Wines of the year: Heimann & Fiai Kadarka 2021

My Hungarian red wine of the year. I’m sure there are others that are more complex and score higher, but this is so exciting and new-wave.

Made with whole bunches, which is still a new thing in Hungary. I have never tasted a kadarka like this before. It’s like a great Beaujolais Cru. Savoury, intense and finessed, so pure – no oak in sight. Red currents, cherries and rosehips on the nose and palate, and while fragile and delicate as usual for the variety, it’s actually tight and firm, too, the stems adding great tannic structure to it. So vivid, with nice crisp acidity. And it just has more depth than what you get in kadarka. A grown up, amazing wine, 90 points (in its genre: 10/10). 4350 HUF (11 EUR) at Bortársaság, great value.