This is the debut of Villa Tolnay on Budapest Daily Review although I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. The Swiss owner Philipp Oser started making wine in Csobánc (Balaton region) in 2005 and currently has a bit more than 5 hectares of which almost 50% planted with red varietals (mostly Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon I think). All of their wines are matured in oak barrels and they’re not using modern winemaking technologies but focusing on low-yields so Tolnay belongs the so called handicraft winery movement. This Rajnai Rizling 2007 (aka Tavasz) is the entry-level wine of this small winery.
Pale yellow with greenish and metallic reflections, showing freshness and indeed the nose is full of fresh greenish, grassy aromas with a lemon accent. On the palate it’s very refreshing too with very nice, lively acidity and a salty-chalky element for re-balancing the residual sugar this wine certainly has. It’s light bodied and pleasant to drink. This wine has apple and green pear elements too and a long, acidic finish. I expected some oaky notes but there isn’t any. A decent effort from an IT expert. And a very good value for the money.
Score:5, 5+
Price: HUF 1 500
Soltvadkert belongs to Hungary’s largest wine region located north-east of Szekszárd on the plain called Kunság. Infamous for high yields and low quality, the region failed to gain reputation for its winemakers until 2007 when Frittmann János was elected winemaker of the year and suddenly the demand for his budget wines soaked up his wines from the shelves of hypermarkets. I picked another rosé ,a bit more expensive but not less interesting: you can always expect Ráspi to surprise you and why would rosé be an exception?
The reviews
I ran into a Kékfrankos rosé from 2008. Pale pink color with brassy reflections. This rosé has succulent, relatively intense but light nose, full of fruity aromas (raspberry mingles here with strawberry with a marajucá accent). This thin wine’s a bit sparkling on the palate with salty mineral accent here which flows into a relatively long finish. It’s a bit sweet on the peak of the tongue and on the mid palate it has a dry-mineral texture lying on crisp acidity. At very cool temperature it loses some of this complexity. Warming up a little the nose will have a candy element and watermelon on the palate. The wine’s very light bodied but pleasant with decent complexity and a surprising mineral character.
Score: 4
Price: HUF 950
Ráspi’s Rosé Cuvée from 2007 (dominantly Kékfrankos too) has a very similar color with a a little bit darker tone. Now this rosé has more intense nose with raspberry and strawberry notes. The palate seems to have some residual sugar but it’s well balanced by a salty texture. Very aromatic with cherry compote and watermelon elements. This medium bodied wine has a wet-stony salty character which hides the alcohol (14% against only 12% in Frittmann’s) so it doesn’t burn. This wine has a pleasant long finish. I reviewed this wine already once and the cork broke just like that time. Ráspi’s yet to find a good cork supplier.
Score: 5
Price: HUF 1 500
