Budapest Daily Review

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

Ikon is a joint venture of some members of the Hungarian wine community including János winemakeroftheyear2008 Konyári, now with an area of 39 hectares in the southern Balaton region.

The review

Bright golder yellow hue. The nose is primarily Chardonnay, light, lovely, warm, with hints of vanilla (not oaky) and herbs.

A surprsingly mouthfilling wine but in a very oily way with a rather sweet appeal. Soft, silky texture. Light aromas of ripe apple and wild pear and hints of melon without remarkable depth. Very subtle acidity for a relatively fat wine. But that glycerin will feel more integrated after only a few minutes already.

This wine’s very much unlinke the 2007 as described on the winery’s website. But it’s very enjoyable.

Score: 4+/5- points

Price: HUF 1 100

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

So as promised I’m publishing the rest of my notes from Vinagora Borgála now, I couldn’t do it earlier. These are just impressions rather than proper tasting notes anyway, but here they are: as I said, the white wines in general were a bit disappointing this year, but not all of them.

Nyakas Pinot Griggio 2008, for example, was surprisingly good with a fresh, sweet apple, ripe lemon and grapefruit aromas on the nose and on the palate. Scored at around 5-/5 points. Well balanced, medium acidic wine. I was looking forward to Szeremley Kéknyelű 2005 after our recent vertical tasting of previous vintages but it couldn’t improve the average rating. Although it has an interesting, even exciting Kéknyelű character on the nose (not very intense though) with greenish notes, it has a too acidic and too empty palate, firm, with a citrus element but it’s still one of the most overrated white wines of Hungary, it’s unique selling point is the rarity (perhaps for a reason?). Szőke Mátyás Mátrai Szürkebarát 2007 is more attractive with papaya and green walnut bouquet and more subtle acidity on the palate, scoring 5- points now. I expected more from Laposa’s Bazaltbor’s Badacsonyi Riesling 2002 but it was only good. With a citrus, passion-fruit and breadcrumb nose - I expected more minerality. On the palate oaky-vanilla mingle with hints of minerality. 5-, 5 points here. I was positively surprised by Szatmári Szigligeti Zeusz Válogatás 2006, starting with a medium-dark corn hue with nice greenish reflections. Comes with a heavy character of tea and wet hay aromas on the nose, later matte, lavage and a hint of minerality too. The palate is tea mingled with lot of salty-minerality, full and fairly weighty. Burnt almond, praline and caramel, burnt walnut notes with a salty touch. Scores 5+ points. Karádi-Berger Tokaji Furmint 2007 has the most suspicious industrial apple-juice nose ever (from a very specific company in the south of Balaton), with some litchi and a sour-sweet accent. The palate is the same apple-juice. Interesting.

Last weekend was a typical late October Saturday weather so we decided to go for the red wines after a short warm-up with what was supposed to be the best Királyleányka out there (according to our wine merchant friend, but perhaps the meaning has lost in translation).

Bolyki’s Királyleányka 2008 is a very pale of its kind, almost watery. Very closed on the nose with hints of apple aroma. Brutal acidity on the palate, very fresh, harsh with unripe gooseberry and grapefruit notes. Thick wine with young acidity, bringing back not too far memories of Levendula wines.

Score: 3+/4-

Price: HUF 1 100

Ebner Cabernet Franc 2007 has deep purplish color and a nice move. Very closed on the nose only opening a little bit after an hour with chocolate aroma. On the palate dense but a bit one dimensional, rather small-medium bodied. This dischotomy also aplies to the tannin which is powdery and hard in the smae time. The palate has a plum character. Pleasant to drink, but a bit too pricy.

