It’s winter seasonal wine sale time, it’s time to try things you otherwise wouldn’t buy.

Vida Péter’s remarkable achievement of moving out of my radar so quickly ever since our first encounter wasn’t a mistake. Here’s the testimonial.

Pale ruby with a pinkish rim, needless to say.

Intense boredom on the nose with notes of cheapness and a chemical industrial accent. The rest is sour cherry, liquide medicine, iodine, the latter’s carried on through to the palate brutally overshadowed by hard, althogh not too bad tannins which are present in way too much quantity for such a small body. Very empty palate.

It’s been almost 10 years, but some things just do not change.

Score: 3, 3+

Price: HUF 2 300

These Cabernet Franc grapes were harvested on the 27th November of 2007, which is a rather late date for this varietal. Often cited as the most suitable variety to Villány these Francs must result in a big fat red wine.

Rather pale ruby. The nose is jammy raspberry with hints of blackberry and strawberry marmalade. Sweet, but not too dense. Very fresh palate, without any character. Medium-bodied wine with too harsh tannins and acidity. It’s a pity, I’d been really looking forward to tasting this wine.

Disappointing wines often stay opened for a day or, like this one, sometimes three. Miraculously, this wine turned into a well-integrated, lovely wine with a soft, velvety texture and spicy chocolate aromas on the nose. Just give it 72 hours.

Score: 4-/5

Price: HUF 4 000

I can’t say much about the winery, Franz Weninger’s wines are everywhere and I still didn’t drink almost any of them.

This Kéfrankos has a very pale hue in the glass. It is very restrained on the nose with hints of chocolate mingled with sour cherry, and it’s a little bit woody-tannic. Very empty on the palate, suspiciously textured. It drinks well, tastes nothing.

Score: 3+

Price: HUF 2 000

Footnote: in my clearing the summer stock I ran into a Figula Rosé 2008 which even at room temperature was still enjoyable, with a fresh character and full of raspberry. A pleasant surprise at the start of the heating season.

Villa Tolnay are better known for their white wines, often laballed “terroir” and “artisan” wines by the snobbish community (they’re in my opinion simply one of the most exciting wineries in the Balaton region along with wineries like best-buy producer Scheller and the more unpredictable Szászi Endre). I was recommended this particular (arguably a limited edition) Kékfrankos by someone close to an online wine portal, describing it as a great, fruity red wine under HUF 2 000 selected by the said portal who (I was being told) had been looking for a wine to sell as their own brand for a long time for. The time has come.

However, a Kékfrankos from 2007 from the northern-Balaton region doesn’t sound too promising does it? Suspicious? Let’s see.

Classic ruby color with a not so classic black core. The nose is light but full of toast, burnt bread actually, mingled with red steak and a touch of cherry. The palate has a similar character with toast and meat supported by young, thin but hard and still harsh tannins and medium acidity. The tannins smoothen after 2 hours a little, the acids retreat a bit but a bitter-sour element remains. The overall impression is somewhat enhanced by a chocolate note on the nose and hints of cherry on the palate.

All in all this wine is unworthy of Villa Tolnay who are able to produce not inexpensive, but good white wines year after year. And the online publishment shouldn’t be so proud of their long awaited selection either. It’s quite disappointing actually, after so much hype.

Score: 4-

Price: HUF 2000

Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite grapes and I believe that Hungary would be able to produce good Sauvignon Blancs but so far little effort has been made to fill in a gap on the market left by a virtually non-existing supply of foreign wines, including SB. Where is Hungarian Sauvignon Blanc standing compared to its European and new world competitors? Do we stand a chance as long as quality is concerned, especially when price is taken into account? Is New Zealand really better than France? Should Hungary destroy all its SB plantations once and for all? Are we ever going to export Sauvignon Blanc?

We’ll not necessarily give an answer to these questions, perhaps we’ll be only scratching the surface but at least we’ll try: Peter from borwerk.de and I decided to try to taste as many Hungarian SBs as we can put our hands on and taste each of them in pair with a foreign Sauvignon Blanc. Here’s the first sprint’s result.

Domaine Des Corbillieres is a family winery from the Loire (Sologne wine region) near Blois, Tours and Chambord (boy, do I love the Loire castles!) with a long history and consisting today of 23 hectares of which 13 are Touraine Blanc Sauvignon. 2008 was excellent year in Touraine, on the South-bank of Loire. The Touraine 2005 was a Wine Advocate 90 points wine.

