I’m not complaining, I’m just confirming my reinforced idea that Hungarian wines are world famous only in the mind of Hungarians. And I doubt Hungarian wines will ever play a somewhat more important role in international wine drinking. The only problem with this you see is that Hungarian producers have no other choice than turning their attention to the domestic market, which they’ve been serving so far anyway. The realisation that they have no chance abroad combined with a biased (patriotic) domestic demand and little sofistication of the internal market will result in slower development of quality. This is my concern. This doesn’t help preserving the diversity of wines either because there’s little to be preserved here.

Today the hippest buzzword in hungarian wine marketing is versatility. This doesn’t seem like a strategy we chose. The is the only way left apparently, at least until dessert wines become fashionable again.

I don’t want to write a long post about this topic (I’m on vacation after all) so let’s just finally have a picture here from Les Halles (a bistro I highly recommend to anyone visiting the city btw), where half a bottle of Sauterne (sic!) cost appr. USD 250. The question you may ask yourself is why there couldn’t be an Aszú there too, perhaps at somewhat lower cost, to start with?

It turns out that St. Andrea Pinot Noirs are intentionally corked, or so they seem (leasson learned, Ráspi). But the shop clerk says it’s normal, a buyer brought back a lot of six bottles, all corked. I couldn’t believe my ears.

Anyway, this one from Hangács is suspiciously similar to the other two. First, it has the same blurred pinkish brick color, then it has the same bouquet (and that’s not exactly a compliment). Well the cinnamon, rose and woodchip aromas are not exactly repelling but they’re not huge either. The palate is embarrassingly desintegrated, with harsh components, firm tannic backbone and a hint of (positively) sweet compote element. I hoped it’d get better with time but it got worse.

Score: 4+

I reviewed this rosé already when it was still a young, fresh rosé and I iked it. And I still do. It still has a fresh, mineral character with a brassy color and many many mineral notes. And some unusual notes too, not so unusual from Ráspi though: something it feels closest to a refinery’s smell and the taste of a detergent. And it tastes a bit of a raw turkey breast too (don’t ask me how do I know how that tastes). Firm structure and crisp acidity. As you see, it’s a good wine.

Score: 4

Rather pale ruby. The nose is jammy raspberry with hints of blackberry and strawberry marmalade. Sweet, but not too dense. Very fresh palate, without any character. Medium-bodied wine with too harsh tannins and acidity. It’s a pity, I’d been really looking forward to tasting this wine.

Disappointing wines often stay opened for a day or, like this one, sometimes three. Miraculously, this wine turned into a well-integrated, lovely wine with a soft, velvety texture and spicy chocolate aromas on the nose. Just give it 72 hours.

Score: 4-/5

Price: HUF 4 000

Szarkás’ 14 hectares alrealy pleased me with some of the best Syrah, Kadarka, Merlot and even Kékoportó and Kadarka this country’s ever seen. This means I had some preconcepts about the style I might expect and it couldn’t be wrong.

Blurred pigeon ruby color with a pink rim. The nose is fairly complex and unpredictably so, once with sour cherry and red currant then full of spices.

On the palate very ripe, almost jammy strawberry mingled with cocktail cherry and warm indian spices. Very little, very subtle acidity, some powdery, soft, velvety tanninc underpinning granting little structure. Later leather takes over the lead and at this point on the nose too. Further on dry, southern Spanish cherry aroma.

The bottle recommends serving it at 14-15 degrees celsius but I enjoyed the wine most at around 20, much more than when it was cooler. It drinks well (and quickly) in a winter evening and it’s affordable too. If you don’t like Pinot Noir grape then don’t start with this wine, but it’s an interesting wine for the fans of both Pinot and Buttler.

Score: 6 points

Price: HUF 2 750

Dark core and purplish reflection. GB wines usually have charming, warm nose, slightly restrained first - well this one wasn’t different so my suspicion started to disappear. With notes os savory and other spices the nose is quite appealing. And with minth, herbal and camomile notes later on it’s even surprising. Remains slightly restrained though.

