Behind this stupid name is a blend of Sárgamuskotály, Hárslevelű and Furmint, late harvested in 2007. Tokaj late harvest wines are not only often very good and smart alternative to 3 or 4 Puttonyos Aszú wines, but they reach the consumers quicker than the Aszó wines and I’ve been looking forward to the sweet wines of 2007. Another reason to open this bottle was that I often drink late harvest (mostly Tokaj) wines when preparing sushi at home. Don’t ask me why, it happend once a few years ago and I find them a very good aperitif before sushi and they go surprisingly well with the rice vinegar and the raw fish. I didn’t have my usual suspect in stock this time so I went for this recent purchase from Degenfeld.

Medium-deep yellow hue between lemon and golden, nothing special there. The nose is relatively intense and full of tea with a floral accent. Hárslevelű certainly left its footprint there. It has a mouthfilling palate of ripe papaya, very ripe apricot and peach, quite sweet, supported by well integrated acidity. Good length with returning tea dominance and quite a lot of nutmeat. Later tangerine and tobacco too. Stirring it more will release hints of lemon juice and blood-orange aromas.

Fortissimo 2008 is already on sale but this 2007 will still age well, but I suggest you to enjoy it now.

Score: 6, 6-

Price: HUF 2 600

I chose this wine the same day with the Konyári Kékfrankos-Merlot 2000 cuvée and after an Australian shiraz for dessert. 

Not being a Hárslevelő fan myself, I was surprised by how much I liked the bouquet of this wine. Coincidence of not, it has a clean lime-blossom-floral and tea character, fresh and relatively intense but elegant too, fruity and herbal notes mingled. Just like it’s clean, vibrant golden color it has a polished style on the palate too with a mouthfilling lime-blossom dominance. Good harmony with the nose, which later will be more fruity with mainly fresh plum and hints of quince and apple in the background.  

Lovely wine from a not so lovely year. 

Score: 6, 6+

Price: HUF 2 900

Sziget Fesztivál has become a must-go event on the yuppie calendar from students’ island 16 years ago. So has changed the line-up, the cultural offering and gastronomy of the festival too. I arrived late from work so I missed the Ting Tings gig and just in time to see the warming-up of the crowed for Bloc Party so I didn’t hesitate and went straight to the closest tent in front of the main stage and bought a very decent chicken tikka with a simple naan, before taking position near the sound control tower to see Bloc Party, where I immediately was almost peed on by German punks apparently fighting pre-mature incontinency. 

The real milestone in the shift of Sziget towards a more civilised event (and this is a double-edge sword) to me was the opening of Ászár-Neszmély’s prominent Hilltop winery’s booth a few years ago. Strategically located just 1 minute from the main stage so you can run to it during an act for refuelling, the booth’s relatively calm and shadowy atmoshpere made it an ideal spot for longer stays as well, especially for drinking and hipster-spotting - one of my favorite pass-times on Sziget. Hilltop’s price policy on the festival makes them very attractive to me, they’re by far the fairest gang on the island. 

Near the World Music main stage area I ran into a surprisingly empty stand of various wines also fairly priced and I went for Royal Tokaji Furmint 2007. Drinking from a plastic cup, I found it smoky and barrel-dominated on the nose but fairly fruity (however very Furmint-like) and rounded, interesting enough for a wine which cost you HUF 2 500 or so a bottle on a festival so I decided I’ll buy a bottle and write a proper review of it later.

This year’s big hit however is Pálinka - and Rézangyal dominated the scene. Their success lies mostly in their artificially flavored, wide offering, many of them mixed with honey which I simply don’t understand. Today, Pálinka is chic again among urban youngsters and middle-aged middle class people but I’m afraid that moving away from the current trend of flavored pálinkas will take just as much time as it took to get here.

We went on a lazy sunny Sunday afternoon walk with my wife and we eventually landed in Városliget. This time I wasn’t just wandering intuitively but I was focusing on wines I heard of from others or read about (albertgazda might sound familiar to some) instead.

