Posted elsewhere but someone asked about Hungarian wines for an oncoming trip, so I figured I’d post on Berserkers.
Only a handful of Hungarian wines are available in the US so they don’t get reviewed much, so here’s a take on a few.
These are some notes from my last trip, which was actually oa few months ago. For whatever it’s worth, here is a really brief and superficial overview of a few areas. There are too many wines to discuss all of them, so I’ll just give a few representative impressions. Not that I have any particular qualifications. OTOH I guess I’ve tasted as many Hungarian wines for as long a time as any critic I can think of. Besides, no publications print much about the various regions or wines aside from an occasional article on Tokaj. But first, a bit of background.
Hungary once had a thriving industry producing high quality wines. This was pretty much erased by phylloxera, civil strife, two world wars, and finally by the communist government, which through a mix of deliberate actions and incompetence effectively destroyed centuries of history and know-how. When the French and the Italians, and later the Spanish, rebuilt and expanded their wine industries in the 1960, 70s, and 80s, the Hungarians were still producing oceans of poor quality wine from vineyards that had been collectivized and re-planted to accommodate the needs of Soviet tractors and production quotas.
Consequently, in countries like the US, Hungarian red wine became the cheap and undrinkable bottle of “Bull’s Blood” on the bottom shelf of the liquor store and maybe a bottle of brown, oxidized, sweet wine from Tokaj, usually written as “Tokay”.
When I first visited in 1990, we tried a few wines and immediately decided to drink beer. But winemakers had been freed from the destructive directives of the government and quickly set to work reclaiming their ancient legacy. Foreign investment poured into the Tokaj region and those wines quickly improved. They have now been first-rate for several years, although they continue to change as the realities of today’s economy become apparent.
Other regions were less familiar to investors from the West and generated less foreign interest. Consequently investment was largely internal and wine improvements came more slowly. Technology had to be obtained; vineyards had to be replanted, or even planted in the first place, and the winemakers had to learn again the specifics of their local terrain. Later, on accession to the EU, they also had to comply with EU directives and restrictions.
In all regions, phenomenal energy and passion, if not always money, were poured into all phases of wine making Some lucky producers received EU or other public funding while others simply did the best with the resources they had.
The result is that today, Hungary has some wineries that are as large and modern as any in the world as well as some capable of putting out hundreds of thousands of liters of wine. They have countless “garage” producers who produce one or a few barrels only, sometimes shockingly good. And there are many producers between those extremes. Some produce outstanding wines, others produce swill, and many produce good, but not superior, wines. In short, affairs are like everywhere else. This is important. It is not correct to think of Hungary today as a “recovering” winemaking nation. It is a full-bore producer with serious ambitions.
Tasting the wines over tine has been fascinating. A few years ago it became apparent that some Hungarian white wines were equal to any in the world, although the marketing lags the quality. No matter how good the product, customers are unwilling to pay for wine without brand name recognition which does not yet exist in much of the world outside of Hungary, especially in the US. Moreover, the brand name is most important at the high end when the wines are most expensive. So regardless of quality, Hungarian wines cannot compete against wines from Burgundy or Bordeaux because there is as yet no brand name recognition. This is of course, a difficult conversation to have with wine makers, who understandably prefer to compare the wine in terms of quality and in fact, the biggest surprise recently has been the quality of the red wines. But I decided to write about one grape in particular, and it’s white.
One of the most widely planted grapes in Hungary is a white grape called Olaszrizling. It is also known as Welshriesling or Walschriesling or Italian Riesling or a number of other names depending on where it it planted. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with the riesling of the Rhine, known as Johannisberg Riesling or Rheinriesling. Nor is it Welsh. The name actually comes from an old Germanic word which probably meant something like “foreign” and then came to refer to people in the southern part of Germany who had been influenced by foreigners, or influenced by the Romans. Eventually the word came to mean something Roman or Italian. Because the grape found its way into Germany from the south and was different from the riesling already known, it was called the foreign, or the Italian, riesling. Exactly where it originated is uncertain but it is believed to be an ancient grape.