2007 was a year in Balaton described by many winemakers as “rather difficult” but the Figulas didn’t complain. So let’s see.

The tasting was blind but not for long. After the first sniff when our noses got near the glass there were no secrets any more.

The Touraine has pale lemon color with greenish reflections. Very intense nose, soft and gentle with lot of litchi, papaya and maracujá (passion fruit) aromas. On the palate very fresh and firm with lot of grip, metallic (and grapefruit flavored) acidity and perfectly integrated structure. Crisp, buoyant, young but elegant acidity with a salty accent, flowing into a virtually endless finish. Very zippy wine. Goodness, what a wine this is for the price of a small pizza.  Score: 6+/7-

In my eyes it’s a real bargain not just for everyday drinking.

The sauvignon Blanc from Balatonfüred (Balatonszőlős, actually) has a slightly deeper hue and a it’s closed on the nose with green apple, salt cured and spiced Iberian ham (or pancetta?) and veggie soup notes, definitely more closed than the Touraine. Shows also little on the palate with some greenish freshness and veggie notes with a softer texture. Medium acidity but structurally much inferior to Touraine. Score: 4

The wines, believe it or not, are both priced at around HUF 1800 even with the recently week forint and shipment cost included (well, the Touraine was brought from Germany free of shipment cost, but still). I always feared that I’d been a little bit biased in favor of Figula which may have been the case but this blind tasting reveals I’m afraid what the real value of this wine is.

Touraine Corbillieres facts sheet andquotes from their website:

GRAPE VARIETY
-Sauvignon blanc

AGE OF VINE
-13 to 43 Years

TYPE OF SOIL
- Sand on a clay bed of the Sologne region.

VINE GROWING

-No chemical fertilizer, only organic matter, controlled production by a very strict debudding. Leaves thinned out.

PRODUCTION METHOD

-Steeping for 1 month with natural ferments, at a temperature of 16 – 18º, then left to lie until spring.

WINE TASTING

-Delicate and with a floral aroma, this wine is rich and fruity, well balanced and give a lasting freshness to the palate.

SERVING METHOD

Goes well with Asparagus, fish and all shellfish
Serving temperature 10º.

From viticulture point of view, 2003 was a good year in Badacsony as long as weather is concerned. Not exceptionally but it was as good as 2000 and definitely better than 2002 (please see previous post).

The Szeremley Kéknyelű 2003 has got a pale yellow color with hue similar to the Kéknyelű 2002. The nose has an intense flinty character almost as much as you can find in Takács Lajos (Hollóvár) wines from Somló some 80 km away. Impressive, very different from the others. This mineral element is enriched by acacia and nettle elements with a grassy accent.

On the palate fairly rich vegetable notes of parsley and celery in a medium-small body. The wine’s a bit tired, I expected more freshness from this Kéknyelű. This is the less acidic of the 4 vintages so it remains very subtle, with short length just as the others but this one has the nicest texture with just a bit too much alcohol.

Score: 4+

Kéknyelű 2004 has a pale and very clean appearance. This one has a very closed nose and will not open.

This small-bodied wine has an acidic character on the palate, fresh and crispy and even a little bit sparkling. Fair fruitiness with gooseberry and ripe apple and other continental fruit notes.

Score: 4+ points

Conclusion

You must be an experienced and passionate wine lover to fully appreciate the nuances of this tasting that would cost you HUF 20 000. But if you have the money to spend than you’ll find it interesting enough.

Kéknyelű grape is one of the less grown widely known varietals in Hungary. Internet sources are quite unreliable in respect of almost everything about the grape: contradictory information circulate regarding its origins (one says its one of the most traditional Hungarian varietals others are not so sure about its Italian origins), it’s character (some sources describe the wines made from Kéknyelű as being very elegant, fruity, others emphasize its harsh, rustic character and that it’s only suitable for blending). All sources agree, however, that growing Kéknyelű is a tough job and yields are low. Even the most skeptical sources admit that in good years, Kéknyelű can produce exceptional wines. To test this, we tasted 4 wines of different vintages from Badacsony’s best known and respected by many wineries. I have to make a disclosure here however: I may easily be the last person in Hungary who never tasted a Szeremley wine before. That’s because for reasons I cannot fully recollect any more (something about his obscure businesses from his past I heard from reliable sources)  I’d been boycotting Szeremley Huba’s winery up ’til now. But I agreed to do a vertical tasting of this rare varietal with Peter from borwerk.de, whose tasting notes are also available on his blog.