Score: 4+/5-

Price: HUF 3 000

I’ve been very much looking forward to the Pók Tamás/Kovács Nimród Winery - Nimród 3 (I I I) 2003. I liked the Nimród 2 for its soft heaviness. Nimród 3, named modestly after the cash-man behind the Monarchia brand has a deep ruby color. Quite closed nose, at least more closed than I expected, with aged ham and red meat elements and later fine dark chocolate. The same flesh character on the palate supported by very rounded, subtle acidity and velvety, soft and slightly oily tannins. The wine wouldn’t open even after two hours. Dense, but not intensive, with hints of cherry aromas. The wine has an overall soft character. It’s a pleasant wine but ridiculously overpriced. (Only 1500 bottles made).

Score: 6,6+

Price: HUF 15 000 (if you can find one)

Bországgyűlés’s been over for a week but I still have some notes left that I would like to share here. The shift towards white wines which started when I decided to drink more Hugnarian wines  a bit more than a year ago has left its mark on the ratio of reds and whites but I didn’t entirely give up.

Sauska Cuvée 13 from 2008 is a beautifully colored medium-dark ruby wine with purplish reflections made of 70% Syrah and 15%-15% Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Jammertal area. Light, young, warm and slightly sweet nose with anise and clove aromas. Nicely textured on the palate with powdery (later oily) tannins and polished acidity. 14% alcohol is a bit over the top for this upper-medium bodied, but dense wine. Score: 5+/6-

Bujdosó Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 is an average medium-bodied wine without major faults or character. Fresh tannins and nice acidity. Score: around 4+

You may remember that I was quite satisfied with Bujdosó’s Altanus white cuvée. Now Bujdosó Altanus 2007 has seen 10-12 months in oak barrels of 225l. It has a warm nose with a celery-vegetable character and black pepper notes. Quite average on the palate. Score: 4+/5-

Szeleshát Merlot 2007(?)was aged 80% in second use and 20% first use barrique. The 15% alcohol might be too much for some in this medium-bodied wine with the slightly unripe tannins. The palate has a black pepper character. Interesting enough.

Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite grapes and I believe that Hungary would be able to produce good Sauvignon Blancs but so far little effort has been made to fill in a gap on the market left by a virtually non-existing supply of foreign wines, including SB. Where is Hungarian Sauvignon Blanc standing compared to its European and new world competitors? Do we stand a chance as long as quality is concerned, especially when price is taken into account? Is New Zealand really better than France? Should Hungary destroy all its SB plantations once and for all? Are we ever going to export Sauvignon Blanc?

We’ll not necessarily give an answer to these questions, perhaps we’ll be only scratching the surface but at least we’ll try: Peter from borwerk.de and I decided to try to taste as many Hungarian SBs as we can put our hands on and taste each of them in pair with a foreign Sauvignon Blanc. Here’s the first sprint’s result.

Domaine Des Corbillieres is a family winery from the Loire (Sologne wine region) near Blois, Tours and Chambord (boy, do I love the Loire castles!) with a long history and consisting today of 23 hectares of which 13 are Touraine Blanc Sauvignon. 2008 was excellent year in Touraine, on the South-bank of Loire. The Touraine 2005 was a Wine Advocate 90 points wine.

2007 was a year in Balaton described by many winemakers as “rather difficult” but the Figulas didn’t complain. So let’s see.

The tasting was blind but not for long. After the first sniff when our noses got near the glass there were no secrets any more.

The Touraine has pale lemon color with greenish reflections. Very intense nose, soft and gentle with lot of litchi, papaya and maracujá (passion fruit) aromas. On the palate very fresh and firm with lot of grip, metallic (and grapefruit flavored) acidity and perfectly integrated structure. Crisp, buoyant, young but elegant acidity with a salty accent, flowing into a virtually endless finish. Very zippy wine. Goodness, what a wine this is for the price of a small pizza.  Score: 6+/7-

In my eyes it’s a real bargain not just for everyday drinking.

