Every year, the Badacsony wine region shows its best in the extravagantly ornate, historic New York Palace Hotel in Budapest. In previous years, it had been held the elaborately decorated New York Café, but from last year, it has taken place upstairs in the more functional Roma Hall.
While I miss the unique experience of tasting the wines from one of my favourite Hungarian wine regions among the pomp and gilt of the café, it was a pleasure to have more space for the exhibitors and the throng of visitors. Thus, you could move around more freely and taste, avoiding the heat and crush of the smaller venue.
Record number of visitors
And it was a good thing it did take place in this large venue as a record number of visitors, more than 600, turned out this year to enjoy the flavours of the wine region. 37 wineries and 13 other businesses related to tourism showed their wares. So, as well as tasting the unique mineral white wines, you could also try some local cheeses, salami and bakery products, such as cabbage strudel, and pick up some information to help you plan your next visit to the iconic region.
The Badacsony hills
This year the exhibitors were organised by ‘hill’, so visitors were orientated even more by the micro-location of the winery and its wines, although naturally some producers do have wines on more than one hill. Badacsony is not only defined by the characteristics of the region as a whole, but also by its individual hills, truncated volcanic buttes and cones, such as Szent György-hegy, Csóbanc, Szigliget, Orsi-hegy, Abráhám-hegy and Badacsony itself.
If you wanted to learn more about the differences between the hills, you could do so in one masterclass whereas in the other, you could learn about food and wine pairing.
Visitors could also vote on their favourite winery, wine and other exhibitor. Tamás Borbély scooped up the best winery award, his Karós Olaszrizling 2016 was voted the best wine and the Lábdi market the favourite among other exhibitors.
Regional wine shows like this are a great way to get a an overall feeling for what a wine region is all about, its key varieties and producers. I particularly liked the way it was organised by hill this year, so that if you had the inclination, you could take a look at what differentiates the hills from each other.
The wines
Olaszrizling, which I can usually take or leave, seems to produce lovely weighty wines with zippy acidity in Badacsony, and I also scored Tamás Borbély’s Karós Olaszrizling very highly, along with his Bács-hegy Olaszrizling 2015. Folly Arborétem also had a beautiful 2017 on offer as did 2HA Szőlőbirtok. Szászi’s Szent György-hegyi Olaszrizling 2017 was also wonderfully juicy, ripe and full-bodied.
Another variety out in force was Badacsony’s flagship wine in waiting, Kéknyelű, with attractive versions shown by Szászi, Laposa, Istvándy, Németh Pince, Folly Arborétum and again Borbély, whose wines certainly scored highly with me overall.
Modern cross Rózsakő is also producing attractive wines in the region. Watch out for Németh Pince and Bagolykő Pince’s Rózsakő. The latter’s Olaszrizling-Rózsakő blend Ketten was also a lovely zippy wine with plenty of bright fruit.
I also enjoyed a couple of Zöldveltelinis from Villa Tolnay and Büttner Borbirtok as well as a lovely Pinot Blanc, rare in Hungary from Fischer Borászat.
Rajnai Rizling, or Riesling, is also producing increasingly attractive, zippy wines here. Maybe there is something in Philipp Oser of Villa Tolnay’s remarks that the northern shores of the Balaton could produced great Riesling – they just have to try harder! The king here is Villa Sandahl, showing five different excellent Rieslings, but I also tried beautifully balanced zesty wines from Gilvesy, Istvándy (cut with a touch of Sárga Muskotály), Baló Ambrus and Folly Arborétum.
Reds were thin on the ground, given that Badacsony is primarily white wine country, and many had run out by the time I got onto the reds, but Szeremley had a lovely crunchy, still very youthful, 2017 Pinot Noir and Fischer Borászat a bright, fresh 2017 Zweigelt, which I enjoyed.
Now looking forward to my next visit to Badacsony itself!
