What do Tóth “Scheller” István, Szászi, Laposa, Káli Kövek and Válibor have in common? Well, may things. To start with, they’re small or very small wineries focusing on white wines. Then they’re from the Káli medence and the area around (which may well be the most beautiful region of Hungary). They have a well recognisable style.  They’re not extremely accessible, but their wines are very affordable, fairly priced wines. Istvándy and Villa Tolnay are already a bit different so let’s not talk about them here.

I like the above winemakers with their imperfections. It’s a shame that their production is probably less than of a medium sized winery’s in Villány, combined. Of course, tourism didn’t do good for the region. Unlike Tokaj, Villány and Somló, this region attracts visitors for many other reasons but wine and the proportion of sophisticated consumers remains tiny whilst Fröccs and bulk wines rule the area. So the main question is: are these wineries capable of taking the wines of the region to the next level? But then it raises other concerns: do they have a driver to do that? These are quite unsettling questions until I realise I don’t care as long as they continue to provide us with such good and interesting wines so cheap.

This Olaszrizling from 2008 is a rather heavy wine, but unlike Tamás’s from Csopak for instance it’s not because of the oak primarily, but perhaps not having been filtered may be one of the causes.  With enough substance, 13.5% alcohol and a vibrant, even sharp acidity the wine’s well balanced though. An elderberry-flavored palate with boiled celery tartness and a minerally undertone is enhanced with some restrained fruity notes of apple, quince and pear and a hint of nutmeg. There’s a prickling sensation too especially at the finish which also adds a little to its complexity.

For HUF 1 700 t’s a best buy for those who like the stlye but will disappoint those looking for a clean, polished style.

Score: 5+/6

Price: HUF 1690 (it’s a best buy for those who like the style)

Rizling in Hungary can be either Riesling, Olaszrizling, both or none. Laposa’s Badacsonyi Rizling is Olasz Rizling which I can only assume (but not to be absolutely sure) means Olaszrizling.

Pale golden yellow. The bouquet is lovely and rich. Minerally notes mingled with lime, lemon balm and other greenish notes, especially a lovage accent here. Fairly exciting, fresh, not too heavy, interesting. Similarly expressive palate which kicks off with brilliant, sharp acidity with lime juice aromas mingled with a drop of sweetness and a hint of boiled persley. Well balanced long finish with flavours of lemon balm and lime. The palate gets more and more salty.

Relatively coherent wine considering its complexity at it’s price.

Score: 5, 5+ points

Price: HUF 1760

It’s strange how many winemakers employed full-time by major wineries are allowed (and have time to) take care of their own vinyards and cellar. Examples from Demeter to Szepsy (in alphabetic order) show that they often manage to do it pritty well evidently.

I was sold this wine when asking Mr. Szentesi to introduce me to some full-bodied white wine around HUF 2 000. This wasn’t his first choice (not even making it into the top 10 actually) and he hesitated about the price but I took it because I’ve never heared of this winery and it turns out there aren’t many good value wines in this range.

Bright golden yellow. Fairly complex nose with boiled vegetables and veggie stock and lot of Furmint grape aromas, with hints of honey and flower. And a mineral undertone. Very rustic.

I didn’t like the taste first, but I put it in the fridge for a while and the magic happened. The same rustic stlye dominates the palate with more salt and tons of rocks. Some residual sugar is counterbalanced by good acidity keeping the flow into a lengthy finish. Mouthfilling, very acidic with lot of stewed apple-faloured substance too. When it’s heated up a little it becomes harshly bitter which is slightly appalling. Chilled it’s very mineral with a lot of lemon. And more lemon.

This wine is very close to its peak, or at it. You’ll enjoy it very much if you pay attention to its temperature and it’s a rare bargain.

Score: 6, 6+

Price: HUF 2000 (this is how much I paid, but not sure about the actual price)

Another “artisan” wine from easily the most beautiful area of Balaton. 2.5 hectares on the southern slopes at 150 m altitude, covered by forest dark soil above the vulcanic sand known as Pannon sand is Péter Váli’s vinyard.

I chose an Olaszrizling with 13.5% alcohol (13% according to their website) because the mineral character which this wine I’d been expecting to have suits better full-bodied wines.

Lovely bright golden yellow hue. On the nose lime and greenish, firm, medium-ripe acidic green apple. On the palate, the formula is: lot of apple mingled with citrus aromas and minerality, inevitably. Later tons of celery, lovage and persil with hints of nettle, supported by lot of young acidity. The finish could be more polished. Rustic style.

Váli deserves more attention.

Score: 5- points

Price: HUF 2000 (cheaper directly from the producer)

For introduction please read this post. For a Concubina white retrospective please refer to this post written almost exactly a year ago.

I never read my previous posts before I taste a wine and neither check it’s bottle. I didn’t even remember how much I liked Concubina 2006. Still, these are two different wines so keep reading.