The sauvignon Blanc from Balatonfüred (Balatonszőlős, actually) has a slightly deeper hue and a it’s closed on the nose with green apple, salt cured and spiced Iberian ham (or pancetta?) and veggie soup notes, definitely more closed than the Touraine. Shows also little on the palate with some greenish freshness and veggie notes with a softer texture. Medium acidity but structurally much inferior to Touraine. Score: 4

The wines, believe it or not, are both priced at around HUF 1800 even with the recently week forint and shipment cost included (well, the Touraine was brought from Germany free of shipment cost, but still). I always feared that I’d been a little bit biased in favor of Figula which may have been the case but this blind tasting reveals I’m afraid what the real value of this wine is.

Touraine Corbillieres facts sheet andquotes from their website:

GRAPE VARIETY
-Sauvignon blanc

AGE OF VINE
-13 to 43 Years

TYPE OF SOIL
- Sand on a clay bed of the Sologne region.

VINE GROWING

-No chemical fertilizer, only organic matter, controlled production by a very strict debudding. Leaves thinned out.

PRODUCTION METHOD

-Steeping for 1 month with natural ferments, at a temperature of 16 - 18º, then left to lie until spring.

WINE TASTING

-Delicate and with a floral aroma, this wine is rich and fruity, well balanced and give a lasting freshness to the palate.

SERVING METHOD

Goes well with Asparagus, fish and all shellfish
Serving temperature 10º.

Levendula Pince started as a winery in 2006 then called Vági Pince. In 2009 the estate consists of 2 hectares but they also have 1 hectare of “borrowed” land under cultivation which was “thrown at them” as the owner puts it. Lovas is a small village above Balatonfüred and this part of the outskirts of the village are particularly inaccessible by motorized 4-wheel vehicles. Once there, the view from the entrance of the cellar is stunning. Below us spreading are steep slopes  planted with 5 different grapes in well-maintained rows running downhill on the rusty rocky soil so typical around Balaton. The top of the cellar and a rather big surrounding area is covered in Lavendel - hence the name of the winery. The place is beautiful and the owners and winemaker are very friendly people. We’re immediately offered bread with pork fat and fresh onion rings between apologies for not having prepared anything in the traditional oven of the estate (Kemence) but of course we didn’t book such things since we ended up here after having just fled from Söptei Pince, a quite disappointing place if you ask me. With only 15 minutes left before closing the winery we are immediately taken into the back-end of the recently built cellar and shown the 225l+ oak barrels and stainless steel tanks and 1 minute later our glass is full with Juhfark 2007. About two hours later we emerged from the cellar content and happy.

Levendula Pince - grape press

The reviews

Note: the first three are barrel samples.

Juhfark 2007 is a barrel sample and as such, quite raw material. Pale hey hue. It has the most unusual dill aroma nose with Chardonnay grape notes and a hint of elderberry. On the palate dill mingle with gooseberry and other small green berry fruit elements with a green apple accent supported by abundant fresh, lively, slightly harsh acidity. Thin-bodied, light, quite acidic.

I am told by the winemaker that yields are high, they don’t really care about reducing it. The grapes were harvested in the beginning of October.

Score: 3+ points

Price: HUF 1 000 (but also available in 1,5 litre bottles at about HUF 1 500)

Chardonnay 2007 is very pale with celery and other greenish aromas on the nose, a little bit less intensely than Juhfark’s. Thick and similarly structured as Juhfark with a little bit less acidity, but still quite firm and grip.

Score: 3+

Price: HUF 1 000

Olaszrizling 2007 is another very pale wine very similar to the previous two in every aspect, with the difference of acacia and unripe walnut aromas on the palate and a gooseberry-Traubi accent.

Score: 3+ points

Price: HUF 1 000

All three wines above are very acidic, overly, if you ask me and I only recommend them for acid fanatics.