Very hard structure on the palate with a ripe tannic underpinning. The texture is the usual dense syrup.

After being uncorked for 24 hours the tannins smoothen and the wine’s even more tasty with an even friendlier character. It didn’t lose any of it’s charm in the same time.

I recommend this wine for everyday drinking, it’s good value for the money and it’s almost unique in this price range.

Score: 6-

Price: HUF 2 500

The review

Rather dark golden yellow hue with brownish-brassy reflections. The nose is very intense tea (sweet lemon flavored ice tea actually of a very particular producer) with a heavy mineral undertone and a hint of tobacco, later nutmeg. This set of aromas is translated well on to the palate supported by lot of acidity. The wine has some residual sugar (it’s semi sweet) but with this lot of lemon-grapefruit acidity it feels well balanced, with it’s high concentration of substance including notes of stewed apricot and unripe plum(!). The wine shows some signs of oxidation, intentionally or not (the wine was aged in oak barrels for almost a year). Good length with a slightly appalling tart accent.

This wine clearly has the potential but in 2008 it misses the target, although it shows some very important features of a great wine.

Score: 5 points

Price: HUF 2 500

This Hárslevelű has a very heavy character and I couldn’t drink more than two galsses. It reminded me in character of a Furmint(!) I had earlier this year. I was planning to buy some Árvay wines at the end of the summer then they were aggressively discounted, with 50% off at one of my usual sources. Then I got a call from a friend that a major retailer had the Furmint on sale well under HUF 1 000 and I think he bought the whole lot. Anyway, the notes of the wine have never been published (I do that sometimes, out of lazyness I guess). But that wine had a very similar, heavy, mouthfilling, acidic, mineral character with a tart finish, very much like this Hárslevelű.

I hate it when people stand up aggressively for their belief concerning wine, I actually don’t like to talk about wine with people at all but when I occasionally do I tend to fight the preconception of sweet wines must be necessarily rubbish or made for girls (as it’s seen by many in a wine-culturally underdeveloped country like ours).

Some (of the best) wineries don’t make Aszú wines at all in years when the circumstances aren’t ideal and it’s a great buy opportunity since they’re clearing their stock from last year’s late harvest wines to make room for the even larger quantity of the given year. This is how I paid around EUR3 for this Dessewffy Furmint-Hárslevelű late harvest 2005.

Pale yellow with greenish reflections. The nose is frst full of apple compote and notes of ripe tropical fruits but later becomes almost entirely dominated by pineapple. The same aromas carry on through to the palate where they’re supported by abundant, lively acidity which is accentuated at the finish granting very good length to the wine. It’s fresh, relatively light with pineapple-citrus dominance and hints of apple compote and melon and a medicine undertone. You completely forget it’s made of Furmint and Hárslevelű. It’s just a bowl of fruit salade.

Score: 4+, 5-

Click picture to enlarge!

Instead of writing about wines I’ve been drinking over the past  days (Hungarian food doesn’t go too well with wines and the holiday season is an endless feast in this country apparently) I decided to post a picture I shot yesteday of the lake Balaton’s northern coastline, the Balatonfüred area to be more precise (from where these wines come from).

The temperature suddenly changed from minus 15 Celsius to close to 20 above zero in two days in this area which enabled the formation of foggy cloud spreading up to few meters above sea level. I think it’s a stunning view (but I love fog anyway). The lake that reflects precious morning sunshine right to the vineyards of the hills nearby (and is at least partly responsible for the region’s micro-climate) is still frozen keeping the water still and cristal clear.

This mood cries for a late harvest wine!

This is a blend of  53% syrah, 26% cabernet franc, 20% cabernet sauvignon. Whatever. Sauska are capable of reengineering any kind of grape to suite their product portfolio. Well this one came out as a dense, overly ripe plum jam on the nose mingled with tamarind paste hence a spicy accent. Later sour cherry compote too. On the palate fresh, lively yet ripe character with plum again flowing into a syrup-based long finish, supported by well polished tannins and acidity. This results in a pleasant texture with well-integrated components.

Score: 5+

Price: HUF 2 800