Budapest Daily Review

Dereszla wines captured my imaginations throught their Dorombor recently, then I was drown to this particular Dry by American starblogger, showman and first of all wine merchant Gary Vaynerchuk’s coverage of this white wine.

Gary’s been mostly positive about Hungarian white wines for some time now but he’s enthousiasm for this cuvée (which by the way he describes as pure Furmint) was extraordinary even by Gary’s standards.

I wrote a few days ago about the little information available on the web about Dereszla and it hasn’t change too much since then.

The review

Very bright color, almost transparent. Smells grassy and walnut, even marzipan and a touch of vanilla. But it’s also mineral in both taste and smell. Walnut is actually quite long on the upper-mouth area whilst the mineral touch stays even longer at the tongue, giving the wine a nice, long finish. It’s 14% alcohol burns a little bit but it makes its creamy texture more attractive. It’s a bit sweet for a dry wine supported by medium acidity. It’s similar to Dorombor but not as fresh and a little bit more full-bodied. And round. The second glass is actually better. As the glass gets warmer the Hárslevelű (used in minor extent together with Muskotály) undertone becomes more palpable.

Score: 5, 5+

Price: EUR 6

I’m convinced that most Hungarians, laymen and professionals alike, tend to overrate Hungarian wines (especially the reds) sometimes to the point where even faults are considered local character. Although vast majority of my readers come from abroad who probably do not have such preconcepts, I decided to launch a series of blind tests comparing Hungarian wines of all price ranges with their counterparts in Central Europe, Europe and the new world. I’ll call this column International Perspective.

The intention is twofolds: first is very ambitious and certainly will generate some discussion and anger, and it is to try to define the value of well known and relatively unknown Hungarian wines. Secondly, through these comparisons we might be able to discover the terroir, the Hungarian character (if there is such a thing like Hungarian character).

Dereszla

Dereszla is a relatively small French winery in Tokaj, home of sweet dessert wines and emerging white wines mostly made of Furmint and Hárslevelű. Sauvingon Blanc is not an authorised Tokaj variety hence you’ll find „Zempléni” region on the label and no Tokaj.

Halewood

Halewood is a major producer and distributor of wine and alcoholic beverages in Britain.

The Group manages over 400 hectares of vines in three major wine areas of Romania: Dealu Mare, Podisul Transilvaniei and Murfatlar.

Whilst Halewood has an informative, though not very ergonomic website, Dereszla has nothing of their own on the web.

Some official information about the wine from the Halewood website:

2006 started with a late spring after a long and freezing winter with temperatures reaching -26°C. The average temperature of the year was 25°C, this having a positive effect on the shoots growth (up to 12 cm/day). Due to the high temperatures during the summer the ripening of the berries took place earlier and the picking of the grapes began according to the fully maturation of each variety.

In the second half of September, at harvest time, there took place a careful selection of the grapes coming from Dobrogea Plateau. A controlled fermentation was undergone at the temperature of 12-14°C, for about 8-10 days with selected yeasts. Alcohol volume 12.5%.

The test – Sauvignon Blanc, Halewood, Prahova valley 2006 vs Chateau Dereszla Zempléni Sauvignon Blanc 2007.

Since it was a hot summer day both wines were cooled to appr. 7-8 Celsius degrees but this turned out to be good temperature for both wines.

The first wine had bright straw color and fresh fruity nose later with a little bit of cinnamon and lemon skin. Well-structured wine with a little bit of sweetness (it’s still a dry wine) with a little bit of wet hay undertone, but not disturbingly. Overall a lovable, soft, light wine without major faults and without a special character, but very refreshing.

Score: 5+

The second wine had very bright color, very intense perfumy nose and although I’ve never tasted it before, I immediately recogninsed the Dereszla character (it’s ont that I’m such a master, it’s really that obvious). Diffrerent trees in bloom but mostly elderberry which also dominates in its taste. Very fresh, almost crispy but with a little bit of extra sweetness which is supported by round acidity so it’s rather soft. At higher temperature both wines were a little bit overly sweet to my taste but at around 10 degrees celsius, it’s a delicious, very lovable, festive wine.

