Saturday July 9th
Join us to explore the wines and food in Hungary’s most enchanting wine region. We will focus on a few of the region’s best boutique family estates, where we will meet the winemakers (including one Frenchwomen) who produce amazingly complex wines from just a few hectares of grapes. One of the world’s premier sweet wine regions, Tokaj is famous for its dessert wines, but it also produces fantastic crisp, dry whites from native varietals. Tokaj wineries are characterized by their deep cellar systems covered in thick black mold. We will visit two of these fascinating cellars, carved under a winery. We will have a home-cooked lunch at Erzsébet Winery; we’ll take a walk in a vineyard; and we will visit the workshop of a traditional cooper. We will top the day off with a tasting of a variety of local goat-cheese. As usual, there will be plenty of conversation, food, and great wine throughout the day!
{8am} Depart from Budapest. We will meet at Batthyány tér and depart promptly.
{11am} Tour and tasting with the winemaker at Kikelet Winery, owned by a French winemaker and her Hungarian husband. Like many of Tokaj’s small family estates, winemakers Stéphanie and Zsolt Berecz spent years working at the region’s larger wineries before branching out on their own. They work on just 4.5 hectares, and we will visit their cellar located underneath their centuries old house.
—Take a vineyard walk
{1pm} Visit the Erzsébet cellar in Tokaj for a tour, tasting, and lunch. The winery is run by two young siblings, Hajni and Miklós Prácser, who make wine which is both traditional and experimental. We will taste six wines in their cellar (which was once owned by a Russian wine merchant supplying the czar with Tokaj wine), beginning with dry ones and finishing with aszú. Lunch will be prepared by the family: wild boar stew with tarhonya, fresh salad, and a seasonal fruit dessert. Dried fruit with hand-made bon bons filled with Tokaji aszú will be served with the sweetest wine.
—Explore the center of Tokaj.
{4:15pm} Visit a traditional cooper in Erdőbénye. Hungarian oak barrels are used in many countries, and much of that oak comes from the Zemplen hills behind the village of Erdőbénye. One of the most beautiful villages in the region, it has long been a center of traditional barrel making.
{5pm} Visit the Karádi and Berger Winery in Erdőbénye. The winery is located in a house once owned by an Armenian wine merchant. Winemaker Zsolt Berger is a former economist-turned winemaker. With him we will taste six wines including single vineyard dry furmints, late harvest wines, dry szamarodni, and aszú. The wines will be paired with five distinct types of local goat cheese, made by a biodynamic cheese maker.
{10pm} Arrive back in Budapest, drop-off at Batthyány tér.
Price: 30,000 HUF per person, all-inclusive of transportation and the above wine tastings and food. Space will be limited. Call or email (+36-30-298-0076) with any questions or to reserve your place. A 25 percent deposit (payable via paypal) will be required to hold your place.