One of the perks of my dancing life has been meeting people from all over Europe. And knowing that I'm a wine fan has meant they've helped me sample their local wares, such as the bottle pictured here, brought by a Hungarian friend to help celebrate the New Year. I'd tell you about it, except, there's not much I remember about that evening (apart from an American dance teacher of Hungarian extraction finishing the wine at 5am straight from the bottle).
Luckily my trip to Budapest was just few days later and I was able to sample a whole selection of delights from Hungary and the Balkans.
Hungarian wine doesn't feature prominently on the shelves of UK licensed premises. I have featured Hilltop Estate's organic Gewurztraminer in one of my first blog posts and I know that a few of my readers drink and enjoy it. Sadly, the rumours in Budapest are that Hilltop has lost it's contract to supply some of the UK multiples, and this is very bad news as they haven't marketed internally to Hungary. I sincerely hope we'll continue to see this on our shelves, but in case not, I'll be stocking up!
Aside from this, our knowledge of Hungary seems limited to dessert wines, with the Tokaji Aszu being around the only certainty from Hungary at most retailers. The Wine Society and Waitrose wine online have a few dry Hungarians on their shelves but really only at the lower price points, while in other retailers, there is virtually nothing aside from the odd Furmint that turns up here and there. I failed to find a mainstream stockist of Bull's Blood - reputedly Hungary's most famous red. The Tokaji is a good place to build a reputation for fine wine and I'll review one later this year, but with so many unique grape varieties, make sure you explore Hungarian wines if you get a chance.
Luckily my trip to Budapest was just few days later and I was able to sample a whole selection of delights from Hungary and the Balkans.
Hungarian wine doesn't feature prominently on the shelves of UK licensed premises. I have featured Hilltop Estate's organic Gewurztraminer in one of my first blog posts and I know that a few of my readers drink and enjoy it. Sadly, the rumours in Budapest are that Hilltop has lost it's contract to supply some of the UK multiples, and this is very bad news as they haven't marketed internally to Hungary. I sincerely hope we'll continue to see this on our shelves, but in case not, I'll be stocking up!
Aside from this, our knowledge of Hungary seems limited to dessert wines, with the Tokaji Aszu being around the only certainty from Hungary at most retailers. The Wine Society and Waitrose wine online have a few dry Hungarians on their shelves but really only at the lower price points, while in other retailers, there is virtually nothing aside from the odd Furmint that turns up here and there. I failed to find a mainstream stockist of Bull's Blood - reputedly Hungary's most famous red. The Tokaji is a good place to build a reputation for fine wine and I'll review one later this year, but with so many unique grape varieties, make sure you explore Hungarian wines if you get a chance.
On arrival in Budapest, my hostess was kind enough to open a couple of her local favourites which I can't imagine every getting the chance to try any other way.
Ezerjó is an indigenous Hungarian grape variety which produces light and refreshing wines, as well as being suitable for producing sweet wines.
We moved swiftly onto a white, sparkling based on Zala Gyöngye from the Mátra region which is about 80km north of Budafest and the second biggest wine region in the country. I think its the first time I ever had a sparkling wine from a screw cap bottle, so this clearly is not wine intended for keeping. It was lightly sparkling, less than many mineral waters, and probably had been carbonated after production rather than using any traditional sparkling method. Still, it was refreshing and drinkable with a hint of muscat aromatics. I'd had a glass of Irsai Oliver in a wine bar earlier with a really strong flavour of Elderflower. I'm sure that could be a popular choice on a (rare) British summer's day, and I'll be interested in the feedback of my hosts on the Chapel Down Bacchus I took them to represent England's wine output. I will look out for Irsai Oliver in future as it's something very distinctive.
Ezerjó is an indigenous Hungarian grape variety which produces light and refreshing wines, as well as being suitable for producing sweet wines.
We moved swiftly onto a white, sparkling based on Zala Gyöngye from the Mátra region which is about 80km north of Budafest and the second biggest wine region in the country. I think its the first time I ever had a sparkling wine from a screw cap bottle, so this clearly is not wine intended for keeping. It was lightly sparkling, less than many mineral waters, and probably had been carbonated after production rather than using any traditional sparkling method. Still, it was refreshing and drinkable with a hint of muscat aromatics. I'd had a glass of Irsai Oliver in a wine bar earlier with a really strong flavour of Elderflower. I'm sure that could be a popular choice on a (rare) British summer's day, and I'll be interested in the feedback of my hosts on the Chapel Down Bacchus I took them to represent England's wine output. I will look out for Irsai Oliver in future as it's something very distinctive.
Moving onto red, I was treated to a bottle of AMERLOT produced by Hungarian wine maker Szőke Mátyás also from the Mátra region for the first time in 2009. I was unsurprised to find it was made of merlot but I was less prepared to be impressed by it. It's a long time since I drunk Merlot on a regular basis and I longer time since I tasted one as good as this. Smooth, full-bodied, ripe and velvety, but with a lot more oomph than many merlots. It's harvested quite late giving full ripe flavours, 14% alcohol, and was juicy enough for a self-confessed non wine drinker to take a second glass. Didn't they know that it was meant for me?
