’s Kékfrankos (or was it the Bikavér??) from Eger and I was furious. It was simply outrageous. But I calmed down. Then I couldn’t resist (Eurobor) Tűzkő Kékfrankos on discount sale at In vino Veritas á propos de Wine Wednesday. After all, their Sauvignon Blanc 2007 was OK, Renana 2007 not so much and Domb Cuvée, well, it was not bad at all. I mean, readers like to read beautifully written stories about great wines, vintages, winemakers and so on. And these readers are served well. Most people like stories more than the truth. And the truth is that about 99% of Hungarian wines is rubbish. And not just the bulk wines and deservedly unfamous former socialist corporations’ products from the lowest shelves of the supermarkets, but some wines cheered by wine drinkers and tolerated by the wine press and the blogsphere. I don’t care about popularity and visitor statistics and I’m not bound by anything else either and that’s what I like about having my own blog. Here I can remark that the EUR 3-4 or so that I spent on this wine (at half price) was very badly spent, not considering the annoying trip to In Vino Veritas across the city. Every single winemaker lately sooner or later starts to talk to me about how new world winemakers (sic!, like all of them) are cheating and producing cheap wines and Hungarians should be more sophisticated than buying those imported alcoholic juices. Here in Hungary our problems are always caused by someone else, it’s never us, there’s always an obscure global conspiracy to blame. This sentiment is further fuelled by state politics of course. We are mud-wrestling with ourselves. It’s time for consumers and winemakers to wake up. If Fodor Béla can do it, why couldn’t anyone else?

Mergers and Acquisitions are cyclical and near the bottom of a recession (where we’re now hoping to be at) the M&A activity is supposed to be low. Or at least that’s what we were taught (well, we were also taught that liberal capitalism keeps the economy gravitating around the stationary point so there’s no need to intervene, so it’s up to you to believe it or not).

So here’s another topic to support the theory of Hungarian Wine Freakonomics. Rumor has it that many wineries are changing hands these days. Since this is not a business blog, what we are interested in here is the impact of this on wine quality and prices (we’re all consumers after all). I have no insider information so let’s just speculate and let’s see, 2 years from now, if my predictions were right or false.

First, you have to know that I have a mixed feeling about venture capital money flowing into cellars. Kreinbacher, Bukolyi and Hétszőlő are a few examples how this could work out very well (well, from consumer’s point of view of course). On the other hand, controversial privatizations or investments can prove otherwise (Csányi and Co.). But these cases explain themselves. Gróf Buttler’s Bukolyi became filthily rich before deciding to lose a decent sum on reconstructing an entire mountain only to produce some of the best wines, and almost for sure, the best Kadarka and Portugieser of not just Eger, but Hungary. Now he’s looking into enhancing the visitors’ facilities but more importantly, to boost sales. Now that he knows how to produce exceptional wines he needs someone to sell them. And we’re getting to my point here. Gróf Buttler wines are already unaffordable to the average Hungarian of course, but these are not average wines either. But even upper-middle class folk will think twice before buying the best Syrah this country’s ever seen. My fear is that the way to increase sales will not involve decreasing prices but to export these fine wines to markets with much bigger purchasing power (with the Forint’s recent volatility, this seems like a rather viable option). Consequently, prices can be expected to go up.

Hétszőlő’s been one of my favourite Tokaji producers. Not only because of Tibor Kovács’s persistent rebellious wine making practice but because of the reason behind this: the Hétszőlő slopes, some of the most traditional ones dating back to the XVIIth century, can produce some of the most elegant, delicious, light, yet complex dessert wines and dry Furmints using his methods. Kovács and Hétszőlő also gave us a dessert Pinot Noir, Főbor’s late harvest Kövérszőlő and even Olaszrizling! Now Grands Millésimes de France appear to have sold their stake to a venture capital firm which, by nature, is not expected to hold it for long. International sales of Hétszőlő may have been volatile but the new investor will certainly intervene in the the company’s operation and maybe even beyond that. So now I’m gonna go and buy some of the 1999 and 2000 Aszú from Tibor and wait for the 2007 and 2008 vintages.

Laposa Jr. is doing a good job as chief winemaker as we could see in the Somló Évjáratbemutató 2008 few weeks ago. I don’t know whether shares were simply changing hands or a capital injection was also made nor have I any information about the plans of the new shareholder. But it’ll be very interesting to see what impact this may have in the future so I’ll follow the evolution of their wines closely.

After so many years Bikavér (or “Bulls Blood”) still brings bad memories of semi-dry, medium-bodied wines which is so unfair today, or at least partly. Today Bikavér is more and more a mid-range cuvée in the assortment of the wineries, a must-have piece if you were from Szekszárd or Egerand in many cases it’s no longer the “the blend of the leftover grapes” but a conceptually designed cuvée, often Bordeaux-styled one.

Now a Bikavér made of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Kékfrankos, Zweigelt, Blauburger and Portugieser is a bit suspicious to say the least. In the Bolyki Egri Bikavér from 2005 you can find all of these in an undisclosed mix. I already complained about the inconsistent character of the Hungarian cuvées and I’m really curious about next (or previous’ ) year’s Bolyki Bikavér from a mix perspective.

The review

Medium deep ruby color with purplish reflections (actually it’s almost purple with ruby reflections). This Bikavér’s nose is pepper and spices, not intense and not fruity but pleasant and interesting. This is a medium-bodied wine with more than medium acidity supporting a dry, smoothly tannic texture. The palate has a distant red currant and unripe cherry aroma but it’s more or less empty with occasional Zweigelt-Kékfrankos-Portugieser elements.This little is well integrated, the wine has a relatively good although thin structure. Later there’s some berry fruit on the nose and the day after a bit of leather and tobacco , on the palate tobacco.

Score: 4-/4

Price: HUF 2 250

After reading some very interesting thoughts a bout the prospects of Hungarian wines abroad (please refer to the previous post and the comment) I would like you to answer the following question. Please note that this time multiple answers are accepted!

I wouldn’t dare to select a winemaker of the year 2008. Actually, I don’t dare to start to set up a system or define what qualifies winemakers to be on the short list. To start with, I’m not even sure whether the winemaker of the year would produce the best wine of the year (probably not), or if I should award the winemaker’s effort or the end result more? Or whether consistency is more important than experimenting?  And so on… So I won’t do it. But I can note here some remarkable achievements from my perspective which is absolutely incomplete and subjective. So here’s a few thoughts about what I drank this year and liked. I wanted to write more here in this post but it turns out I don’t actually have that many thoughts after all.

- The wine that brought back hope for Portugieser: Gróf Buttler Portugieser 2006

- The huge best buy Furmint from 500 kilometers from Tokaj: Bussay Kerkaborum 2006

- The wine that made me go and visit Mór: Pontica Móri Ezerjó 2006

- Robust and rustic Rizling bargain from Pécs(!): Szabó Zoltán Rajnai Rizling 2006

- Another best buy from the entry-level segment, and it’s a Chardonnay, and it’s from Tokaj. And it’s French: Chateau Megyer Chardonnay 2005

- The soul-less beauty: Monarchia Chardonnay Battonage 2006

- The sunny side of Terroir wines: Rási Sauvignon Blanc 2007

- Out of curiosity: Bodri Kadarka Fehér 2007