Regardless of its confused history, Welschriesling is grown throughout much of central Europe and perhaps because of its familiarity, it does not seem to receive the respect given to other grapes by wine producers and drinkers. In many European countries the family has a few vines out back and in Hungary those are frequently Olaszrizling. You pull into a gas station, start talking with the attendant, and he tells you he’s got a couple of vines and he makes a few dozen liters of wine every year, and it turns out to be Olaszrizling. When asked about it, many serious winemakers tend to shrug. Perhaps I have a peasant’s taste, but I frequently like the wines. Olaszrizling is a high-yielding vine which might account for its wide distribution and popularity with home winemakers, and which means that it often produces bland wines. However, when given respect, it can produce very enjoyable light, floral and fruity wines with a pleasing crisp backbone and sometimes you even find delicious sweet wines made with this grape.
Since I had never really made any effort to learn about Olaszrizling in any depth, I decided to put some energy into exploring this grape. Here are some of those notes plus a few others I decided to add.
Pincészet Konyari - Loliense 2008. It’s a blend of Sauvignon blanc, riesling, chardonnay. OK it has nothing at all to do with Olaszrizling but I like it, I like the family, and their wines are good. This has a very fruity nose of melon and pineapple that’s followed up on the palate with really crisp, clean, tart fruit and a sparkling acidity with a long finish. Seems like it has a touch of RS but the winemaker says that it’s minimal and it’s just the ripe fruit I sense. They did a good job with this wine, combining the apple and grassy qualities of SB with the pineapple and tropical fruits that you sometimes get with riesling and the neutral but firm acidic base of unoaked chardonnay. Nice job all around. And their reds are worth a look as well, especially the Pava.
Pincészet Gál Lajos - Olaszrizling . This winery is a family affair and it seems like they’re all involved. The Olaszrizlingis a friendly and crowd pleasing wine with long buttery notes, some citrus, very full-bodied but still refreshing. Mostly done with used barrels according to my notes.
Pincészet Gál Lajos Egerszóláti Olaszrizling2007 – Nuttier and butterier (if there’s such an adjective). Nose and palate reminiscent of green apple peel with some citrus but at the same time there is a softness to the wine on the palate. It isn’t as austere as a Muscadet or a dry Furmint from Tokaj, for example, although it is equally lean and similar in texture.
Pincészet Gál Lajos Tagi Dulo 2007 – many of their wines had aromas of buttered nuts and this was again no exception. This wine also shows a certain leanness but it was a little unfocused. It didn’t reveal much fruit and the temperature was rather warm, which didn’t really help. It would be much better had it been cooler since the warmth emphasized the shortcomings. It wasn’t a bad wine however, and I’d certainly drink it if someone were to pour it.
Pincészet Gál Lajos Toberc 2007 – They have several hillside vineyards. The Dulo Tagi comes from one slope; this from the other. It had a riper quality, with more overt fruit than the other, with a hint of bitterness on the finish. I rated it a hair lower than the other one and not because I have some incomprehensible and bizarre aversion to finding fruit in my wine, but because the other wine seemed to offer more interesting reflections of its hillside. Then again, someone else would probably find the opposite. In any event, both wines were enjoyable if not earth-shaking.
Pincészet Gál Lajos Egerszóláti Olaszrizling2004 – they poured this to show me an example of their wine with a few years on it. This also shows their ambition as it takes a bit of chutzpah to try making ageable dry whites in general and here they were also using Olaszrizling. As it turns out, they’re not quite a threat to Gravonia, but kudos to them for trying. I picked up a dill note on this wine that I didn’t particularly care for. There was a bit of lingering sweetness from the fruit and the wine wasn’t oxidized, so I think that as they work with their vineyards, they will get to the point they’re shooting for. I didn’t ask for the sugar levels, but I assume it was fermented pretty dry. Having had wines that grow tired after only a year or two, I was rather impressed that the wine had as much life as it did.