*Photos, except the last, courtesy of the organisers.
ensure nobody goes hungry and will delight your taste buds with fresh oysters, ham, cheeses and other French delicacies.
hard in the vineyard and winery, replanting vines and revamping technology with the goal of producing top quality wines that reflect the Szekszárd’s terroir. Péter admits that the first years leading up to this were not always easy; however, they are now poised for a change of image and a tightening up of their range.
A year ago, they decided to change their image as it was frustrating that their labels didn’t show what they wanted to say about their wines. They sought someone closely aligned to themselves and their ideas and found internationally acclaimed Spanish designer Xavier Bas. They sent him some of their wines to try. He was won over and soon came to visit them in Szekszárd.
The Hidaspetre Kékfrankos label features the woods above the deep loess which Xavier saw on his visit to the vineyard along with a deer that Péter pointed out inhabit the woods too. The design reflects the wine’s origins and connection to life.
Crafting artisan wines on the basalt hill of Somló
ty and minerality, sometimes developing a petrol-like intensity with age, akin to Riesling. Once you taste them, their magic will remain with you for ever. Celebrated since the twelfth century, their high acidity stabilised them so they could be successfully exported. They were a Royal favourite with the likes of Maria Theresa, Joseph and Queen Victoria. Famed in the past for their medicinal properties, they were stocked by Hungarian pharmacists and used to promote longevity and treat anaemia, high blood pressure, paralysis and liver complaints. The region unfortunately never totally recovered from the devastation of Phylloxera, later followed by collectivisation. However, it certainly has the potential to make world-class wines and regain its former reputation.
e region’s most characteristic variety. Only grown here, it is named ‘Sheep’s Tail’ thanks to the long curvy form of the grape clusters. It was believed that if you drank Juhfark, you would be blessed with a son, so it became the favoured wine of the Hapsburgs in order to ensure their succession.
ed up in Munich where he worked for BMW in the research lab and later as a test pilot. They were looking for someone who didn’t like to drive, he quipped, otherwise they would most likely brake too quickly. Funnily enough, Munich is where I first met István, at a Hungarian folk dancing event, long before he rose to fame as a winemaker.
y, but also internationally, his wines have reached the US via Blue Danube and he was also named in the 2014 Top 100 List of Wines&Spirits Magazine. Yet, he didn’t study winemaking at any point, he’s self-taught, although he did get some guidance from the iconic Béla Fekete, who lives nearby. His winemaking, however, is all his own style. His wines are like him, unconventional yet elegant, stylish and multi-layered. He has always worked on experimental stuff, believing there are simply a few rules that help if you want to make good wine.
r time, increasingly reflecting the Somló terroir as they age. His wines are different from other Somló wines; they need time. He picks later than his neighbours and when we visited in early June, last year’s vintage was still fermenting. His cool barrel fermentations using native yeast can take up to one year to complete; he is a believer in slow winemaking. He still hasn’t sulphured the wines and maybe won’t even need to do so as he changed to biodynamics this year, he mentioned. They also go through malolactic fermentation, which is rare on the hill, so his wines are generally less acidic than others. Sometimes they also spend two years on their lees in barrel. He matures the wines in his cool ventilated cellar, to the strains of Gregorian chants as he believes they appreciate this. He still presses everything by hand, has very few pipes and racks manually if possible, a firm believer in minimal intervention. He uses a mixture of old and new 500-litre barrels, Austrian style but made in Hungary, buying a few new ones every year.
of this variety. If he doesn’t have enough for at least one barrel, then it’ll go into a blend. His Furmint is on southwest-facing slopes along with his Juhfark and Olaszrizling; he rents another hectare on the northern side of the hill, where he has Chardonnay and Hárslevelű, which he turns into a blend.
ndary attribute which may well be needed on the night in question, a beautifully balanced blend of Juhfark, Hárslevelű and Furmint with spice, honey, rich, ripe fruit and serious stony salinity.
new member to its ranks. László Babicz was selected at the AGM, the first member from the Mátra wine region, the largest of Hungary’s historic wine regions. László inherited his vines from his grandparents and has been involved with winemaking since his school days. He was able to take this to a professional level with the support of his parents and grandparents.
