Nice color, good look. On the nose wet forest soil, mainly, dense and heavy for a Kékfrankos. Further on whirling, robust, unripe and bitter tannins dry out the mouth. Underneath the tannic blast lie layers of surprisingly fine susbstance but hardly any of it comes through. It will open a little releasing ripe forest fruit aromas, too little, too late.

Score: 3 points

Price: HUF 3000

There was a time when I thought that Szent Gaál was about to become the next big thing but it never happened. Is it because they’re present in hypermarkets all over the place (so no way wine snobs will ever write anything good about them), or they didn’t improve much while others made a good progress I’m not sure, but maybe because of both.

Dark ruby just the way it should be. Lovely sour cherry marmalade nose mingled with ripe mulberry and a hint of dark chocolate. Very edgy tannins on the palate, quite hard and a tiny bit tart too. Very nice, long finish with dark chocolate.

One thing is certain: Szent Gaál may not have produced their great wine yet (it’s certainly not this one) but they never produced shamelessly bad wine either, unlike some big names form this region or further to the south-west.

Score: 4+ (now I would give it 5-)

Price: HUF 3 700

It’s winter seasonal wine sale time, it’s time to try things you otherwise wouldn’t buy.

Vida Péter’s remarkable achievement of moving out of my radar so quickly ever since our first encounter wasn’t a mistake. Here’s the testimonial.

Pale ruby with a pinkish rim, needless to say.

Intense boredom on the nose with notes of cheapness and a chemical industrial accent. The rest is sour cherry, liquide medicine, iodine, the latter’s carried on through to the palate brutally overshadowed by hard, althogh not too bad tannins which are present in way too much quantity for such a small body. Very empty palate.

It’s been almost 10 years, but some things just do not change.

Score: 3, 3+

Price: HUF 2 300

I was contacted recently by someone not entirely unfamiliar with Hungarian wines asking about the Hungarian Syrahs and I had to admit that I found most efforts in this direction pretty forgottable, at least until I stopped sampling Hungarian Syrahs a few years ago. The only exceptions were the Syrahs of Gróf Buttler, which, vintage from vintage, convinced me about some potential.

This Syrah 2007 of Heimann family winery is less expensive. This is our first encounter.

Purplish hue with a pink rim.

Dark character on the nose, with veal steak, well done, mingled with caramel.

What first hit me concerning it’s very well composed palate was the great texture. Powdery, soft and ripe tannins which further smoothen into a long, straight finish accompanied by a berry fruit syrup element and a tobacco accent. Not very expressive wine fruit-wise. But from the mid palate fine dark chocolate flows into the eternity. And underneath it lies a great structure with firm, perfectly integrated acidity. Very solid chracter, structured style with probably the best tannin I’ve had this year.

Score: 6+/7-

Price: HUF 3 000

Years and years ago, I used to like and drink regularly Vesztergombi wines but somehow I stopped buying the wines of this family winery from Szekszárd. Since then they increased their area to 20ha and half of it was planted with vines which are today not older than 3-4 years old. This selection from Kerékhegy spent more than 18 months in small oak barrels.

Medium dark ruby with purplish reflections. Very dense nose, charming, full of very ripe berry fruit aromas. Very warm, very fruity bouquet with hints of anise! The palate is different, rather spicy, with all kinds of spices but mostly white papper. A bit disappointing on the palate after the stunning nose. The tannins are first not well integrated and later still very hard, and the wine could be a bit less acidic too. 2 hours later the style will remain firm but the tannins smoothen a bit and spicyness increases further.

