Budapest Daily Review

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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 wrote some time ago about how I regained my confidence in Portugieser (thanks to Gróf Buttler) and I was rather positive about Heumann’s slightly overrated, although exceptionally good Kékfrankos recently. I wanted to know the difference between the EUR 12 Heumann and the Heimann Kékfrankos for half of that. Here’s the result. 

The review

Medium ruby color with purplish reflections. 

Olive oil move but lively, suggesting flimsy structure. The bubbles seem to come from some detergent added to sparkling mineral water: they’re quite bright and transparent without any color. 

The nose is surprisingly spicy with ripe, rotten plum undertone (quite nice actually) but this element only appears after appr. 45 minutes. The perfum-like, spicy nose combined with the low textural complexity reminds me more of a Pinot Noir or indeed, a Kadarka.

Thin wine with round acidity, smoothly tannic. The finish is rotten plum. 

90 minutes after opening the wine shows more complexity on the palate and becomes very well balanced, something most Hungarian wines under EUR20 lack and it’s quite soft too. 

Serve it relatively warm. 

Score: 5/10 (after a 4, 4+ start) - read more about the rating system here. 

Price: HUF 1 900/ EUR 8

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