I found Gedeon Rajnai Rizling 2008 a bit dull after the eye-opening tasting last week of German Rieslings but to tell the truth the cheapest was about twice or three times as expensive as this Gedeon Rajnai Rizling. This is a decent wine from a winery I heard about for the first time here, with a pale hue with greenish reflections. What really disappointed was the lack of acidity and body. With ripe continental fruits (a bit tutti-frutti-like) on the nose and a sweet sensation on the palate this was a bit disturbing indeed. Soft texture with a medium-short finish supported by a slightly bitter underpinning. Score: 4-/4 points

Gedeon - Órajnai Rizling 2006 - now this one has more style. With grapes harvested in early December, this is a bright golden yellow wine with clear marzipan nose (maybe not entirely as a consequence of new oak) . It’s gentle, also on the palate with the same marzipan character, not too firm but glycerin sweet with greenish-grassy accents. Score: 5 points (at least)

I  like Tornai wines very much ever since last year’s Somló Tavasz festival. Even the cheap entry-level wines are more than acceptable and of good value for the money. Their premium range took them to the next level, becoming one of my top 3 pics from Somló (if you look at the entire sortiment). Aranyhegyi Olaszrizling 2007 is a Pannnon Bormustra “csúcsbor”.    It has an appealing vibrant ripe corn color and a lovely, dense nose of sage in melted butter. This character continues into a similar palate of similar intensity and loveliness, with quite a lot of substance supported by very subtle acidity, flowing into a soft and seemingly endless finish. Score: 6+/7- points

Béres Lőcsei Furmint 2007 has a bit flinty nose. On the palate a slightly sparkling minerality sliding on butter mingled with tutti-frutti.  Actually what this palate most reminds me of is “robbanócukorka” (blasting candy) from my childhood which were sweet tiny rocks blowing when in contact with the saliva (its discovery was a major milestone in my life). This along with  a mineral character make this an interesting, although not exactly huge wine. Relatively thick. Score: 5 points

Kovács Nimród Winery Chardonnay Battonage 2006 was a great wine reasonably priced. Chardonnay Battonage 2007 seems a bit lighter already in the glass. Very gentle nose with melted butter mingled with papaya and banana. Medium-bodied, grip but silky-soft with very subtle acidity. Very long butter finish with a hint of minerality. Classy. Score: 6+/7- points

I was a bit surprised how similarly three wines of different grape from different wine regions were structured and had similar character (Sauska Chardonnay, KN Chardonnay and Tornai Olaszrizling). Critics will say that these wines show nothing at all of the terroir and where they come from. If you ask me, they show little of the grape either (except maybe Tornai’s).   But these three were by far the most outstanding wines I tasted (which didn’t include most wines on offer, of course).

Impressions about the festival: almost all the wines were served at close to proper temperature. I also noted that about 10% of visitors were foreigners which means hundreds of them (dear organisers, for gods sake, put some english/german speaking staff to the entrances at least). The location is very beautiful and although I wished some people stayed at home (including those on the stage) most people behaved in a civilised way and the nature suffered only minor damages as far as I could tell. And on my way out I bought organic nettle and walnut marmalade which are simply delicious.

Crowd, folkloric music and drank people singing are the main reasons why I don’t like wine festivals (and Bországgyűlés features them all). But I couldn’t say no to a friend’s invitation so I went and did the most obvious thing to distract my attention: took a note book and took notes as diligently as you can when you are standing and being pushed from all sides by unknown people. And guess what, soon I was starting to feel good.And then I suddenly had to leave the scene, but before that I had some nice first encounters.

