Budapest Daily Review

The Mór wine festival accidentally falls onto the same days as the more prestigious Villány and Tokaj wine festivals. The less known event however attracted a crowd this saturday that completely filled the streets despite the chilly wind. Mór offered them a street music festival combined with a typical Hungarian country street event (i.e. tons of unhealthy food, vattacukor and usual market crap) with families of all ages from the surrounding cities and villages and, to my biggest surprise, foreign visitors. I’ve heard French and English words, besides the German spoken by a band marching the streets dressed like… whatever (I believe however that these musical events and football games provide you with a unique opportunity to see man of all ages feeling good in their long white socks showing off. Skirts are just an extra here). 

Anyway, I had to drink very quickly because my wife’s been fluttering like the kocsonya (missing from the menu, btw, and it’s a Hungarian food if you would be wondering, basically cold pork bone soup with pork leg in it) so I had no opportunity to discover the rule(s) which drive people to one winery’s quiosque and make them completely ignore others. 

The Information stand however had a middle-aged lady who not only distributed brochures but knew all of the winemakers I asked her about by nickname (I didn’t, so I had to double-check them). I still missed Pontica. 

Due to the strong wind and a rush, my tasting notes are very short and quite unreliable. 

Miklóscsabi – Utazótáska, 2007

This Királyleányka has pale bright color, round acidity and crab apple and pie character on the palate, completed with residual sugar leaving a fresh impression. 

Score: 3+, 4-

Bozóky – Leányka, 2007

Pale, almost transparent color with greenish reflexions. Less intense with less bitterness and acidity, but overall a pleasant wine. 

Score: 3+/4-

Bozóky – Cuvée, 2007

Pale yellow with greenish reflexions, just like the Királyleányka and other Bozóky wines to follow. Bozóky is considered a major winery in Mór but even their cellar is quite small. The old lady who took care of the visitors was very friendly and responsive considering that they attracted most of the visitors interested in a tour in a local cellar. I never quite understood though how can people enjoy a glass of wine in a crowded, smelly room. These notes were taken outside of the building. 

So the Cuvée has a similar pale tone as the others. It’s smoother with less acidity but with a more intense nose and flavors. 

Score: 4-

Bozóky – Ezerjó, 2006

Pale yellow color. More elegant than the others but still with a quite short finish. Better structure and better integrated even with a mineral undertone and an appealing cabbage-like finish. 

Score: 4

Miklóscsabi – Haramia Cuvée, 2007

This semi-dry Cuvée is made of Tramini, Leányka and Pinot Blanc. It’s full-bodied compared to the previous ones and this late harvest character is dominant until the finish. It has a distinctive pale-brassy color. The residual sugar is supported by nice, round acidity. It has better structure than the Bozóky wines. A velvet-vanilla undertone complete the overall nice sensation. 

Score: 5 points

Maurus – Leányka, 2007

Medium-pale golden color and floral notes on the nose. Well balanced with medium body, round acidity and long finish. 

I have to note here that the Maurus wines have very nice labels. And although only the Ezerjó is produced by Kamocsay (on a total of 0,7 hectares) the wines to follow somehow have a common stylish element. 

Score: 4 points

Maurus – Sauvignon Blanc, 2007

Remarkably nice onion-brassy color and nice, round acidity. 

Score: 4+/5

Maurus – Rajnai Rizling, 2007

Pale yellow with green-apple reflexions. On the palate oaky-vanilla notes maybe a little bit over the top. On the palate fruity elements and some residual sugar are supported by medium acidity. It’s a nice riesling with a long finish. 

Score: 5+/6-

Maurus – Ezerjó, 2007

Pale bright yellow. On the palate complex aromas of vanilla, oak and floral notes with gooseberry and acacia elements and round acidity. A little bit sweeter than it should be for a dry wine. 

Score: 6/6-

Maurus – Chardonnay

Elegant wine with some oaky vanilla and appealing bitter acidity and a tobacco-like undertone. 

Score: 6 points

About Pontica Bt.

According to this web site, Pontica was established in 2004 to produce mainly Ezerjó late harvest dry wines, but soon they realized that Ezerjó is suitable for botrytis rotting. Altogether they’re cultivating 0,7 hectares in the Mór region, 91% of it being 20-40 years old Ezerjó vines. The total expected output in 2008 will be only 2000 bottles. Their Ezerjó 2005 was elected wine of the city of Mór in 2007. They proudly consider themselves a family winery producing handicraft wines. As you may suspect, this is not a widely available wine.

The review

Deep golden color, almost brown. It’s intense in all kinds of sun-dried fruits smell (of both continental and tropical fruits) and taste but mostly apricot and a little bit of almond and a pale walnut tone. It’s a bit sweet but it’s supported by nice acids and minerals. It reminds me of better dry Szamorodnis.

You can also feel a great deal of acacia honey and maple syrup or simply regular raisin. And a lot of tangerine, sun-dried tangerine. And they all come very intensely.

It’s a little bit syrup-like to my taste but all above and significant amounts of minerals in taste compensate for it. Actually as time passes minerals become dominant and provide a long-lasting finish. It’s a very pleasant rustic wine. It’s complex and round, almost robust, not very elegant but very attractive.

Score: 7-

Price: I think it I paid around EUR 8 for it, but I’ not sure. Then it would be 8 euros very well spent.

I don’t even dare to translate the word “Bországgyűlés” for You, although the significant number of foreigners who visited the event despite the heavy rain which lasted almost the whole day would deserve a try. Anyway, it wasn’t a gathering of the nations’ parliamentary delegates of winemaking as the name would suggest, I was actually surprised by the small number of wineries present, but even more by their distribution within the festival area. Despite the intense grass and other natural smell coming from the surrounding park in the rain I tried to take tasting notes. My idea was that I would taste and review the winners of the VIIth Pannon Bormustra contest. Unfortunately very few of the winners actually exhibited at the Festival so I’ll indicate in the table below those who won the “Top Wine” awarded by a jury consisting of international experts like Dante Brancaleoni and winemakers like René Rostaing as well as Hungarian wine drinkers or so called experts. As always, please read the following report as a rough guide only, since I hardly ever spit during a wine tasting (unless the wine is really rubbish) and the local food selection has also provided a strong smelly background which certainly distorted the senses. So here’s a quick snapshot from the Festival, without any in-depth analysis.

Here’s a photo from the venue of one of Budapest’s most important wine festivals.