I could have shared with you all my notes from a visit at Ráspi restaurant in Fertőrákos but as I wrote in one of my previous posts, I considered them quite unreliable and decided not to publish them like that. Instead I tasted some of them again later at home, like these two wines a few days ago and I’ll share here with you my notes as I keep re-tasting them all.

Ráspi Leányka, 2007

Pale brassy golden color with greenish reflections.

Salty-Stony-mineral bouquet mingled with banana notes on the and with a tiny bit of a disturbing element (something like being corked not not quite). Interesting, in spite of this, not a common nose, but very Ráspi.

On the palate the first thing coming into my mind is how little it gives back from the fruity nose. The salty-minerality’s there and I appreciate it, as always. Besides minerality, the wine has a bitter acidity character with some residual sugar, but the structure is flimsy. The short finish leaves mostly an unpleasant impression, supported by Mediterranean spices and a fruity element.

It’s an interesting wine with a major fault.

Score: 3+

Price:

Ráspi Rosé Cuvée, 2007

Very bright, lively rosé color with onion shell reflections.

It has a lively move  too in the glass, releasing an interesting meat bouquet. On the palate it shows a bit robust body for a rosé, with dominant strawberry and raspberry notes and sweetness of residual sugar supported by enough acidity. But the wine could have a better structure. And there’s the compulsory salty minerality, especially in the long and pleasant finish.

Score: 4

Eurobor is marketing its Tűzkő Riesling (Rajnai Rizling) under the brand of Renana (which also means Riesling).

The nose is full of grassy, spicy, floral notes with a good deal of a bit disturbing wet hay. On the palate lot of residual sugar and with virtually no acidity it’s really over the top. The palate also carries elements of fermented white fruits and a vinious undertone. In a few hours the wine blowns to bits.

Score: 3+

Price: HUF 1212

The Mór wine festival accidentally falls onto the same days as the more prestigious Villány and Tokaj wine festivals. The less known event however attracted a crowd this saturday that completely filled the streets despite the chilly wind. Mór offered them a street music festival combined with a typical Hungarian country street event (i.e. tons of unhealthy food, vattacukor and usual market crap) with families of all ages from the surrounding cities and villages and, to my biggest surprise, foreign visitors. I’ve heard French and English words, besides the German spoken by a band marching the streets dressed like… whatever (I believe however that these musical events and football games provide you with a unique opportunity to see man of all ages feeling good in their long white socks showing off. Skirts are just an extra here). 

Anyway, I had to drink very quickly because my wife’s been fluttering like the kocsonya (missing from the menu, btw, and it’s a Hungarian food if you would be wondering, basically cold pork bone soup with pork leg in it) so I had no opportunity to discover the rule(s) which drive people to one winery’s quiosque and make them completely ignore others. 

The Information stand however had a middle-aged lady who not only distributed brochures but knew all of the winemakers I asked her about by nickname (I didn’t, so I had to double-check them). I still missed Pontica. 

Due to the strong wind and a rush, my tasting notes are very short and quite unreliable. 

Miklóscsabi – Utazótáska, 2007

This Királyleányka has pale bright color, round acidity and crab apple and pie character on the palate, completed with residual sugar leaving a fresh impression. 

Score: 3+, 4-

Bozóky – Leányka, 2007

Pale, almost transparent color with greenish reflexions. Less intense with less bitterness and acidity, but overall a pleasant wine. 

Score: 3+/4-

Bozóky – Cuvée, 2007

Pale yellow with greenish reflexions, just like the Királyleányka and other Bozóky wines to follow. Bozóky is considered a major winery in Mór but even their cellar is quite small. The old lady who took care of the visitors was very friendly and responsive considering that they attracted most of the visitors interested in a tour in a local cellar. I never quite understood though how can people enjoy a glass of wine in a crowded, smelly room. These notes were taken outside of the building. 

So the Cuvée has a similar pale tone as the others. It’s smoother with less acidity but with a more intense nose and flavors. 

Score: 4-

Bozóky – Ezerjó, 2006

Pale yellow color. More elegant than the others but still with a quite short finish. Better structure and better integrated even with a mineral undertone and an appealing cabbage-like finish. 

Score: 4

Miklóscsabi – Haramia Cuvée, 2007

This semi-dry Cuvée is made of Tramini, Leányka and Pinot Blanc. It’s full-bodied compared to the previous ones and this late harvest character is dominant until the finish. It has a distinctive pale-brassy color. The residual sugar is supported by nice, round acidity. It has better structure than the Bozóky wines. A velvet-vanilla undertone complete the overall nice sensation. 

Score: 5 points

Maurus – Leányka, 2007

Medium-pale golden color and floral notes on the nose. Well balanced with medium body, round acidity and long finish. 

I have to note here that the Maurus wines have very nice labels. And although only the Ezerjó is produced by Kamocsay (on a total of 0,7 hectares) the wines to follow somehow have a common stylish element. 

Score: 4 points

Maurus – Sauvignon Blanc, 2007

Remarkably nice onion-brassy color and nice, round acidity. 