Score: 6, 6+

Price:

The unofficial release date of the wines of the latest vintage is Szt. Márton’s day (sorry but I get too bord thinking about googling out who the hell is Szt. Márton and what this day means), to me it used to mean trying not to get close to any wine shop for a few days. The thing is that these young wines have such a boring, aggresive markerting and I tend to avoid (very successfully I must say) ”must do-s” (like having the best time of my life at new year) and mass wine drinking anyway, so I’m the nightmare of Hungarian winemakers this time of the year. Comparing these wines to Beaujolais (nouveau) is another big mistake.  Moreover, by now you should have a decent stock of some red wines from 2006 so why would you rush to buy something that was a blurred, hardly drinkable non-alcoholic fluid couple of weeks ago? There’s no reason, unless you’re obsessed with pointing out exceptions. I found one which turned out not to be the rule, but the exception, quite unwillingly, circulating in one wine store searching for a wine at discounted price which somehow may have so far escaped my radar. Idei 2009 by Heimann is not a sale item but it is priced like one. So I said why not, I already fell for Szt. Márton’s mandatory goose meal (the leg!) the same day (I feel like I’m becoming a cliché).

The label says it’s a blend or Portugieser and Zweigelt. But the nose tells it otherwise, which is confirmed by the palate (what was already suggested by the color): this is a Zweigelt-based cuvéee whatever anyone says. Nice appearance, dark red/claret hue and a fresh, very jammy nose full of red currant aroma. Very fresh and young on the palate (who would have guessed…) with surprisingly many substance. Very tasty syrup of red currant and cranberry mostly. Vibrant, a bit harsh but not too much acidity. I’m not suggesting it will age well but it was still standing firm the next day. A very pleasant surprise overall and it does go well with a fat goose leg. This must be beginners’ luck, so I won’t push it.

Score: 4 points

Price: HUF 1  530

I just read an article about Vincze Béla quitting Pannon Bormíves Céh (an association best known for Pannon Bormustra, a yearly contest of wines). Apparently the same people who elected him the “best of” now made him resign from the elite. Is there anyone who takes these guys seriously? Do you?

This of course would be just another boring (and slightly unsellting, considering the point) press release of a group of winemakers representing probably 0,01% of Hungarian wine production which alone wouldn’t make me grab the keyboard. What upsets me really is this fingerpointing again, which I already complained about on these pages, and which occurs every f….n’ time you meet a Hungarian winemaker: innuendos about oversas techniques, complaining about the mass wines of the new world (even questioning whether these wines are actually made of wine grape), the winemakers being the devil itself. Like 99,99% of wines made in Hungary weren’t nearly unsuitable for human consumption. There are shops in Hungary where you can buy off-the-shelf all ingredients you need to make a decent looking Furmint or Olaszrizling without ever getting close to a cellar or a vine.

Will anyone every punch these guys in the face? Not to bleed their nose (I’m an orthodox pacifist, you see), just symbolically a little to wake them up. I mean, let’s take Heimann and Gere, two prominents of the Céh: are these guys really comparing their products with the cheapest imported wines, which cost half the price of their cheapest offering even after transportation cost from across the ocean, having went through all the chain of the importer, wholesaler, distributor and the retailer? Or are they suggesting that all Australian and Chilean wines are made in a process more similar to oil refinery? Are these guys ever going to learn to distinguish? Are these guys ever going to stop talking bullshit, fingerpointing and accusing others for their (non-existing) problems? If they’re unable to make profit then perhaps they should quit and go back to where they belong or they’re qualified for (forest engineering, in case of Gere, if I’m not mistaken) but I seriously doubt they have any problems, looking at the investments these guys have been making in the past 15 years, investing and reinvesting millions and millions of euros into buying new land, purchasing the newest technologies etc. I’m not taking about Györgykovács of course, but most of these guys made a fortune by making wine (let’s not talk about the ones here who lost a fortune by trying). Ofthen very questionable ones.

These guys should finally decide who they consider competitors, chose their peer group carefully where they feel like home ground and try to do their best and let the consumer decide. And stop blaming others for their non-existing misery.

This whole country is sick, I’m telling you. This story is, of course, just a snowflake on the tip of the iceberg.

Next in the row in the hunting for good red wines under HUF2000 series this Kékfrankos was recommended by a merchant who’s very proud of his discoveries of unknown or smaller wineries (as a matter of fact Levendula Pince’s Cabernet Sauvignon is a best seller in his store ever since I introduced it to him but I wasn’t so lucky with his recommendations so far). I was a bit disappointed by a bottle of Losonci Kékfrankos the guy once recommended to me and other minor disappointments followed.