The reviews

I must admit that I don’t really like mass wine tasting, it’s more a job or a sport rather than enjoying wines. This vertical tasting, on the other hand, where we had 4 entire bottles for us alone, is confusing too, hence the short notes in spite of the otherwise ideal conditions.

Szeremley Badacsonyi Kéknyelű, 2000. This wasn’t a blind tasting, however, getting started with the oldest one this age difference was obvious at first sight. This wine has by far the deepest color, deep golden yellow with a brownish hue. The nose was complex but it also confirmed what I suspected from the cork and the color is that the wine is oxidized. It remained drinkable however and the fact the the bottle was a bit faulty added to the wine’s complexity, but reduced its freshness. Indeed, this was the heaviest, with different kinds of honey and floral aromas on the nose. Slightly heavier than a medium bodied wine, it’s still well balanced with now bit old acidity. The palate has an overall heavy character with elements like anise and walnut taken over the once perhaps also present fruits.

Score: 4

Szeremley Kéknyelű, 2002. This one has a bright, in fact the brightest color of all four wines with greenish reflections. This wine, and please accept my apologies, but has a cat pee’s nose with veggie soup and lovage notes.  On the palate is very acidic, in a harsh and bitter way. With the firm structure in the middle, this small-bodied wine has ripe pear and crab apple elements and an unripe grapefruit note. Nice finish only messed up by the harsh bitterness.

Score:4-

Notes about the more recent vintages will come soon…

This is a crazy idea. Or is it! These two come from 200 kms away from each other but they’re thousands of virtual miles away from each other in terms of wine. But this time, this fact in a certain way helped me to put these wines into perspective.

Ráspi – Kékfrankos Selection, 2005

This Kékfrankos has a pale brownish color and the wine has a very quick move in the glass. And indeed, it’s thin and flimsy on the palate. The nose is spicy with salty-minerality. It has some cherry aroma on the finish. Its tannins are powdery. Give it some time (2 hours), and the wine will open a little bit more. But it’s a simple, although not a common wine.

Ráspi could break into the mainstream with this wine, if he wished, although on the lower shelves only.

Score: 4, 4+

Price: HUF 4 900

Bock – Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005

This Cabernet has got a lot of leather on the nose mingled with different farmyard elements.

On the palate, this full-bodied wine has a heavy dry tobacco character, lots of tobacco’s. Not the finest tobacco though. It breaks to the nose from the palate. The structure could be more firm, the tannins and extracts could be better integrated.

I used to get more excited about Bock’s Cabernet Sauvignons in the past. I think we both changed.

Score: 4+/5-

Price: HUF 3 400

I always liked this couple’s wines from Ostoros . To me, Orsolya wines are very fresh, acidic and fruity, mainly.

Well, this one’s called Tehéntánc (from 2006) which means “cow’s dance” and it is a blend of Kékfrankos, Cabernet Franc and Merlot so many people refer to this wine as the Bikavér of Orsolya Pince. Although it qualifies as a Bikavér, it’s different from what many people expect from an Egri Bikavér in many ways.

Medium-deep ruby color and as many Orsolya red wines, this one also has a lively move.

This cuvée has a fresh character on the nose and on the palate too. First the nose, with fruitiness of berry fruits and spices, with a mineral undertone and a smoky element.There are clear Kékfrankos and Cabernet Franc notes. Later an earl Grey tea note too.

Fresh and young, this wine’s palate has fresh, almost crispy acidity in sync with the unripe cherry and sour cherry aromas and a long, tart finish. This is a small-medium bodied wine, lean and firm, developing a pepper element on the palate with time. After about two hours the wine gets a better structure and a more friendly overall character with more ripe fruits and a better balance.

Score: 4+/5

Price: HUF 2 800

This Chardonnay from 2007 by Légli has medium golden color, very bright.

The bouquet is surprisingly simple: the fruitiness is virtually unnoticed and there’s an unpleasant note which first I suspected was an initial joke of sulphites. But it’s not much different on the palate: a chalky-mineral element there but little else. The nose will have a fading floral character after a while. In spite of the shortages the wine has a relatively good balance of acidity and residual sugar for it has little of both. But at least it has a good texture. This wine has a shockingly short finish and before that only a faded mix of crab apple and other unripe continental fruits to offer.

I expected more from someone who’s said to be a Chardonnay specialist. Something like a lighter version of the applauded Légli Landord, 2007.

Score: 4

Price:  HUF 2 200