My host has some connections in the wine trade and was lucky enough to secure us some tickets to a tasting event on my second day in Budapest. Hungarian wines featured, and we also sampled the wares of other neighbouring countries. I have to confess here, that my plan to take a photo of each bottle went slightly awry as I progressed through the tasting. My memory isn't what it used to be. So here's a snap of the line up of 6 bottles we got through. The tasting was organised by a group called Borjour (Bor being Hungarian for wine) and held in a cute wine bar called Vinorium Borhaz. Borjour is worth checking if you're going to be in Budapest since they organise tastings like this one every week for up to 40 people as well as occasional larger events. I didn't hear much English being spoken, but the web-site is in English so I'm sure you'd be well looked after, and at a cost of around 3000Ft (approx 10€) you'll certainly get your money's worth.
The first wine was Quercus Cuvée Beli (2008) from Slovenia. I didn't even know Slovenia produced wine! We also sampled their Quercus Cuvée Rdeči 2009 later in the evening. Apparently, Quercus means 'oak', with at least a small percentage of all of their wines going into wooden barrels.. Sadly, neither of the wines sampled appears on the website of the producer: the Wine Cellar Goriška Brda. The red and white were both decent enough, but it would seem production has been superseded by pure varietal wines.
Moving onto the Hungarian wines sampled, first up was Dobosi Kéknyelű (an indigenous and rather rare grape) from Balaton-felvidek or Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Hungary. This was a simple, crisp and organic white which retails for under $8 a bottle and is a little hard to describe. Rather more unusual was the Pastor Siller 2012 from Szeksard. I've never come across the concept of Siller before, but it's kind of somewhere between rosé and red. Kadarka, Kékfrankos, Zweigelt grapes are crushed and skins left in contact for around 48 hours, giving a deeper colour than a for a rosé, and a nice deep flavour, but without any of the tannin. I'd imagine this would be pleasant on a summer's evening, or for people who're not convinced they'll like red wines. At around 6€ a bottle, it's certainly easy drinking.
Moving onto the Hungarian wines sampled, first up was Dobosi Kéknyelű (an indigenous and rather rare grape) from Balaton-felvidek or Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Hungary. This was a simple, crisp and organic white which retails for under $8 a bottle and is a little hard to describe. Rather more unusual was the Pastor Siller 2012 from Szeksard. I've never come across the concept of Siller before, but it's kind of somewhere between rosé and red. Kadarka, Kékfrankos, Zweigelt grapes are crushed and skins left in contact for around 48 hours, giving a deeper colour than a for a rosé, and a nice deep flavour, but without any of the tannin. I'd imagine this would be pleasant on a summer's evening, or for people who're not convinced they'll like red wines. At around 6€ a bottle, it's certainly easy drinking.
The presenters surely made some mistake in the order of presentation of the two final wines. Telish Merlot & Mavrud from Bulgaria came last. It was probably a decent wine, and certainly better than any of my previous tastings of Bulgarian wine. Sadly, it paled into insignificance because it followed the DiBonis DiShiraz Cuvée.
Wow! This wine was from Serbia. Who knew they even made wine in Serbia? I certainly had no idea, nor could I have known that this wine would be such a winner. The 5 other people at my table were unanimous. We wanted more of this rich, deep, plum, oaked beauty. Full bodied and full flavoured, we were sadly left wanting more as the wine bar actually ran out, such was the demand! It was probably just as well, as my dance festival started that evening and shiraz and spinning are not best friends. I did feel a longing that I ought to have bought a bottle or two, and even more so now that I've found this wine is not available in the UK. The winery was founded in 2008 and features a range of international varietal wines from Riesling and Chardonnay to Cabernet Franc and Merlot. They also make an Icewine and a range of fruit based spirits which have won awards. I hope we'll be hearing more from them soon. And if you're ever in Serbia, they are open for tourism with a tast
Wow! This wine was from Serbia. Who knew they even made wine in Serbia? I certainly had no idea, nor could I have known that this wine would be such a winner. The 5 other people at my table were unanimous. We wanted more of this rich, deep, plum, oaked beauty. Full bodied and full flavoured, we were sadly left wanting more as the wine bar actually ran out, such was the demand! It was probably just as well, as my dance festival started that evening and shiraz and spinning are not best friends. I did feel a longing that I ought to have bought a bottle or two, and even more so now that I've found this wine is not available in the UK. The winery was founded in 2008 and features a range of international varietal wines from Riesling and Chardonnay to Cabernet Franc and Merlot. They also make an Icewine and a range of fruit based spirits which have won awards. I hope we'll be hearing more from them soon. And if you're ever in Serbia, they are open for tourism with a tast
 Only in Hungary would a wine tasting finish with a shot of vodka! Still that wasn't quite as surreal as what happened next... Nothing could have prepared me for being serenaded to the strains of Robert Burns' Auld Lang Syne in a Hungarian wine bar, while drinking Serbian Shiraz. |  Life can be strange and wonderful... Hungary for a change? Probably the best selection of Hungarian wines in the UK including a Siller, comes from the Hungarian Wine House. |
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