(On the picture above: a bunch of morons singing pro-national border revision songs)

Font is a 28 hectares family winery in Soltvadkert and known as a reliable source of value wines. Kövidinka 2008 was well located to start with. It’s pale and light with some apple notes on the nose and a slightly unripe and a bit bitter tannic palate. Thick, fresh, and quite like what the wines from Duna borrégió tend to be. Score: 3+ points

Maul Chardonnay Barrique 2007 has a vibrant golden yellow medium-deep color and a dense nose of floral notes and lots of oaky vanilla. On the palate a bit too harsh tannin but the wine’s relatively well-balanced, medium-large bodied. The finish is too short with a tart element. Little fruity wine with hints of quince. A little bit one dimensional and barrel-woody but it’s a pleasant drink. Score: 4+ points

Bujdosó Altanus 2007 is a blend based on Chardonnay with 30% Sauvignon Blanc, Szürkebarát and Királyleányka. Chardonnay and Szürkebarát both have seen barrique. The average yield was 2-2.5 Kg/vine.  Lower-medium deep golden color with Savory notes on the nose mingled with other fresh green spring spices. Complex and exciting in the dimension of spicy vegetables and fruits. Sweet and warm. The palate is sweet but only because of glycerin (with less than 2 grams of residual sugar). Lower medium bodied. Score: 6- points

Bujdosó Szürkebarát 2007 is lighter, with much more closed nose. Medium-small bodied and a bit sparklingly bitter.This one didn’t impress me, remained very closed so I’ll have to try it again.

Degenfeld Furmint Barrique 2007 is relatively closed on the nose with hints of vanilla. Light, a bit perfumy with ultra-light acacia and honey elements. On the palate light punch and vanilla notes with a hint of minerality. Small-medium bodied. This Furmint has a Degenfeld-ish character very similar to their Muscat Lunel. Not a usual Furmint for sure. Score: 4 points

Lelovits’ Olaszrizling 2008 left its mark with some lavage-based vegetable soup notes but not much else.

Sauska Chardonnay Makár 2007 was the the revelation of the day to me. This is the debut of Sauska on Budapest Daily Review, I’d always been repelled by their price tags suggesting lot of ambition from a relatively new brand supported by aggressive marketing.

My senses were blown up by a very determinate, firm, dense but fresh nose of a very clean, soft vanilla pudding character rounded by tons of melted butter. But before that, the bright, vibrant, beautiful color of the wine was already very impressive too. The palate is in perfect harmony with the nose, it gives back the exact same character. Medium-large bodied, slightly lacking acidity but it’s a huge wine with a terrific mouthfilling sensation and a long finish I haven’t seen for a long time. Yes of course many terroir fans and patriots will complain loud about the overuse of oak and the new worldliness of the wine but it’s a perfectly executed task of a class that has just started to build in Hungary. I’d been waiting too long for this school to emerge in Hungary and I always knew that if once it happens, it would be in Villány. It’s pure liquid vanilla with some floral notes here and there, delivered in the finest silky texture supported by very gentle acidity, yet in a firm body. It’s an engineering masterpiece. Score: 6+/7- points

I took some nice pictures of Andrássy avenue on my way to Buda after the festival. They’re here, if you wanna have a look at  Budapest’ (and probably one of the worlds’)  most beautiful main avenue viewed by a drunk photographer.

I already wrote about how I think that dessert wines can be just as good standalone desserts as any other. As there’s a difference however between dessert and dessert, there are different kind of dessert wines too of course but not just in terms of price and quality, but they can be of entirely different character too. To prove my point here, I now share with you 2 very different Tokaj wines, both perfect desserts but in very different ways.

Degenfeld - Aszú 5 Puttonyos, 2000.

Deep brownish, vibrant brassy color. Burnt walnut aromas on the nose. The palate is rich in sun-dried fruits, tangerine, orange and Gioabada (a kind of Goiaba fruit marmalade from Brazil). They could be supported by more acidity. It’s very sweet. The lemon zest and orange zest elements mingled with lemon grass make it very pleasant though and so does a date fruit element too on the finish. Just an hour later the nose will be lighter but deeper with honey and floral notes.

