I don’t pretend I understand Champagne or sparkling wines in general. But I had a quiet new years eve followed by an even more quiet weekend and I decided to share with you my impressions about some Champagne and Hungarian sparkling wines made á la méthode traditionnelle I spent time with during this period. Here they are, in chronologic order.

Hungaria – Extra Dry

This is the top wine of the Hungaria line of Törley group. With no vintage on the label, I can only guess that this is a mix of various vintages and varietals but I couldn’t find any more information about this wine on the winery’s website. Such a shame, although 99.999% of the consumers of this wine wouldn’t be interested anyway. This is a sparkling wine that only sells during the last week of the year, deservedly if you ask me, as it’s only slightly better than the regular Törley line under HUF1000. Pale lemon yellow, bright and charming with citrus notes on the nose. On the palate still a bit flimsy but I didn’t mind having a glass of this one, knowing what was about to come.

Kreinbacher – Syrah Rosé, 2008

Strange as it may be, probably the only Syrah of the Somló wine region went into this sparkling wine. Two years ago we celebrated the new year with the Syrah 2007. It was lovely, so we started 2010 the same way and this had become the wine I most often bought in 2010 when I was looking for a sparkling wine. The 2008 summarises well why.

It’s beautiful, brassy with faded salmon reflections, vibrant and releases charming towers of bubbles like a smoking chimney. Light nose, fairly yeasty and a bit spicy but mostly fruity, although a bit restrained. It’s delicious too: lightly rocky with hints of red fruits. Dry, fresh but not too acidic and has a decent legth.

Szentesi – Pinot Noir Rosé, 2008

Champagne/sparkling wine is supposed to be cheerful and festive. Rosé wines suite these occasions perfectly and I prefer these to white sparkling wines. Just like the Kreinbacher, this sparkling wine is one of its kind, I don’t think many producers venture in the field of Pinot Noir in the Velence region and most of  this little ended up in this sparkling wine. This was our first encounter and it was an immediate success.

Very similar to the Kreinbacher in appearance, perhaps a touch more pinkish, just lovely, festive indeed and very gay. A bit more yeasty and more fruity with raspberry primarily. Very dry, very light with subtle acidity. Light and crisp character. According to my wife, who’s the real authority as long as sparkling wines are concerned, Kreinbacher Syrah is slightly better than this one. I’m not so sure, but again, I really don’t get sparkling wines the way she does.

There are three more Champagnes to come, but let’s save them for tomorrow as I have some unfinished business with a very good Szamorodni right now.

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.