Budapest Daily Review

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!

This time, it’s personal. I want You to answer this question as frankly as the internet’s anonimity allows.

Please share your thoughts by commenting too.

It’s been an exciting year in wine tasting to me and I think that it’s time to think about this year’s most memorable wines and trends. I’m thinking about publishing my thoughts based on the wines I was lucky to drink this year and I hope that these retrospects will not just help me organize my thoughts but they may provide  with some guidance to some of You too. On the other hand, I would like to hear your opinion, and if at least a fraction of You answer the following question then I’ll post some more 2 or 3 polls before I write my last summaries before the end of the year.

The first question is about one of the most debated topic of recent times and although the whole topic is more complex than what this question suggests (and the option possibilities are limited too), I decided to leave it as provocative as it is.

Dear reader,

In order to provide You with an improved content I’d like to ask you to let me know your expectations with regards to a Hungarian wine blog by simply selecting one or more from the options below. This is my first poll on this blog and I hope I’ll make this a regular thing in the future, with interesting topics about preferences of wines, wineries and general knowledge of Hungarian wines.

Thank you very much for your help!