If you ask me, the most dynamic red wine region of Hungary at the moment is Szekszárd. Ahead of others, they moved early from oaky, heavy reds made mostly from Bordeaux varieties to the indigenous kadarka and kékfrankos – and let’s add bikavér to the list, which is based on the former two. Continue reading
Author: Zoltán Németi
Tüske Pince Harmados Kadarka 2023
The revival of the indigenous variety kadarka is one of the most exciting topics of the Hungarian wine scene at the moment. We now have some examples that are more serious than those made in the past, but let’s review a classical one, the Harmados from Tüske Pince. The 2023 vintage is every bit the lighter bodied, pale red you can expect from a kadarka.
Value in Burgundy: Paul Delane Bourgogne Cote Chalonnaise 2023
To continue the cheap Burgundy thread, here is another example of something affordable which is actually quite good. Was 12,74 € if you buy one but only 8,90 € if you pick two bottles, no wonder it ran out of stock at Vinatis.
Three Cotes du Rhone reds
From the three Cotes du Rhone wines reviewed below, two have an ABV of 15% – hardly a surprise yet I’m still not prepared for it. As the years pass, I tolerate high alcohol less and less, and I crave balance more and more. Check out that Yannick Alléno & Michel Chapoutier bottling, it gets things right – still ripe at 14% yet not heavy or clumsy!
Rioja’s fresher side – Artuke 2024
You say Rioja and oak comes to my mind, before anything else. Too much oak. There are exceptions but you know what I’m talking about. I’m not a fan of wines tasting like coconut extract.
Supermarket wines: the best edition of the Aldi Chianti, the 2024
The San Zenone Chianti distributed in Aldi is one of the cheap reds I buy every vintage. At 4€ it’s really a basic, simple quaffer, but it is usually decent and it’s not easy to find affordable chianti in this country (Hungary) and I’m always thirsty for sangiovese. And this 2024 is something else. Continue reading
Plessis-Duval Saumur Champigny 2022
Sub 10€ Loire cabernet franc is such a reliable wine category, I almost always love what I buy. From Central Europe where I leave one of the best, easily accessible selection of such wines can be found on Vinatis – you can find many of them reviewed on this site and here is another one I enjoyed recently.
Delicious light red: Sebestyén Indigó Zweigelt 2024
How is the new release of one the most well-know Hungarian light red wines, the Sebestyén Indigó? 2024 was a heatwave vintage like no other before, at least in Hungary, but perhaps in most of Europe. It shows in the wine but it still manages to be refreshing, luckily.
Blindtasting top notch Austrian blaufrankisch wines
I collected a bunch of high-end blaufrankisch bottles in the last two years and earlier this year I was finally able to gather my friends (wine merchants, wine makers) to blindtaste this impressive line-up. The Prieler winery stole the show for me, in my view they are a benchmark when it comes to this variety. Moric is a quite different story – he is a pioneer but I must say it’s hard to like the wine style. By the way, talking about style, it’s so varied from producer to producer, from natural to New World-like, you really have to look for the estate first and foremost. I took my notes after the re-tasting.
Silvia Heinrich V-max 2018
Telmo Rodriguez Al-muvedre 2023
In my experience monastrell is one of the most reliable red grapes, often delivering great value wines under 10 Euros. The Al-muvedre from Telmo Rodriguez is usually one that can prove that point (like the superb 2018), but not the 2023 vintage, the subject of this post.