“Throughout my lifetime, the wine trade in Hungary has modified extremely, from the autumn of communism in 1989 to our makes an attempt to make heavy Bordeaux imitations within the early 2000s and the present-day deal with native grape varieties.”
The remark comes from Gábor Bánfalvi, who runs Style Hungary within the metropolis centre of Budapest, a enterprise that features wine and meals tastings, a well-assorted wine store and wine exports to the USA. “When communism fell,” he continues, “high quality started to enhance. The producers turned extra skilled whereas showcasing native grapes and the native traditions. The younger era has labored overseas, has been nicely educated, they usually wish to do one thing completely different.”
The Hungarian Parliament constructing in Budapest on the Danube River, Országház, at evening, copyright … [+]
A wealth of grapes
Kékfrankos, a synonym for blaufränkish, is probably the most extensively planted selection in Hungary. It has its roots within the Austro-Hungarian empire, and it may be discovered right here and there in Japanese Europe. Kékfrankos is included in lots of Hungary’s most well-known crimson wine blends, and it’s the primary grape within the Bikavér wines. Typically the wines are made in a refreshing, fruity type; generally, they’re extra structured and concentrated.
Different crimson grapes embody for instance cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, kékoportó (portugieser), kadarka, zweigelt and others.
Some essential white grapes are cserszegi fűszeres, olaszrizling (synonym for graševina/welschriesling), irsai olivér and furmint.
A village home in typical Hungarian structure, in Mad, Tokaj, Hungary, copyright BKWine … [+]
Nice variety
Hungary is a small nation with a continental local weather however nonetheless with variations in rising circumstances. Vineyards are discovered virtually all over the place besides within the far east in the direction of the Romanian border. In whole there are round 60,000 hectares (as a comparability, Bordeaux is round 110,000 ha and Chablis 5,800 ha).
Nearly half of all wine in Hungary is made on the good plains south of Budapest. One of many main wine areas right here is Kunság, the nation’s largest area, with usually a really sandy soil. Right here, a lot of the Hungarians’ on a regular basis wine is produced. Many of the wine is white, usually created from olaszrizling and irsai olives but additionally cserszegi fűszeres. The wines are sometimes fragrant and simple to drink, however types differ. Loads of wine in Kunság is unpretentious, however the degree of ambition is rising.
A horse carriage within the flat and sandy panorama of the Kunság wine area in southern Hungary, … [+]
The gorgeous metropolis of Eger, within the wine area of the identical title, is 2 hours’ drive east of Budapest. Its baroque church buildings and the magnificent wine cellars make it a nice cease. Purple wines dominate with 80% of the manufacturing. Egri Bikavér – Bull’s Blood from Eger – is Hungary’s most well-known wine, though individuals’s notion of it may not be the very best. It’s a wine with an extended custom, not less than 150 years, however within the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties, it was at finest mediocre. Through the communist period, mass manufacturing prevailed, and little consideration was given to high quality.
I keep in mind the communist type of Bull’s Blood, and I can perceive that producers of Egri Bikavér right now really feel the necessity to dissociate themselves from this type. They’re working exhausting to recreate the wine’s good repute. A lot of right now’s Egri Bikavérs are glorious.
Bikavér from Eger is the one that’s finest identified, however the area Szekszárd (see beneath) also can make Bikavér (however these two areas are the one ones).
Many wineries in Hungary have outdated underground wine cellars dug into the hillsides, right here Bock in … [+]
And why bull’s blood? The title in all probability comes from an outdated legend. When the Ottomans invaded the fort in Eger in 1552, the Hungarians drank crimson wine to turn out to be sturdy and courageous. The wine colored their beards crimson, and the Ottomans, not being wine drinkers themselves, although they’d been ingesting bull’s blood. And that was sufficient to scare them to withdraw!
In southwestern Hungary is Villány, the southernmost and warmest area within the nation. The panorama is fairly, with vineyards generally on slopes. A widely known pioneer right here is Attila Gere, who bottled his first wines in 1989. The standard is constantly excessive in Villány, which has good rising circumstances with mountains that defend within the north and heat Mediterranean winds coming in from the south.
The grapes are primarily kékfrankos and kékoportó, however lately they’ve additionally began rising cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and pinot noir. Cabernet franc has turn out to be one thing of a signature grape.
Winery panorama on the slopes of Villany in southern Hungary, copyright BKWine Images
North of Villány is Szekszárd. Right here, too, a hotter local weather places its mark on the wines. The area is understood for its kékfrankos and kadarka, this latter being an attention-grabbing crimson grape that offers vivid, elegant wines. It thrives in Szekszárd.
Sopron is an up-and-coming area of 1,000 hectares, positioned on the border with Burgenland in Austria. Some thrilling wines are made right here, particularly crimson.
The world across the scenic Lake Balaton makes a wide range of various kinds of wines. Olaszrizling is probably the most extensively planted grape. However you can even discover the German riesling, right here known as rhein riesling, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, muscat ottonel, kékfrankos and plenty of extra.
Simply north of Balaton is the small area of Somló. It’s value mentioning, not least for the white grape juhfark grown right here. It isn’t but so widespread in Hungary however nicely value paying attention to. It differs from lots of the native white wines as it isn’t fragrant. Juhfark provides full-bodied wines, structured and dry.
Hungary’s wine areas, copyright Wines of Hungary
And, after all, Tokaj
Tokaj, the area that makes one of many world’s biggest candy wines, is positioned within the jap a part of the nation, close to the border with Slovakia and Ukraine. Tokaj Aszú is created from grapes affected by noble rot. The grapes are primarily furmint and hárslevelű. At present, nonetheless, the dry wines created from furmint are a necessary a part of the manufacturing. The wines are sometimes excellent. Dry wines from hárslevelű are rarer however might be magnificent.
Tokaj, the village that’s the “capital” of the well-known candy wine area in Hungary, copyright … [+]
Furmint has very excessive acidity, a cause why the Tokaj Aszú is rarely cloying regardless of being extraordinarily candy. This acidity additionally provides the dry wines an outstanding and refreshing vitality. They’re usually vinified and aged in chrome steel however are generally barrel-aged.
“The Hungarian wine trade has a great repute now”, says Gábor Bánfalvi, “and it has monumental alternatives to develop.” Nevertheless, home consumption is just not rising, so it’s vital to entry export markets. Gabór mentions some essential international locations corresponding to Poland, Germany, USA. “We must always goal at promoting some key wines to wine outlets and eating places, wines which are consultant of Hungary as a wine nation, maybe a kekfrankos, a dry furmint, a tokaj aszu.”
After that, individuals certainly will need extra.
—Britt Karlsson