This is just illustration, the review's about the 2007 vintage

Olaszrizling Késői Szüret 2007 is a late harvest but dry wine and clearly the premium white wine of Levendula Pince. A slightly darker but still quite pale hue in appearance. A nice, warm and even sweet nose with floral notes. It reminds me of Hétszőlő’s late harvested Kövérszőlő in this aspect. Light but full of floral notes. On the palate more polished with gentle acidity and sligly greenish tannin. Wood leaf, parsley and green vegetable notes. It only has 6g/L residual sugar but 15,2% alcohol. And it’s OK.

Score: 5+

Price: HUF 1 500 (and best buy)

Cabernet Sauvingnon 2006 is medium dark ruby with an almost brownish rim.

On the palate dark chocolate supported by lively tannins and fresh acidity. Dense, concentrated and upper-medium bodied. This is a very decent effort from a region which is not famous for its red wines and from a winery not famous from low yields.

Score:5+

Price: HUF 1 500 (and it’s a best buy too, of course)

My perception has always been that Vincze Béla is one of the most overrated wine makers of Hungary (which is quite remarkable because the competition for the being the most overrated is huge in Hungary). The obscure outcome of the winemaker of the year elections didn’t change that when Vincze won in 2005 surprising many, much less skeptical persons than I am towards him. Anyway, paying half price is probably the best opportunity to give someone another chance, so this Cabernet Franc 2006 is from the stock I purchased on occasion of Wine Wednesday.

The review

Medium deep ruby with a rusty-brownish rim. With only some hints of tobacco leafs on the nose this wine is so closed  it doesn’t show anything for 90 minutes when it finally opens more with more dense tobacco and sawdust notes. The first foamy-flimsy texture will be better integrated after some time and sour cherry and chocolate elements will be added to the palate and a black-pepper accent to the nose. It remains a bit too alcoholic however. The wine as a whole improves a lot, starting from 2+ points and ending around 4 points 2 hours after opening, when I actually started to enjoy it. And let me state again here that many Hungarian red wines necessitate 2-3 hours to show something, a feature I never encountered so widespread in any other region’s wines. Would you believe that most Hungarians see this as a positive thing?

Score: 3+/4-

Price: HUF 1 600

I knew very little about Tihanyi Apátsági Pince but I was pretty certain that a visit would help. Well it did a little bit but after 2 hours in the cellar and 20 minutes googling the keywords I’m still uncertain about the ownership, the size and pretty much everything else about the winery. I decided to taste their premium label named after the (or one of the) owners, the well-known entrepreneur/property developer/ex-Skála boss Sándor “the richest Hungarian” Demján. Here’s what I found.

The reviews

Badacsonyi Olaszrizling 2008 made me realize that I won’t necessarily be tasting Tihany wines in this beautiful spot of the Tihany peninsula’s interior lake as I hoped. The wine has lemon yellow color and a closed nose with citrus aromas. On the palate green notes supported by abundant fresh acidity in this small-medium bodied Olaszrizling. Score: 3+/4-

Rosé 2008 is 60% Kékfrankos and 40% Zweigelt of relatively low yield (1,6 kilos/vine). Brassy color like those fine kitchen apparels, very nice. The bouquet is messy with earth and wet grass elements. Medium-bodied and relatively well balanced. Score: 3+

Merlot 2006 has seen 6 months in barrique. The wine has a muddy deep ruby color with Port- and Cognac notes on the nose. On the palate it’s relatively rich with dried plum and a hint of sour cherry. Nicely textured with subtle acidity and oily tannin. Relatively dense but fresh with  smoky and chocolate undertones. But it has a mainly Port wine/Cognac character on the palate too. Score: 5- points

Merlot-Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 is a 50%-50% blend of these two with 13% alcohol. Deep sour cherry color with a black core. Dense nose with chocolate, sour cherry notes. Fresh acidity. Score: 5- points

Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 is dark and dense with overly ripe sour cherry aroma on the nose. Well balanced, well structured with fresh but polished tannins and medium acidity. Very dense, with black pepper notes. And a hint of, well, sweat on the nose. Score: 5/5+ points

Dull wines.