This Halmosi Kékfrankos has a good-looking bottle (I keep forgetting taking pictures lately). The nose suggests very ripe material, aged in large used barrel ( but that’s my guess only).The reality’s different. Clear nectarine aroma on the palate but the wine is too acidic which doesn’t suite this rather thin wine. Relatively long tannic-bitter finish.

Score: 3+/4-

Price: HUF 2 100

This is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Zweigelt from Ferenczi Pálma of Szekszárd. None of the grapes is exaggerated in this cuvée and neither is the oak, in spite of the 14 months this wine has seen in barrique.

It opens with a bouquet which is rather Szekszárd than anything else with a not so pleasant stuffy accent but this will clear out in 30 minutes.

The nose is then red pepper, a hint of sour cherry, not too heavy. Medium-bodied wine filled with enough substance needed to get the support from his hard, firm, yet very pleasant tannic backbone. Structure is the most prominent component of this wine but it has a well-composed, slightly sweet, bit fruity palate too. I liked it a lot.

Drink it now, but it would also age well for another 1-2 years.

Score: 5+/6

Price: HUF 2 800

A few years ago, don’t remember exactly when, I’d been browsing the internet for Hungarian country accommodation in a castle or as they’re called in Hungarian, “Kúria” which is a small castle in the country usually dating back to the 19th century or before. There aren’t too many I must say and my search was narrowed to exclude otherwise very trendy wellness hotels which I never felt attracted to. I found a recently refurbished nice, one storey Kastély near Szekszárd, which turned out to be in the middle of nowhere on the smaller hills west from Szekszárd. Based on their website and the pictures of the rooms, I expected a snobbish, overly touristic Kastély with posh guests and arrogant service staff. I couldn’t be more wrong: the house was ran by a friendly late middle aged couple, the service was very polite and friendly and apart from a group of retired people we were the only guests of the Kastélyszálló. The rooms are decorated in 18th and 19th century baroque style with nice replica furniture. The atmosphere is quite antique and the only problem was the thin doors and noisy corridors, hence lack of privacy. In the sunny October the Szekszárd hills were covered in all kinds of color and the whole area was extremely quiet. The staff was very nice, polite and helping but not pushy at all. They just hired a new winemaker who appeared in the middle of our wine tasting in the cellar around 11 pm but he was too busy working with the fresh material to join us for a conversation. It was quite convincing seeing him doing all the labor intensive work himself in the middle of the night. They just came up with a new sortiment, including the price prestige series which I liked very much, although I found them too pricey at that time.

So you might wonder why there isn’t any post entry on this blog about Szent Gaál wines. The only explanation I can think of seems quite stupid, that is because I didn’t want to destroy the very good memories with a corked wine or a faultless, but weaker wine I may have encountered. I was still a little bit concerned about it but I couldn’t resist the 50% off from the Cabernet Sauvignon Válogatás (Selection) 2006 (which itself further increased my concern). But 2006 couldn’t be wrong for Cabernet Sauvingon, I thought, it was a long, hot season so the CS grapes must have been mature enough to produce a great wine just like the ones I remembered.

The review

This Cabernet Sauvignon is deep purple with an almost black core. Very dense on the nose. The wine swirls beautifully in my  Bordeaux sized glass, releasing high concentration of berry fruit aromas, blackberry, sour cherry, chocolate and mostly dried plum elements with a hint of clove. And a little bit too much alcohol I must say.

The palate also has a dense, fruity character with an oaky accent. Full-bodied and well-balanced, although a bit alcoholic to some people. Very appealing texture with polished, powdery tannins which, unfortunately, will be too oily after 60-90 minutes. There’s a hint of nice, sour cherry core-like bitterness in the not so long finish. This wine’s in a good shape right now but it won’t age very well for too long.

Score: 6-

Price: HUF 3 400

This wine is fairly priced, just a bit above what I would feel really fair. But if we can believe what Szent Gaál are saying on their website, further price reduction can be underway.