There has been (and certainly will be) endless discussions about what should be the Hungarian wine like, instead of examining first the perception of the consumer (not the domestic market). After decades of debate this job remains undone and the place for the Hungarian wine in the world of wines is yet to be found. Some suggested diversity for key selling point of the Hungarian wine, which is, of course, almost as brainy as if Starbacks started working on his image as an authentic local coffee shop.

Do I know the answer? No. But I’d be very happy if the widely neglected Turán played a somewhat major role in shaping the Hungarian wine’s future. For skeptics, I’d like to refer to Szecskő’s, and Luka Enikő Turán 2009 is not much behind either.

Luka Enikő – Turán, 2009

Deep ruby with a dark core, but not as dark as one might expect from a grape that is widely used for giving other wines a darker tone. The bouquet is dense but not too intense, with elderberry(!) and a hint of mulberry marmalade.

On the palate dense but well-balanced with well integrated subtle acidity. Although very young, this Turán has ripe, soft and tasty tannins. Full-bodied wine with a tasty gentle sour tannic finish.

Good wine with an aging potential of at least a 3-5 years.

Unfortunately like good wines of countries with limited gastronomic and wine culture as ours, this comes at a price, reinforcing Luka as one of the most overrated winemakers.

You hopefully just read the debut of Pfneiszl on this blog so I don’t need to tell once again how I feel about organic wines (my opinion didn’t change that much since last week).

This Merlot is medium ruby with purplish reflections. Fairly fruity and fresh nose with blackcurrant, sour cherry and some spices (I think cinnamon mainly). Similarly, the palate is fruity and fresh with acidity that only doesn’t cross the line if I think of almost any other red wine from Sopron in this segment. Very short finish. It’s an overall very similar wine to the Kékfrankos, a decent organic effort from a region which often disappoints but nothing to be too excited about.

Score: 4 points

Price:

I love good food, I have a passion for fruit and vegetable markets everywhere from France to Italy, now I even have my own tiny little spice production which will hopefully turn organic next year. Still I find buying organic products in Hungary an unpleasant experience. Why? The organic food and beverage movement has a very different lifecycle and in fact meaning in Hungary than elsewhere. The organic scene is more like a sect and products always (and I mean always) come in a bundle with some esoterism. Hungarian regular markets are already very different from their Western-European peers. But organic producers make it one step further: they make me feel uncomfortable. Wines are a bit of an exception, the methods used are not over-emphasized and they’re not (exclusively) sold in specialized markets.

Moreover, “fortunately” in winemaking the current buzzword in Hungary is artisan winemaking (and has been for some years now), making organic wine making sound just a foolish exotic hobby of marginal importance. Even worse, bio-dynamic sounds like a tropical disease or a disinfectant to the average consumer.

The Pfneiszl Kékfrankos 2009 is clean mid-pale purplish with a strange bouquet of petroleum. On the palate it’s very fresh like a Beaujolais with pleasant soft acidity and restrained tannins. Fresh, yet ripe fruity character with notes of sour cherry and wild berry fruits with a chocolate accent later. Well balanced wine and this is very important to me in this segment.

Score: 4 points

Price:

I lost a minor fortune on faulty Ráspi wines already. If you’d buy Ráspi wine despite my cautions you have to take serious risk management measures, like I do. For those new to the world of faulty wines: Ráspi wines are often more like tricky, obscure structured financial products (sometimes very high yield attractive assets but sometimes toxic rubbish in your wine portfolio). In fact, I believe there should be  regulated market for a derivative product like CDS (credit default swap) to hedge your disposure to corked Ráspi wines, supervised by both PSZÁF (and possibly FSA) AND the a committee consisting of the big4 audit firms, chaired by Attila Gere or some other member of the community Ráspi hates so much.

Now you may think that I’m against Ráspi as a whole. Well I’m not. I’m a fan of the maniac actually but I refuse to buy his wines (well, no longer apparently). He’s hard working, runs a good restaurant in Fertőrákos (and a not so good one in Budapest) where he’s chef of cuisine with a philosophy I happen to like very much.

I bought Kopár Cuvée 2007 (two bottels actually) because i) unlike in the past, this time I bought them in Budapest so I can return them to the merchant if I want to and ii) a pair was on sale at discount at this particular merchant. An anticipated surprise: I didn’t regret it (although, one bottle is still intact).

This wine expresses elements of a well defined Ráspi style. Like all Ráspi wines I’ve ever seen this cuvée (whose grape composition is a mistery) is blurred brownish, of a medium deep tone. Stuffy bouquet, instead of clean aromas. Earthy notes, soil mingled with apricot, almond and pomegranate, later it’s sweet with a chocolate accent.

On the palate it’s rich with a salty minerally character supported by sour tannins and rustic acidity. I like the beet flavour and the juicy pomegranate sweetness mingled with salt and minerals, not so much the underpinning. Soon the wine evolves peppery aromas and I suspect it doesn’t stop there but before I know it we finish off the bottle.

This wine doesn’t score 6- points because any sip from it would be so good (because it’s not). But because it’s misterious, predictably unpredictable so in every sip of it you’ll discover something new.

Score: 5+/6-

Price: HUF 2000 (HUF 1800 with a discount)

Kékfrankos is probably the second most abused widely used varietal in Hungarian post-war winemaking (Zweigelt tops the list). Oddly enough, in Sopron nobody seems to care as it’s still the flagship grape in the area but I must admit I’m still waiting for the Kékfrankos that will prove they’re right. Most experts put Luka among those who are to (or have already) proved my skepticism unfounded.

The review

Pale ruby. Warm, spicy nose with notes of cranberry. Thin body but with some extract sweetness supported by a light salty mineral element and a fine string of tannin. Well rounded wine, with a bit loose structure but well balanced. Mineral texture. It’s an overall pleasant wine but evidently overpriced.

Score: 5 points

HUF 4 150