Score: 4+/5

Maurus – Rajnai Rizling, 2007

Pale yellow with green-apple reflexions. On the palate oaky-vanilla notes maybe a little bit over the top. On the palate fruity elements and some residual sugar are supported by medium acidity. It’s a nice riesling with a long finish. 

Score: 5+/6-

Maurus – Ezerjó, 2007

Pale bright yellow. On the palate complex aromas of vanilla, oak and floral notes with gooseberry and acacia elements and round acidity. A little bit sweeter than it should be for a dry wine. 

Score: 6/6-

Maurus – Chardonnay

Elegant wine with some oaky vanilla and appealing bitter acidity and a tobacco-like undertone. 

Score: 6 points

Who’s to blame if the wine clearly doesn’t deliver the expected quality: the winery, the retailer or the wine critics? 

Olaszrizling is homeground for Légli Ottó so I wasn’t suspicious when I bought the bottle (20%, must be a bargain!) although I didn’t like the label (yes, it does count). I’ve always had a very positive attitude to Légli and I was really looking forward to a nice evening. 

The review

Lots of bubbles when uncorked and a pale golden tone in colour. It has a pleasant apple pie nose with cinnamon and some lemon accent. 

On the palate a rather unpleasant sour acidity. Bitter but somewhat refreshing too. The wine is medium-thin with hardly noticeable fruits and minerality. The unripe apple isn’t sufficient to provide body to it. The wine doesn’t improve after an hour. 

Major disappointment. 

Score: 3- points

Price: HUF 2 300 (EUR 8,5 – retail)

These are quick notes from sampling almost the whole sortiment of Dimenzió and some other equally lesser known wineries. Honestly, now I think I may have overrated some of them. 

Velezvin – Etyek-Budai Zengő, Zenit, Zefír Cuvée

Question of the day: in your opinion, how did the winemaker came up with the idea of marrying Zengő, Zenit and Zefír varietals?

I don’t know the answer either but I’m suspecting he or she did not have zweigelt in the vinyard. And for good(?).

No useful information can be found about Velezvin on google – but that’s OK because very little can be found about my blog too so it doesn’t mean it can’t be good.

Indeed, in spite of the sulphits, the nose brings pleasant elements such as acacia and other floral notes. On the palate lot of residual sugar and less than medium acidity. Medium body.

Score: 4-

Dimenzió – Igéző, 2007

A Furmint with 13% alc.

Pale golden color. The nose is very moderate and so is the body. Very short finish, almost no acidity but dry. Very thin.

Score: 3+/4-

Dimenzió – Révület, 2007

A Hárslevelű with 13% alc.

Now this one has a more intense nose of typical Hárslevelű notes. It has almost no acidity at all even for such a small body. I like the peach element on the palate though. The body’s just a tiny bit bigger than the Furmint’s.

Score: 4-

Benedek – Sauvignon Blanc, 2007

This could be a promising wine but it has no acidity at all to support the almost 14% alcohol, and I mean it. So let’s skip this one.

Dimenzió – Bűbáj, 2007

It’s a Kékfrankos rosé. I didn’t take notes but someone wrote into my notebook a short note for herself reminding her to buy one bottle of this.

Dimenzió – Csízió, 2007

Woody, wet grass, heavy nose, not fresh, with some hey undertone which is not bad. Unstable structure, small body.

On the palate spicy, mostly clove.

Score: 3+/4-

Dimenzió – Nimrud, 2007

This Kékfrankos has a messy brick color.

The nose is wet sand, clay. Quite thin and perfume-y.

Very tannic compared to it’s rather thin body. There’s some oil element too and a tart finish.

Score: 3/3-

Dimenzió – Virtus, 2007

The nose brings a Cabernet-ish leather character.

On the palate a leather, tart element is not mad more pleasant by the harsh tannins. Unpleasant tannic finish to the small body. Very dry.

Score: 3/3-

Dimenzió – Sámán, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007

Score: 3

I’ve been impressed by the outstanding and professional marketing achievements of Hilltop ever since I’ve seen their sexy Rosemount-like diamond label on the shelfs of supermarkets following their years of trade-marketing exercise in the UK. Hilltop is one of the best-run big wineries of Hungary with a remarkable output of over 7 million bottles a year (with an export of 6 million bottles to the UK alone!).

The Hilltop vinyards are simply fabulous. They overlook the Danube valley from heights of few hundreds of meters and their facilities are perfectly located and maintained.

The northern exposure of their slopes always concerned me and no wine has ever convinced me about the river’s heating/cooling mechanism which is supposed to enhance the wines’ quality by compensating for the lack on insolation. But writing an English blog about Hungarian wines I cann’t avoid Hilltop even if I wanted to (which I don’t). So I got this bottle as a present from a friend few days before the birth of their first child (to whom I wish all the best btw, although I doubt that my friend would ever suspect that I’m writing this blog, – no one does).

The review

Hilltop is a mid-range brand of Hilltop Neszmély winery.

The wine has a shiny, moderately light golden colour and a lazy, oily move. It smells honey and unripe apricot (yes, I do realise the apparent contradiction). On the palate it delivers the same savors. You could tell that this is a late harvest dry wine and it’s overly sweet, alhough it’s not. I hope you know what I mean. The sweetness is accompanied by a right amount of acid but it’s not sufficient to compenstate it, nor does the grapefruit flavour.

