Pale lemon yellow. With so much butter on the nose the use of oak is too apparent, although not too disturbing, with light hints of fruit underneath. There’s too much scratchy tannin on the palate for such a small bodied wine. It’s an overall very light and pretty uninteresting Pinot Blanc.

We’ve finished off a bottle of Orsolya’s Abrakadabra the same evening and the contrast was stunning, but I can’t recall all the details and I didn’t mind buying a new bottle so the review will be coming soon.

Read more Rókusfalvy reviews here.

Blind tasting is fun. Especially when the person pouring the wine (the only one who knows which one is which wine) mixes up the bottles and you only realise this almost a year later. At least this is what I’m suspecting now that I read my previous review of the wine. My suspicion is based on comparing it with my current notes which are if not identical but from a specific aspect very similar to the one I took of the Springfield Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Here it is (nothing’s been recycled).

Clean, pale lemon color with light greenish reflections. Intense but light nose  first with citrus and balm notes and some nettle aroma. Later lilac mingled with Sauerkraut. On the palate it’s very acidic in a lime fashion mingled with Sauerkraut, juicy passion fruit and litchi, further on with hints of boiled celery and hints of gooseberry, all perfectly integrated into the tart acidity. It sounds like a strange mix but somehow it works. It’s a pleasant wine but get ready for the most tongue-squeezing experience!

Score: 5+/6

Price: HUF 2 500

Another blind tasting, another early recongition. Third in a series of Sauvignon Blanc international pairings, this tasting brought a surprising result. Or not.

Springfield Sauvignon Blanc 2006 (from New Zealand) has a clean, very intense Sauerkraut nose. Pretty much that’s all I can tell because this comes with such intensity that no other fingerprint of any aroma can be detected. I was suspecting a wine fault but the wine looks so nice (exactly like Rókusfalvy’s), so well balanced, nicely textured and crisp that I’m not sure. The palate is very similar, with millions of tiny little bubbles. There’s a hint of parsley but otherwise it’s the strangest bacterially fermented cabbage I’ve ever encountered in a wine.

Rókusfalvy Sauvignon Blanc 2007 has an appealing medium corn hue with greenish reflections. Fairly rich although not too intense bouquet with gooseberry and mineral notes.

Salty mineral palate supported by vibrant acidity. Some vegetable notes like nettle, celery and fennel aromas later turning into a more mineral nose, but the palate remains similarly complex too. Although aged in barrique, it  doesn’t feel like that.

Good wine, fairly priced.

Score: 6, 6+

Price: HUF 2 500