It’s been a while since I wrote an entry here. It’s due to many factors, one of them being that I felt blogging’s become suddenly a bit old-fashioned when masses begun sharing information with each other through social network sites and individual blogs seemed to have lost their appeal to other tools too, like Twitter. Leaving other factors behind (laziness standing out in particular) for now, I’m not sure if this is going to be a last post or others will follow. This one is not even inspired by a particular wine, I’m simply in the mood of writing a post about one or maybe several of the wines I liked this summer. So here’s one, if not exactly off the top of my head, but a more or less random one of those wines I took note of lately.

Heimann – Syrah (2008)

Rather darkish carbon-paper blue with a matt purplish rim. Forest soil and tobacco-like notes mingle on the nose. On the palate it’s soft and dense with velvety tannins which flow into a fairly long finish, carrying tasty notes of sour cherry but without the annoying bitterness. Nice curve in the mouth. After some exposure to air, the wine develops a fairly rich but not too intense bouquet of toasted bread and perfectly ripe dark berry fruits. As the wine’s character becomes more jammy, it displays ripe and sweet forest berry aromas. Smooth, well balanced dense wine without becoming too weighty.

Very good to drink and easy to like, this wine’s well worth HUF 3 300.

See other good value Heimann wines here.

Lively medium-deep ruby.

The nose is packed with ripe forest fruits, leveraging notes of jammy black-currant and mulberry. Quite fleshy bouquet with hints of oaky spices. Medium-bodied, well-balanced wine with gentle acidity and a young tannic backbone, which mixtures with alcohol (lots of it) resulting in a not too well defined texture. Leather notes in a rather short finish.

Like most Heimann wines, this is a fairly priced piece of Szekszárd.

Intense blast of berry fruits and the clean smell of a basket of blackberry.

Still young, small medium-bodied wine with a peppery, toasty appeal. Good length with ripe tobacco leaf, tobacco and a hint of tannic tartness.

The wine responds well to airing, getting texturally softer, heavier and denser.

As the cheapest GB red wine out there, this is perhaps not as complex as in 2007 at present, it might still age well into a remarkable piece of Cabernet Sauvignon in 2-3 years of time.

Brassy beige hue. Meadow floral bouquet, fresh but rather restrained with notes of acacia and boiled parsley. Weighty palate with a creamy texture and very subtle acidity. Restrained aromas at the entry, short and a bit dull character at the finish. Yet it’s a pleasant drink, with gently composed marzipan and pistachio. It’s an overall decent effort from (my preferred?) Mátraalja winemaker.

Szecskő - Szürkebarát, 2008

Deep golden yellow. Heavy bouquet, revealing almost nothing in terms of fruits or else. On the palate highly concentrated substance with some wet grassy notes at opening. Full-bodied wine, rich in fairly exciting stoney and mineral notes from the mid-palate, but I’d like more acidity and liveliness here. It looks like acids cannot bear the 16% alcohol. Good length though. When chilled it’ll reveal an even richer stony character  with picante olive aromas and texture.

I recommend this for lovers of rather enigmatic wines.

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Really pale, clean, watery lemon yellow in appearance. This wine has a complex and fairly intense nose of citrus, grapefruit and celery with a perfumed acacia accent. Fresh and crisp. The palate has a clean and fresh character with crisp and sharp lemon flavored acidity from the mid-palate, flowing into a long finish over a layer of various fruits.

Fairly priced.

Owner of a small winery (5ha) and a cult following in Hungary, Frigyes Bott is a winemaker born and working in Slovakia just across the Danube. Although the winery is not entirely biodynamic yet, Mr. Bott prefers natural and labour-intensive methods to advanced technology.

Bott Frigyes – Passion, 2009

This is a blend of Olaszrizling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc.

Fairly complex yet light nose of passion fruit, with kiwi and other tropical fruits coming through with a greenish accent and along a hint of minerality.

On the palate juicy fruity notes of peach primarily with an oaky vanilla undertone. Light minerality mingled with gentle apricot jam acidity, well balanced with a bit of residual sugar, just enough for a medium-bodied wine. Tasty finish, not long but not too short either. Under elevated temperature it tastes caramelized pineapple.

Mature but not old wine, enjoy it now at medium to even higher temperature!

Pale matt yellow hue. Rather restrained on the nose with light notes of lavender and vegetables and a subtle oaky butter accent. Medium-bodied Chardonnay without obvious Chardonnay notes. Barrel aging spices instead, supported by a fairly acidic backbone delivering a tingling texture. Surprisingly pleasant at room temperature (21 centigrade in this case), showing rich and minerally with an overall good balance.

Fairly priced (HUF 2 350).

Egyeki Kúria Chardonnay '09

14.5%

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I tasted this wine with friends few weeks ago when this wine stood out with its charming warmth and unusually complex character, and I promised I would buy a bottle and write a review. Here it is.

Orsolya – Abrakadabra, 2008

Lovely vibrant golden yellow with lemon reflections.

Fairly exciting minerally bouquet of rich chalky saltiness mingled with light honey and veggie stock. Unlike last time, on the palate dominantly Viognier, certainly less impressive today. It was broad and complex, now it’s much simpler in character, but creamy and fairly weighty with 15% alcohol hidden behind. I must admit that this bottle wasn’t very well handled when it landed in my hands so this might be the reason for its underperformance.

What really impresses about the wine is its finesse and complexity two days after opening. Creamy, minerally and well-balanced, displaying late harvest notes of sun-dried apricot and ripe papaya. Truly extraordinary when I last tasted this wine, an unusual and good wine this time.

Wine producer of the year 2010. Why 2010? Unofficially, the prestigious award of local relevance is given to different region each year and last year it was Southern Balaton’s turn. My understanding is that, taking the all-important lobby out of the equation, of the few notable winemakers of the region, Légli Ottó has the longest proven track record of predictable quality.

I may be wrong but to me Légli is still a white wine producer, indeed, in spite of some very decent efforts lately (Ikon Evangelista, 2007, to give you a for instance), the whole Southern Balaton region is for the time being a white region to me.

Légli Ottó – Szőlőslaki Chardonnay, 2009

Clean and vibrant lemon yellow hue, with many tiny bubbles. Lively nose of fresh and ripe apple. Light weight palate packed with fruity aromas of apple and traces of elderberry around a core of tingling acidity. There may be some residual sugar here which is lovely with the light saltiness underneath the broad character. Good length.

Fairly priced at HUF 2 400.