The review

This cuvée is medium dark golden yellow. Lovely. The nose is very charming, intense, full of warmth and liveliness, a bit perfumy, with notes of pineapple and litchi with a rosemary(!) accent mingled with a hint of very light honey. The very same character’s found on the palate, gentle, warm and soft and certainly could have more acidity. At this point I realise it’s a semi-dry wine with some well integrated residual sugar. The wine will become better and better with more and more minerality which I simply adore. First a mouthful of chalky minerality then rocky minerality, it’s the whole Cenozoic and Precambrian era happening at once. Add a velvety melted butter finish to it. Later on the nose some pistachio. Nice linear finish.

This wine’s at it’s peak or a bit over it no doubt about it. It’s a huge best buy.

Score: 6/7-

Price: HUF 2000

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

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

October is very cold this year but I couldn’t resist the sale at a retailer I often visit and I bought this Vörcsöki Furmint 2007 whose versison from 2006 I liked so much I chose it one of the most memorable ones I drank in 2008.

I was disappointed to see that one of the nicest wine labels has become a cheap replica of the previous year’s. Such a shame, I know it’s an inexpensive wine but I’d switch to screw cap first if I had to save some money. Let’s hope they didn’t compromise on quality inside…

The look has become a bit paler. The nose changed too although it remains very intense, but this time insted of fruity character it is rather floral, indeed honey-ish, more Furmint-like with hints of vanilla and salt – lot of it actually.

A little bit sweet on the palate, but this is well balanced by a salty mineral element and abundant acidity. Not too fruity, only some tanderine’s found there. Medium-large body and lot of pleasant acidity. There’s a bitterness brought in by Furmint, particularily accentuated at the finish. Very licvely acids.

We also finished off a bottle of Monarchia’s Chardonnay Battonage 2006 which I always looked at as something of fair value for the money, but this Kerkaborum, 60% cheaper and although beaten by its predecessor, is still not much behind it (and is still a best buy). And it is Furmint, which is not even taken into account, but important because it’s somewhat unique to this region (mostly accessible in Hungary and Slovenia).

Score: 5+

Price: HUF 1575 HUF 1 350

Funny name, funny label, so refreshing to see after having seen so many chateaux emerging from nowhere – as I write this I realise that as a rule of thumb you could easily pick mediocre wines simply by selecting one from one of the many Hungarian “chateaux” (there are exceptions though). The fact is, there are virtually no chateaux left in Hungary and even less with a history in winemaking. Hétszőlő actually has a chateau but they’re not calling themselves chateau (although they’re owned by French, well partly). Akutyafáját reminds me of Orsolya Pince’s early labels, drawings made by children, now by a teenager, all suggesting that we all (in the wine scene) are taking ourselves too seriously. The whole scene btw reminds me of a song by The Cribs (Hey Scensters), a great (probably the greatest) indie band currently being ruined by Johnny Marr. But Akutyafáját is different, also from Eger, from a wineamker who apparently thinks a lot about his wife (or he’s more ironic than we’d think), this wine is simple and straightforward: affordable, lovable, and Hungary’s mass market needs wines just like this one. It has somewhat of a terroir character, something of Eger but it’s also very accessible by everyone. Believe me. Here’s why. The nose is full of spices, clove mainly, mingled with some burnt wood and cherry/sour cherry – already very attractive (the wine needs that to be honest, it’s appearance is quite regular, medium-pale ruby, nothing exceptionnal there). Fresh, slightly scretchy tannins first on the palate supporting a rather sweetish, friendly character. Firm, but not overly, with young but gentle tannins providing excellent backbone for this rather small-medium bodied wine full of freshness and fun, with notes of cinnamon falvoured apple pie and cherry compote. Fairly good length with just a hint of bitterness to be detected sometimes, more than that dried thyme and savory. This wine is excellent for long, friendly conversations, or for exhausted folks like myself drinking and blogging. I’m a fan of St. Andrea and only now I realise that this is the first post about one of the best wineries of Eger (and Hungary).

And this is the best red wine I’ve seen under HUF 2000 for, like, ever…

Score: 5+

Price: HUF 1 845

ps: I’d like to dedicate this wine (and post) to a friend from Eger who turned 34 today and will become a father in a couple of days. He has no idea about I writing this blog and I hope he’ll never have, but I hope Samu won’t have to waste so many brain cells as we did in the nineties by drinking rubbish Eger wines. So cheers, for a better future.

Arriving from a forgotten corner of the cellar, I had no idea what this wine cost or what to expect from it. I wasn’t really impressed by the better known more prestigious wines of Konyári but 2000 was a great year (see previous post). 

This is a very dark wine with a black core and a terra cotta rim. Very dense material, nice bouquet of dark chocolate, cherry and hints of blueberry. Very nicely textured, silky and velvety, dense but not fruity. There’s a tart element flowing into a rather long finish. Very dry wine and it remarkably misses almost any acidity whatsoever, only the velvety tannins are underpinning the large body. Whatever this wine has it’s very well integrated, soft and pleasant, so it’s an overall interesting experience. The same cuvée from 2007 is still available and at it’s price this is a very fair value for the money and easily the best buy from Konyári. 

Score: 4+(/5-)

Price: HUF 1 300