Mix and match of ready made wines is kind of a cheating to me but it can be a very delicious sin. In 2009 Gál Lajos, Lőrincz György, Hagymási József, Sike Tamás and Rabóczki Attila used some of their wines from Boldogságos, Kántor tag, Rózsás and Szarvas vineyards and made a blend of Olaszrizling.

Ripe maize inclined to gold hue. Dense nose of delicious rocky minerals mingled with a hint of vanilla (petunia?). Similarly styled palate, a bit rustic, almost robust.

Intense blast of berry fruits and the clean smell of a basket of blackberry.

Still young, small medium-bodied wine with a peppery, toasty appeal. Good length with ripe tobacco leaf, tobacco and a hint of tannic tartness.

The wine responds well to airing, getting texturally softer, heavier and denser.

As the cheapest GB red wine out there, this is perhaps not as complex as in 2007 at present, it might still age well into a remarkable piece of Cabernet Sauvignon in 2-3 years of time.

This is a blend of 34% Olaszrizling, 28% Chardonnay, 26% Leányka and 12% Viognier. Of these, 15% is alcohol.

Lovely vibrant lemon yellow. Exciting nose of salty-chalky minerals mingled with light honey and veggie stock. Slightly sweet on the palate, with Viognier being dominant in taste, overly so if you ask me. Hours later melon aroma emerge.

Serve chilled!

I tasted this wine with friends few weeks ago when this wine stood out with its charming warmth and unusually complex character, and I promised I would buy a bottle and write a review. Here it is.

Orsolya – Abrakadabra, 2008

Lovely vibrant golden yellow with lemon reflections.

Fairly exciting minerally bouquet of rich chalky saltiness mingled with light honey and veggie stock. Unlike last time, on the palate dominantly Viognier, certainly less impressive today. It was broad and complex, now it’s much simpler in character, but creamy and fairly weighty with 15% alcohol hidden behind. I must admit that this bottle wasn’t very well handled when it landed in my hands so this might be the reason for its underperformance.

What really impresses about the wine is its finesse and complexity two days after opening. Creamy, minerally and well-balanced, displaying late harvest notes of sun-dried apricot and ripe papaya. Truly extraordinary when I last tasted this wine, an unusual and good wine this time.

I can’t recall any Kékfrankos I ever really liked, Ráspi and Luka also considered. If you feel about the varietal the way I do, then keep on reading.

Orsolya Pince – Kékfrankos, 2008

Muddy ruby hue, very unattractive, but what follows could be the definition of unusual. Intense and ample nose with notes of anise which will soon develop into cocktail cherries. On the palate caramelized anise supported by moderate acidity, later with oyster and scallop stock flowing into a fairly long finish. Small bodied wine but exciting and full of surprises.

As long as structure and integration is concerned, this is the opposite of well defined wine, but it makes sense.

I realise that you might have different opinion about this wine since no one in my company that evening found it half as interesting as I did, although no one present is as geeky as I am either.

That evening we’ve also finished off a Bolyki Indián Nyár 2007 which is a Kékfrankos-based blend but it wouldn’t be fair to compare it to Orsolya’s, which costs twice as much anyway.

What I wrote yesterday about Tóth István’s Kékfrankos 2003 applies for all of his wines, with more or less minor changes. So instead of repeating myself I present you the delta between the two wines.

First of all this is a blend, a Bikavér as we know it but don’t let this convention confuse you. The only difference on the nose is that this Bikavér has more wild mushroom notes and some sour cherry, but fundamentally very barrell influenced just as the Kékfrankos. The tannin’s a bit scratchy sometimes.

I had to buy this wine, and although it may look like I’m obsessed with Tóth István’s wines I want to make it clear that they’re not that good. But they’re not bad either and if the northern winemaker’s wines are not exactly enigmatic, they’re certainly different from not just the mainstream wines, but most terroir wines too. Knowing that, who wouldn’t buy a Kékfrankos made in 2003, with so little to lose (HUF 2000)?

But before you do, you should know that this wine will devide opinions. Some of you will pour, taste, spit and perhaps never return to this blog if I don’t make this disclaimer.

