Budapest Daily Review

Lovely nose, very attractive indeed and fairly complex too. Very fresh, with dry cut grass, thyme but mainly rosemary mingled with fresh nettle tea. It doesn’t stop there, releasing citrus notes with a perfum-y character adding a ripe apple accent. Well integrated, vibrant acidity and a juicy character on the palate with a salty, chalky mineral undertone. There’s a hint of bitterness from the mid-palate but that’s alright. Lower-medium body, good length, drinks very well and quickly and it’s almost as good when it warms up to room temperature as chilled.

One of the best Hungarian Sauvignon Blancs I’ve ever had and it’s definitely a good value for the money.

Score: 6+/7- (now I would even say 7, but I always publish the fresh impression)

Price: HUF 3 000

Villa Tolnay are better known for their white wines, often laballed “terroir” and “artisan” wines by the snobbish community (they’re in my opinion simply one of the most exciting wineries in the Balaton region along with wineries like best-buy producer Scheller and the more unpredictable Szászi Endre). I was recommended this particular (arguably a limited edition) Kékfrankos by someone close to an online wine portal, describing it as a great, fruity red wine under HUF 2 000 selected by the said portal who (I was being told) had been looking for a wine to sell as their own brand for a long time for. The time has come.

However, a Kékfrankos from 2007 from the northern-Balaton region doesn’t sound too promising does it? Suspicious? Let’s see.

Classic ruby color with a not so classic black core. The nose is light but full of toast, burnt bread actually, mingled with red steak and a touch of cherry. The palate has a similar character with toast and meat supported by young, thin but hard and still harsh tannins and medium acidity. The tannins smoothen after 2 hours a little, the acids retreat a bit but a bitter-sour element remains. The overall impression is somewhat enhanced by a chocolate note on the nose and hints of cherry on the palate.

All in all this wine is unworthy of Villa Tolnay who are able to produce not inexpensive, but good white wines year after year. And the online publishment shouldn’t be so proud of their long awaited selection either. It’s quite disappointing actually, after so much hype.

Score: 4-

Price: HUF 2000

This Olaszrizling has a liquid gold hue in the glass. On the nose intense salty minerality and fresh plum (surprisingly mineral for a wine coming from chalky-loess soil, fuelling the debate over whether rocky-mineral soil is responsible for this feature of certain wines).

Less minerality on the palate, greens instead, with notes of lovage, boiled parsley and green nutmeet mingled with a bitter element, supported by vibrant, curvy acidity which could be better integrated. Remains salty however. Good length, with some bitterness at the end. Fairly complex, but could be more elegant. 

Score: 6 points

Price: HUF 2 900

This Chardonnay from 2007 by Légli has medium golden color, very bright.

The bouquet is surprisingly simple: the fruitiness is virtually unnoticed and there’s an unpleasant note which first I suspected was an initial joke of sulphites. But it’s not much different on the palate: a chalky-mineral element there but little else. The nose will have a fading floral character after a while. In spite of the shortages the wine has a relatively good balance of acidity and residual sugar for it has little of both. But at least it has a good texture. This wine has a shockingly short finish and before that only a faded mix of crab apple and other unripe continental fruits to offer.

I expected more from someone who’s said to be a Chardonnay specialist. Something like a lighter version of the applauded Légli Landord, 2007.

Score: 4

Price:  HUF 2 200

Medium pale golden color.

The nose carries notes of - not kidding - meat and chicken soup with nettle. Interesting. Very pleasant, and so is the aromatic floral action on the palate. Round, fresh acidity on both back-end sides of the tongue is supporting the residual sugar which is a little bit too much by the way. Later pineapple and salt join the game.

The finish is surprisingly short, even the acidity disappears quite quickly. Otherwise this would be a well-balanced, friendly fresh wine with well polished palate. It’s price’s between fair and a bit too much. And I don’t think you should leave this wine aging too old.

Score: 5+, 6-/10

Price: HUF: 2 940/EUR 12

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)

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