Score: 5+

Hétszőlő - Főbor (Kövérszőlő), 2007

Almost watery color with greenish reflections. The elegance of the nose is enticing. It’s fairly closed with ripe apple and pear aromas and spring field floral notes. These characteristics carry through onto the palate, which shows  fine citrus, peach and papaya elements and a fresh, lively character. Very soft, very nicely textured and it has a good structure too: not too sweet and so it just enough acidity. This is a light, relatively small-bodied wine with not so much sugar like glue in the mouth as you often find in late harvest wines. The wine follows a nice curve on the palate, it’s very succulent with only a smack of bitterness. Surprisingly enough, the nose has a mineral note too and there’s a chalky-mineral element on the mid-palate as well. But all very gentle and elegant. Everything’s in harmony.

Score: 5+/6

Most experts are forcing food pairing when they talk about dessert wine. I never had this burden: I always enjoyed sweet wines best as a standalone dessert. And not only for tasting: I virtually always write the review of a certain wine after having drunk 200-300 mls of it at least (maybe somewhat less in case of sweet wines would do), without any food. This Chateau Megyer Furmint Late Harvest 2006 serves this purpose perfectly although I found it little bit difficult to evaluate it after sharing the 375 mls with my wife.

It’s deep brassy color and it’s slow move and the rim tells you that this will be a full-bodied, fat one (wine, you know).

Right after opening a stunningly clean stewed peer aroma hits the nose. This excellent start will be shortly further improved by more canned material: quince-marmalade. The same peer and quince aromas will fill-in the palate with a honey undertone. This rustic fruity character and the high sugar level is supported by a medium acidic backbone. Not too complex, not elegant, but all in all a pleasant wine.

Later, when its color deepens a lot, the palate will show more of a very ripe plum fruit character with some other sun dried Mediterranean fruits notes.

An btw, it doesn’t really go too well with Duck liver mousse. But the current HUF/EUR exchange rate qualifies it a best buy for foreigners.

Score: 4/4+

Price: HUF 1 400

After reading some excellent reviews about Léder Zoltán Köpcös Furmint, 2005 of Tokaj I decided to go for it given that it’s on sale now at around HUF 1 300 which is a bargain of course.

Or not.

The review

Deep brownish color with brassy reflections. Oily move.

The nose shows signs of age but all in all it’s a pleasant sniff with caramel at first, then Furmint grape aromas. It will have a lime-blossoms undertone later.

The rest is not appealing at all: this full-bodied wine lost it’s character long time ago now fallen into pieces. It seems very old, much older than it is actually with no acidity left but residual sugar which makes it quite unbalanced too.

This wine shouldn’t have been put on sale. I know I sound bitter but I really wonder when retailers will stop selling wines after they’d become rubbish.

Score: 3/3+

Price: HUF 1 700 (I paid some 20% less on a sale)

What a modest title. I came up with it in only 1 minute of thinking. In my defense: it’s search-engine friendly and it’s true, from my perspective. Anyway, here’s the almost complete list of tasted wines and their score from 2008.

One remark, except the festival notes, all reviews were written based on at least 1/2 bottle of wine tasted by me alone over several hours, at least once over this period. Even wines presented in quick notes. Any occasional exception was mentioned in the given post, but they were maximum 2 or 3, if any.

Tasting Scores 2008

Wine Festival

Tasting Scores

2001 wasn’t easy for Tokaj. Hárslevelű is the lesser known, or to be more precise the less popular variety used for Aszú making as we know. But it certain years we are thankful for Hárslevelű and 2001 might be one of these years. 

The review

Deep brassy color.

The nose is very aromatic, full of walnut, smoke, rose and other floral notes.

The palate is mostly the mandatory raisin with lots of residual sugar as you would expect supported by moderate acidity. The wine later becomes more round though.

Intense ripe quince, rich sun-dried apricot, burned sugar with citrus elements and roasted peanuts make it very high in extracts. The mineral element which is so unknown in dry Hétszőlő wines is quite nice here. 

48 hours later it’s still round with dominantly Cognac and must elements.

Score: 8-

Price: HUF 8 000/ EUR 33

But please note that its price is more unpredictable and subject to availability.