Junibor, the Hungarian Association of Young Winemakers, was formed in 2008 to bring together young winemakers and create a community helping to provide professional development for the next generation of winemakers. Junibor members have to be talented young winemakers aged under 35 when they are chosen and can only remain in the association until they are 40. They are very often the offspring of another generation of prominent winemakers. They currently have around 30 members from 11 wine regions in Hungary.
Its history has been intertwined with the DiVino chain of winebars, the first one opening facing St Stephen’s Basilica in 2011, with the aim of offering only Hungarian wines, including the best wines of the Junibor members. The chain has grown over the last five years, with new locations opening in Győr and the Gozsdu Udvár in Budapest, which offers 120 wines by the glass, and was where the tasting was held.
Zsolt Gere from Villány showed an attractive youthful Muscat Ottonel using bought-in grapes and his Marton Napi Újbor, a Portugieser. The Portugieser was not a light wine, like usual, but a thicker wine with more tannins, yet elegant and playful. The bunches had been big with large grapes and there had been a couple of shrivelled grapes in each bunch. It saw no oak, went through malo and was then bottled, bright, fruity and fresh. He admitted that it had been a difficult year, with spring frost, and they had been happy to save the grapes. Their Cab Franc, Sauvignon and Merlot should be capable of producing premium wines, whereas the others will probably fall into the good category.
balanced and a Neró rosé. The grapes for this had been harvested early and resulted in a very floral rosé with plenty of red fruit and rose. Peti said that the cool year had contributed to the intensity of the aromas and the retention of acidity. He also produced a rosé blend from Medina and Zweigelt, which was fresh, crisp and fruity. The reds that they were able to harvest later were good too, he said, also maintaining a good level of acidity.
Tomi Kovács from Szent Donat in Csopak had a pair of vineyard-selected wines. A 
Mór wine region. A Rhine Riesling, still cloudy and young, that will be bottled next year, so very much a sample. The Chardonnay, also a sample, is being aged in 500l used oak and will spend 8-12 months in barrel on its lees and then go into stainless steel. Quite smoky and toasty with plenty of fruit along with zippy acidity and perhaps a touch of tannins. He said that Mór had also experienced a mixed year, afflicted by both frost and hail, but those who had not suffered damage had harvested good, healthy grapes.
exchange any words with him, but he conjured up a barrel sample of his Demi Moor Királyleányka, which with lovely peach fruit and a touch of residual sugar, he said was intended to be a gastro and festival wine. His Ezerjó, the key wine of the Mór region, was fresh, lemony and appley with a touch of residual sugar and some saltiness on the finish.
Dóri Bussay from the Zala region had a barrel sample of her Pinot Noir, still displaying some yeasty notes. The aim here, she says, is to have a fresh, fruity wine, so it will move barrels frequently. They were lucky and only had about four vines affected by frost as they are on a plain rather than in a valley, and the hail there came with rain, thus not much loss. The wine exhibited nice cherry fruit, was quite full bodied, with smooth tannins. It will have 8-10 months in oak and 2 months in bottle before release next August.
plenty of stone fruit, very drinkable. He also showed a Pinot Noir rosé, gaining its colour simply from being pressed. Fresh, attractive fruit, elegant, bright and very quaffable.
Bence Dúzsi from Szekszárd had a rosé from Blauburger, Portugieser and Zweigelt. Pale, attractive fruit, restrained on nose, but more intense on palate. Fresh and very quaffable, with perhaps a spritz of CO2. The red estate wine (Birtokbor) of 50% Kékfrankos, Cab Franc, Sauvignon, Merlot and some Pinot Noir aimed to show the winery’s characteristic varieties, and was rich and fruity with a hint of toasty oak.
Budapest Wine Snob 