The best wine bar in Avignon?

~ Zoltán Németi

Avignon, a regional center, the gate to enter the Southern Rhone. It must be the paradise for wine enthusiasts interested in the Rhone. What are the options for the wine lover, who seeks the opportunity to explore the region’s wines, who wants to compare a glass of Cairanne to a Rasteau and then to a Gigondas? Surely, fancy restaurants might offer a great selection of wines but that’s a different business. There is probably only one place in town offering what we are looking for: Le Vin Deviant Soi. Continue reading →

Laposa Kéknyelű 2017, Badacsony, Hungary

~ Zoltán Németi

Best after opening. Restrained in style, quite elegant and easy to drink. Slightly aromatic, reflecting the variety, but overall it’s neutral. The best part comes when you take a sip – there is density here, a slightly oily texture, without heaviness. Add to that a salty taste and integrated acidity, and you have a quite special mouthfeel – it’s a textural white wine. More about character than complexity, but still pretty nice.

Continue reading →

Chateauneuf-du-Pape visits: Domaine Grand Veneur

~ Zoltán Németi

My first target to visit in Chateauneuf-du-Pape was Domaine Grand Veneur at the end of May, and I really enjoyed it. We started in a vineyard near the winery, which sits just on the other side of appellation’s border. It seems pretty obvious that just a few meters of difference won’t stop you from growing the same quality of grapes, but the rules are strict – you cannot call it Chateauneuf-du-Pape anymore. Which means you cannot ask the same price for the wine. On the other hand, you can have a bigger crop, different varieties – for example, Viognier, which is not allowed in CdP -, and you can use different trailing systems. You can train Grenache on cordons, for example, which is not allowed inside the appellation. Continue reading →

Kősziklás Rizlingszilváni 2018, Neszmély, Hungary

~ Zoltán Németi
Photo: neszmelyibor.hu (it’s the 2014 vintage)

Such a crisp and refreshing white wine! This is Müller Thurgau, but labelled with the Hungarian name of the variety (“Rizlingszilváni”, good luck pronouncing it). Light at 12% alcohol, almost as delicate as a Mosel Riesling – but it’s dry and as you would expect, less aromatic. Lovely, flowery, grapey scent. It’s very light but surprisingly persistent and long in flavor – something I often notice in Kősziklás wines and which is really uncommon at this price tag. A perfect everyday white for the summer, and amazing value. Continue reading →

S. C. Pannell Dead End Tempranillo 2015, McLaren Vale, Australia

~ Zoltán Németi

Purity is the key here. I just love the style – this tastes like real wine. It definitely has some Old World charm, it’s not in your face. Opens with reduction, but that quickly dissipates. Where is the mint? Is it really Aussie? Medium-bodied and juicy. Unforced yet has an impact. Nice acidity, pleasantly coarse tannins, everything looks real, not added – keys for drinkability. Not really structured, probably meant to be consumed when young, I guess it was even better one or twp year ago. Now it’s developed – still very good, but I would drink it up earlier.

Continue reading →

Wine bar nights: a lineup of wines from the South of France in Carpe Diem wine bar

~ Zoltán Németi

The wine bar scene in Budapest seems to grow every year, and thankfully most of them follow a different approach. The one titled “Carpe Diem Borbár” (borbár means wine bar in Hungarian) is one of the most specialized bars: no advertisement, no cheap or commonly available wines on the list. There are mostly carefully selected French and German wines on offer, and just a few Hungarians: small batches from hardly known, but serious producers. The bar is close to the Parliament in the city center, but actually, it’s hidden in a quiet little street.

You can choose wines here from the current menu if you just drop by, but every few weeks there is a special event for wines lovers. Sometimes a local winemaker presents his or her wines, other times it’s about a theme – a lineup of wines from a specific region, or perhaps from the same variety. In case of the latter, the owner, Ferenc Tar orders the wines from abroad, so they are not available locally to buy. That’s a great opportunity to taste wines we don’t have access to in Hungary. I joined a recent event which featured wines from the South of France, including producers I have never heard of. Most of them really impressed me.

Continue reading →