Score: 3, 3+

Price: HUF 1 400

The International Perspective category is supposed to consist of blind testing of pairs of wine of similar price range and style, one Hungarian and one from somewhere else. This time, however, I only had one, but at the end I could pair it with a Hungarian white wine.

The review

Medium-pale hay color. The tears hardly move on the glass, then they do it very slowly and in thin drops.

Smells riesling, not too intensely and pretty much that’s it, with a little bit of paraffin.

On the palate it’s robust acids are sliding on oil. Yep, no tannins scratch your tongue, instead the Riesling fills it with an oily texture that covers the acids a little bit but then the acids win. No fruits, no floral tones, no minerals, only acids. And a lot of them. They are fresh but nothing else really.

And the oil feels like a lip balm.

The wine is one-dimensional and it does not get any better with time (why would?). If I really want to, then I can say that it tastes grass and unripe crab apple.

Looks very much like Nyakas’ Sauvignon Blanc 2006 (except the oil), which received some better reviews than mine so I’ll have to taste it again to confirm my previous tasting score.

Score: 3+

Price: EUR 6-7

Despite a recent disappointment caused by Ebner’s Chardonnay from 2006, I decided to give them another chance and I bought a Portugieser at Bortársaság who put these on sale with 15% discount. With the recent volatility of euro against the forint, this seemed like a bargain at EUR 5,5 a bottle for a wine which received some nice reviews in 2007.

The wine has a quite transparent, but interestingly beautiful plum, bright purple color. It’s also quite lively which indicated its lack of body. Smell is dominated by wood and a hint of red currant and cranberry. Unfortunately this Portugieser is far too thin to my taste. In taste tannins dominate all and it’s not being compensated by body and fruityness at all.

After an hour I can smell a bit of tobacco and chocolate but not enough.

Score: 3+ points

Price: EUR 6,5

In one of the Guardian’s recent week-end editions I read about 10 things to appreciate in England’s absence from the Euro 2008 football cup and the fact that you can go to your cornershop anytime and you’ll find cold bier in Britan has reached a quite respective ranking on this list.

I am thankful that Hungary did not make it to the final either because Hungarians’ve been having a rubbish team since the mid-eighties. But it does not keep people from watching Euro 2008 games and drink beer. So why not change that beer for a wine for a change, I thought.

I wanted to have something widely available, cheap but drinkable – these must be the most important criteria for European Cup times, I thought. My intention was to give You a good hint for a not-so-frenetic Poland vs Croatia.

I ran into a sale of Chardonnay Barrique of Bezerics-Németh winery from the Balaton region on a hypermarket shelf (cheap and available). I cannot share too much information about the winery since their flash website does not run on firefox. But I remember having bought their Chardonnay and Cserszegi Fűszeres from Cserszegtomaj before and I always thought of them as good value for money in the low-end segment of Hungarian white wines. This Pogányvári Chardonnay Barrique for appr. EUR 4 must be a best-buy I thought (since barrique in Hungary frequently refers to a higher quality in the wineries’ will, hence more expensive too).

The review

The deep wheat color was accompanied by some strange smell after opening the bottle and by lots of bobbles (it’s not meant to be a sparkling wine however). You would expect relatively lot of sweetness from a wine from 2006 with 12,1% alcohol in it but this particular one did not deliver it. Instead, it fills your mouth with a not so fresh, heavy oaky taste and overly cooked corn meal supported by lot of acid and medium tannin. Grapefruit, quince and peer are also present with a soar finish, but nothing is in harmony with anything. Lot of wood and wet straw with stuffy smell and the stewed fruits cannot help it out. I cannot enjoy this wine, its errors are obvious but interestingly its potential as well. This wine could have been a very nice wine indeed but something went wrong during the élevage process. I’m sorry for Bezerics-Németh, they can do much better than this. But I wish I sticked to the beer instead. Or grabbed a bottle of Peljesac…

Score: 3- points

Price: EUR 4

I don’t even dare to translate the word “Bországgyűlés” for You, although the significant number of foreigners who visited the event despite the heavy rain which lasted almost the whole day would deserve a try. Anyway, it wasn’t a gathering of the nations’ parliamentary delegates of winemaking as the name would suggest, I was actually surprised by the small number of wineries present, but even more by their distribution within the festival area. Despite the intense grass and other natural smell coming from the surrounding park in the rain I tried to take tasting notes. My idea was that I would taste and review the winners of the VIIth Pannon Bormustra contest. Unfortunately very few of the winners actually exhibited at the Festival so I’ll indicate in the table below those who won the “Top Wine” awarded by a jury consisting of international experts like Dante Brancaleoni and winemakers like René Rostaing as well as Hungarian wine drinkers or so called experts. As always, please read the following report as a rough guide only, since I hardly ever spit during a wine tasting (unless the wine is really rubbish) and the local food selection has also provided a strong smelly background which certainly distorted the senses. So here’s a quick snapshot from the Festival, without any in-depth analysis.

Here’s a photo from the venue of one of Budapest’s most important wine festivals.