Score: 6

To me the Dereszla Sauvignon Blanc had more character and was lacking the hay undertone, but the Halewood Sauvignon Blanc from Prahova Valley is also a very good value for money. To be honest, if the Halewood was one year younger, maybe the difference would not have been that significant.

Price: EUR 7

The winner of the label contest is the Halewood to me.

Some would say yes. So let’s check.

About Vylyan

The death of the founder of this relatively new winery hasn’t been unnoticed although his philosophy remained fundamentally the same. 7 000 vines per hectare, 1.8m x 0.8m vineyard density, 30 hectolitres per hectare on average – on 125 hectares, this indicates their commitment to high concentration for their best wines. And a lot of attention to all aspects of the élevage. With so much land in Villány, You cannot expect that all of it is very well located though.

In choosing their grape varieties they lay emphasis on both international varieties (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah) and local varieties (Kadarka, Blaufrankisch, Portugieser, Zweigelt).

About Montenuovo Cuvée 2006

Montenuovo cuvée is the Minestrone soup of Vylyan: its ingredients vary each season as well as its quality can be somewhat volatile. Still it will be a minestrone. The continuity is brought into this product line by a relatively good value for money and a seek for full-bodied, easy to enjoy, intensely tasty style. Well-done in 2006.

I don’t need to understand the concept behind Montenuovo’s always changing composition to like these wines. However, You might wonder how have Cabernet Franc and Zweigelt replaced Pinot Noir over the years. If you approach this from the other way around then it’s better to say that Vylyan’s goal could be to provide a relatively constant upper-medium quality popular red wine as well as to consume all they can produce in an optimal way. But this would be jumping to conclusion.

Since Montenuovo is an affordable non-entry level wine hence quite popular in restaurants it’s quite possible that You’re already familiar to this name. Here’s my notes, my opinion as of today.

Review

Deep cherry color, almost blackberry. Farm animal smell rather than fruits. Oily but with high acid content (for a Villányi) and medium of tannin. It’s 14,5%alcohol is palpable. It took awhile to realise that the unusual component in taste derives from Zweigelt grapes, which makes it an interesting cuvée but not a very lovely one. But maybe it’s just my habits that make it a bit intolerable in an otherwise quite commonly composed cuvée. Its smell also lack character.

A day after opening the bottle its tannins become smoother, those few fruits gave place to chocolate, new oak and tobacco, but not to the extent of a heavy Cabernet Sauvignon of course. It’s still a good wine if served at good temperature (my guess is around 15 degrees Celsius) although I can smell some rotten, fermenting fruit taste in it at the end.

It’s an overall good wine and good value for money. Don’t expect to buy the same wine with a Montenuovo 2007 label on it, so this could be another reason to purchase it.

Score:6-

Price: EUR 11,5

I must admit I am not a regular festival visitor and I was surprised by the size of the Somló Tavasz festival: about a dozen twin kiosks, a hundred visitors and a huge tent describe well the scale of this event on the meadow on the outskirts of Somlóvásárhely. According to my winemaker friend, 40% of the visitors are regular festivalgoers who never miss one (hence the marketing value of the event is a bit questionable). All ages and all types of people were present: old ladies from the neighbouring villages sat in the tent quitely sipping their drinks while staring at the stage to check the appearance of a folklore dance group, there were families wandering around, kids riding horses, and some young folks trying to get a bit drunk. I really couldn’t spot any of the urban yuppies here who usually frequent these types of events. And no foreigners either.

It was charming and looked more like a big family reunion in a family where winemaking tradition’s got its roots from times when Juhfark was not yet recognised as a standalone grape.

Besides the local names (Györgykovács, Tornai, etc.) almost the same number of guest winemakers offered their wines, with few exceptions almost only from 2006 and 2005.

I really don’t think that festivals allow you to do some in-depth analysis of wine, it’s rather a quick scan of where are we standing and tasting unknown wines and trying to memorise those that you would like to try at home. So here are my notes, but since I did swallow all of these (at least in quantities of 1/2 dl) the objectivity is questionalbe. So I keep the order, I leave it to you what “filter” you apply to my judgement.