I’m a fan of the ancient Hungarian grape varieties saved from extinction by wine hero József Szentesi, and I already covered some vintages of his Csókaszőlő here. Here we have a Csókaszőlő from another great producer called St. Andrea, from the northern region of Eger. A different style, but this is even better than the Szentesi versions I wrote up last time.
I could not name a Kadarka from the last few years which was affordable and as good and well made as this entry level Eszterbauer. It even surpasses most of the expensive ones, as they are faulty to some extent, more often than not (main reason is that the variety is extremely susceptible to rot/Botrytis, harvesting healthy crop is rare, just ask Hungarian grape growers). Continue reading
When thinking about young gun Hungarian winemakers, the name that immediately comes to my mind is Vivien Ujvári. She has been making standout dry and sweet whites at Barta in Tokaj, since she joined them in 2016, and by standout I mean the very best that have ever been made in the wine region – I could only recall a few early vintages of Zoltán Demeter and Szepsy that match them, and a few recent vintages of hidden gem Attila Orsolyák. Vivien’s family has a vineyard at lake Balaton, from which they just released their first wine, an Olaszrizling. Continue reading
Syrah has good potential in Hungary in my opinion, but this one is not there yet to prove my theory, unfortunately. Continue reading
Let’s forget how ridiculous is to call a 3€ wine “premium”… this is very basic of course but it’s good for what it is. Continue reading