Tóth István, Kékfrankos, 2003

Blurred, deep ruby with brownish tones and a terracotta rim (so far this could be any Tóth István wine). Another trademark of his will follow on the nose: mouldy, earthy and stuffy and that won’t change with time. On the palate red fruity notes mingled with meaditerranean spices. Hard structure with tannin providing firm underpinning to the rubber taste substance but the tannin will smoothen and become softer after longer contact with the air. The acidity won’t, it remains harsh especially in the finish.

Only for hard core terroir fans who are not afraid of old barrels.

Boy, do I love Ales. I could spend hours in a London pub any time of the year, every single day of a week. So guess what, I did. I’m passionate about the atmosphere of it all and I love reading the Observer or the Independent or a book, careful about being strategically positioned near the Ale pumps and I even enjoy watching rugby there (the only other place I do is in Toulouse), a game that only starts to make some sense at all if you’d just watched cricket. Reading in a pub might sound strange to continental Europeans but when you’re the first guess at noon you either watch the passers by (another amazing thing to do in London btw) or read. And when you’re first guest as often as I am then you tend to read for a change. Not very closely related to this topic but closing down the old Waterstones shop on Shaftesbury was a crime against civilized humanity.

Am I happy to be back in Budapest? I’m depressed actually. Still in London, when I almost had enough of beer, I changed for sake for a while but after a week I couldn’t wat to have a good glass of red wine, I wanted a sure shot, a full-bodied, well-balanced aroma bomb and I found a bottle of Gróf Buttler’s Portugieser (yes, it can be all that!) in the basement. Bingo! But it was corked (my first ever). Next one: a Pinot Noir 2008.

This is less vibrant than other G.B. wines with relatively pale orange-ruby color. On the palate soft, warm with velvety tannins and perhaps it’s only a bit too young. Good wine though, don’t get repelled by the alcohol (14.5%).

Red wines under HUF2000 is a dangerous territory, but also an inevitable one. Here’s two of it, one is a finding from Budapest’s  misterious stock (50% off from retail price) of Orbán square’s grocery store and the other one, well, I have no idea. I used to drink Takler wines a lot. I don’t miss those times, and I knew this before I opened the bottle. With Tóth István, you never know.

Takler – Merlot, 2008

Lively medium-deep cherry hue, just lovely. Fresh fruity bouquet with mulberry and black-currant. On the palate fresh but too thin and tannic with hints of sloe and black-currant with an appalling bitter undertone.

Tóth István – Merlot, 2004

Blurred ruby with a brownish rim. Lovely nose with, again, black-currant and mulberry, intense and jammy, later with a cigarette smoke accent. Feels much younger than it is with it’s harsh acidity. It’s loosiness won’t get any better after 80 minutes in spite of some tasty strawberry jam coming through.

Both wines had attractive bouquet but both missed the target on the palate, the Takler by miles and the Tóth István only just. I paid HUF 900 for it so i didn’t mind.

Hangács Bikavér 2008 is almost identical to Áldás 2008 (aka El fin de la inocencia) except that it’s not. And not just that Syrah didn’t make it to the blend at Hangács (and it’s not the less oak either). It looks like only Pinot Noir did. Hangács Pinot Noir 2006 wasn’t a huge wine itself but I wonder if Hangács Pinot Noir 2008 is any different from the Bikavér Blend made in 2008.

St. Andrea – Hangács Bikavér, 2008

Medium ruby, clear and lively. Spicy bouquet with hints of anise, clove and Açaí berry, very Pinot Noir-esque. Fresh but warm style on the palate with very smooth tannins and a sour cherry core bitterness. Loose in terms of structure, thinner than Áldás first, as far as I can judge, but feels bit more weighty after some exposure to air. The acidity remains a bit scratchy on the midpalate for hours but the palate will be packed full of fine dark chocolate.

Should be decanted long before drinking. Not so expressive at present, this Bikavér may still age better than Áldás 2008.

One more remark: this wine shouldn’t have passed the Bikavér examination. Because it’s not one.

Price: HUF 3 750