With a yearly 10 000 bottles output from 5.5 hectars, Schellmann is a small winery producing 50% white wines and 50% red wines. After having learned about the 95 points their Chardonnay received from Falstaff in 2003 I become interested in the Chardonnay from 2005 when I saw its charming label on the “sale” shelf of Wein & Co. in Wien. I thought it would be a good benchmark for the few Hungarian high-end Chardonnays. And indeed, I found it very similar in style and quality to Monarchia’s Chardonnay Battonage, reviewed recently on this blog.

The review

Deep color with brassy reflections.

The nose is full of Chardonnay and barrique oak notes. As it opens a bit intense ripe, sweet-citrus elements (and pine-apple) mingle with the vanilla undertone.

The wine is full-bodied with lot of extracts and a bit of residual sugar but with a good structure. I expected it to be more acidic, but it’s just fine. The grapes must have been harvested ripe and the juice probably spent some time in contact with the lee, providing it with this dense, mouth-filling sensation.

The nose improves after an hour and the palate also evolves a more intense character of aromas fundamentally of grapefruit,  lemon and quince now with an elderberry accent. It’s a heavy wine and has a long finish with some bitterness in it.

The wine has some qualities of a really great fine wine but it already seems a little old.

Score: 6+/7-

Price: EUR30 appr

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