Category Archives: Hungarian Wine

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Tokaj…and Even More

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Tokaj was the world’s first delineated wine region, and its wines are among the most historic in the world. Its unique techniques and classifications date back hundreds of years. Through the centuries thousands of people, from at least a dozen different ethnic groups, have been involved in the wine industry in Tokaj, all contributing to the widespread fame of Tokaj aszú.

We might think these characters have disappeared with over time, but traces of them can still be found in today’s Tokaj, in the names of vineyards, cellars and street names. A recently-released book, Tokaji Wine: Fame, Fate, Tradition (Ambeli Press) by Miles Lambert-Gócs, has gathered an amazing amount of information (in English!) related to the long and adventurous history of the region, and the characters and wines that have made it the most important wine region in Central Europe.

Lambert-Gócs, a Hungarian-American living in Virginia, has been researching the history and wines of Tokaj for more than 30 years. His book is an incredible compilation of data, more like an encyclopedia, of everything related to Tokaj, inlcuding people, vineyards, villages, wine making methods, grape varietals, and more. The book is divided into four main parts with a couple of essays between. The first section deals with the people and nations which have played roles in the history of Tokaj. You’ll read about the role of Armenian and Greek merchants in Tokaj; Paraskevich, a Russian wine merchant who purchased 20 barrels of red in 1744 for the czar (that’s right, there was red wine in Tokaj back then); and the Jews who contributed to the usage of sulfur for barrel sanitation.

The second part of the book focuses on the region’s villages and towns. There is an overview of their history, the best slopes in each village, and some remarkable people who lived and worked there. No detail seems too small: even the origins of names of certain villages are discussed (Tállya, for example, could have possibly originated from either a French or an Italian word). My favorite part is the third chapter, a listing of vineyards which includes their classification, history, explanation of their names, and more. Dereszla, Disznókő, Kincsem, Mézesmáj, Palandor and Zafír—names we still see on wine bottles today—are just some examples of the more than 300 entries.You’ll find all your favorite vineyards here with tons of interesting and unexpected data that will help you appreciate the wine in your glass even more.

The fourth part is dedicated to the varietals, vine growing and wine making methods that have been used throughout the centuries in Tokaj. It is not easy to keep track of all the different styles, grapes and variations, even for Hungarians. Here you’ll get a complex overview of the variety that Tokaj has to offer. Such expressions are decoded here such as aszú, aszú dough, eszencia, kosher wine, soaking, szamorodni, and yeast film. There is even an entry about the supposed gold content of Tokaj wine, a legend that was so widespread that Paracelsus, a famous 16th century scientist, decided to study the question. He must have taken it seriously because in 1526 he came to Tokaj to investigate the matter. After certain experiments (unknown to me) he came to the conclusion that there is no actual gold content in Tokaj wine, just an extremely high minerality (which any fan of Tokaj wine can attest to).

If you are looking for tasting notes, travel information, or reviews of modern wineries in Tokaj, you won’t find them in Tokaji Wine: Fame, Fate, Tradition. This book is for the serious fan of Hungarian wine, and the wine scholars who can’t find reliable information elsewhere about this mystical region. It is packed full of facts that they will treasure as much as a glass of honey-sweet, golden-colored Tokaj aszú.

–Gábor

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A Sparkling Future

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Winemakers can be an eccentric lot. József Szentesi, who makes wine in the Buda-Etyek region, has got to be one of the most eccentric. He is a self-taught winemaker, who has previously owned and run a restaurant, and sold produce. His passion is re-discovering old Hungarian grape varietals, some of which are hardly found anywhere but at the research institute in Pécs where he finds them. He cultivates them in his vineyards (which are mostly near Lake Velence) and then makes wine from them by hand (with minimal technology and no machinery in sight) in his Budafok cellar, sometimes in quantities as low as five liters. He constantly experiments with old varietals and techniques. His small Budafok cellar, which belonged to his father, is stuffed with containers of all sizes holding his experimental wines, some of which are quite exceptional.

The fact that he produces wines made from unknown varietals like csóka, vörös dinka, porcsin, laska and fehér góhér is reason enough to head out to visit his cellar. But there is another reason to keep an eye on Szentesi. He also has a 2,000 square-meter cellar in Budafok (Hungary’s center for sparkling wine-making) where he has been quietly starting up an operation for making high quality méthode traditionnelle sparkling wine. With his partner—Josef Watzl, a German sparkling wine specialist—Szentesi will dramatically up the selection of Hungarian sparkling wine by the end of the year.

This year Szentesi will be producing 40,000 bottles of sparkling wine in his Budafok cellar (and more next year if the results are good). Szentesi and Watzl will not only make their own brand under the J&J label (József + Josef), but they will also make sparkling wine for 14 other small wineries, which until now didn’t have the facilities or the capital to produce their own. About a third of this year’s production will come from their own J&J brand and the rest will be labeled under other wineries’ names (which will include Zoltán Demeter, Sarolta Bárdos, Patricius, Orsolya, Hummel, Matias, Heimann, Merfelsz, Miklós Csabi, Rókusfalvy, Ottó Légli, Szent Andrea, and Kálna). They will be made from common varietals like Rhine riesling, chardonnay, and pinot noir; native varietals such as furmint, hárslevelű, and kéknyelű; and the practically unknown Hamburgi muskotály.

While Hungarians love sparkling wine (which anyone who has ever been on the street in Budapest on New Year’s Eve can see), the selection of Hungarian sparkling wine is currently mostly limited to the wines from the enormous Budafok cellars of the Törley group and the smaller ones of the Garamváry family. These companies produce a range of sparkling wines, some of which are quite high quality (as well as good value). It is less common to see sparkling wine coming from smaller or family-owned cellars (Polgár in Villány and Kreinbacher in Somló are exceptions). Making sparkling wine calls for big investments, different techniques, and even more bureaucratic rules and regulations (we are in Hungary, after all).

Szentesi doesn’t want to imitate French Champagne, he says, as Hungary’s climate will never produce the same flavors as the soil and the cool climate of Champagne can. According to him, Hungarian sparkling wines are more similar to Italian or Spanish sparklers. These new sparklers will be ready in December (although we have preliminarily tasted a few of them already). We are already counting the days until these new sparklers emerge from their rest in the underworld of Budafok.

Find a few of Szentesi’s wines (as well as wines by other wineries) at his wine shop in Budapest, Kézműves Borok Háza (Budafoki út 111-113, Budapest 1117).

–Gábor

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I heart Etyek

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I don’t know why it has taken me so long to appreciate Etyek, and the many lovely wines that come from its chalky soils. It produces some beautiful wines from some of my favorite grapes like pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, and zöldveltelini (better known as grüner veltliner). And best of all, it is close enough to Budapest (just half-an-hours drive) to make an easy day (or half-day) wine tasting trips. I’ve been living in Budapest for about ten years, and whenever I feel like making a trip to the Hungarian wine country for some serious tasting, I tend to look further (as I suspect many Budapesters do).

It was a lovely meal and tasting at the small, and very classy, Hernyák Birtok that sealed the deal for me (read what I wrote about that meal a few months back on Chew.hu). Last weekend was the annual Etyek Cellar Festival, a weekend-long event that encompasses the whole town. We went, despite the cold and rain which kept most people away. The kids watched a hilarious puppet show (Hungarians have a real talent for those) and did arts and craft projects while we sipped wines from Kreinbacher (winemakers from all over the country descend on the village) until it was just too wet outside. We headed indoors, back to Hernyák to have a few glasses, and then onto neighboring Etyeki Kúria. Normally at Etyeki Kúria there would be tables set up in the vineyards for the occasion. Instead, a folk ensemble showed up and played a few songs, which the girls loved dancing to.

While in Etyek it’s also worth checking out the Rókusfalvy Pince, as well as Rókusfalvy’s Restaurant where you can taste his wines (and spend the night in one of the six rooms if you’ve had too much to drink). There’s an old cellar row to check out. Most of the cellars seem to be empty, but on our last trip to Etyek we descended into the Krajcsi Pince to taste a few wines and, as it turned out, some pálinka. More memorable than the wine was the pálinka demonstration which the winemaker did. He gulped the pálinka down, and then slowly and dramatically exhaled. This way he releases all of the alcohol in the pálinka, he explained, allowing him to drink more. I can’t personally vouch for his method, but it seemed to work for him.

If you’re in Budapest, come taste some Etyeki wines with us on Saturday (May 22) at our Wine & A Movie event!

–Carolyn

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