Overall they did exactly what I wanted to see with Olaszrizling, i.e. they produced wines from their property that showed the character of the various areas. I’m not sure they were in the top tier of wine producers yet, but they will be. The new generation is still fairly young and just taking a major role in the winery, so I plan to watch them for a while.
Pincészet Heimann 2007 Viognier – Once again it’s not Olaszrizling but this winery deserves mention. In fact it deserves a whole post. He’s almost a proxy for the Hungarian wine industry itself. Germanic ancestry in years past, family business in the wine industry, lost most of it during the various upheavals, and now he’s set on experimenting, learning, and making wine that’s ever better. And it’s balls to the wall winemaking too – he’s planted sagrantino and has his first vintage coming out next year.
That sagrantino actually deserves a separate shout out. Some people, and even those who should know better, go on about how over the centuries the Europeans have learned which grapes do best in which areas. Of course most people realize that is bullshit. When confronted with someone who spouts such nonsense, simply ask when the given area grew sagrantino. At least in the case of Szekzard, we know! It was when Heimann planted it.
So I’ll mention his viognier. Golden colored, on the nose it is not as obviously floral as some. It’s quite a dry wine with hints of apricots and flowers on the palate and a dry finish with a hint of bitterness. Perhaps a bit short on the finish, but overall very enjoyable. Although his vines are high on the hilltops, he is still in an area that is warmer overall than other parts of Hungary, so his fight is with low acidity. Therefore, while this particular wine spent six months in barrique, in the future he will only use stainless steel, to help keep the wine as crisp as possible. I included this wine because it’s a perfect example of the Hungarian industry as a whole - competent winemaking already, learning from every vintage, incessantly pushing to new directions, willing to try and change techniques and grapes until the result matches the vision. He also makes really good goulash.
Heimann Pincészet Kerkaborum 2006 – this is his first Furmint. That’s of course the grape associated with Tokaj, some distance away, and I was interested to see how it performed in a warmer environment. For this one he used 500 L barrels and fermented with 6 g/l RS, so it’s a bit sweet. The nose showed some tarry notes and a touch of oak. The wine itself was interesting. It wasn’t as tart or austere as many Furmints I’ve tried and the oak seemed to sit on it, even though he had used large barrels. Perhaps it will integrate in a few years. I can see this wine having a market, but I think there are better wines although for a first attempt, it’s a good show. The rest of his wines were red, so I’ll leave them for now.
Varsanyi Pincészet 2007 Olaszrizling – this gets a mention because it’s the very first vintage of these four year old vines. Nice wine with a hint of apricot and sweet almonds that finishes dry and quickly. In truth, it’s quite short. Nonetheless, it’s got the aromas and flavor that could make a good olasrizling in the future. I didn’t rate this wine very highly but I think that it could be pretty good in years to come, as the vines mature.
Sike Tamás 2007 Olaszrizling – A touch of oak and bitter citrus, especially on the finish. Actually pretty good for having only been bottled two days before I tried it. Sometimes you want the wine to settle down for a month or several, but this was promising stuff. Difficult to say much about it though, because it’s going to be quite different when it settles down.
Válibor Olaszrizling 2008 – this is from Badacsonyi, which is a completely different area from the others. It’s on the northern shores of a huge and beautiful lake, so the climate is quite different from the drier regions elsewhere. Also, the lake reflects the sun onto the hillsides much as it does in vineyards along the Mosel. This wine is very tart and clean with a hit of almond on the nose and palate, perhaps some herbal notes but not clearly defined, overall slightly short but super clean. I can see this having an enthusiastic audience and it’s also a completely different iteration of Olaszrizling from the more fruit-forward styles you often find.
Valibor Pincészet 2008 Keknyelu – I’m including this just because, well, if I were to use words like “minerality”, which I can’t stand, I’d use it in this case. But as I said, I can’t stand that kind of language, so I’ll describe this in my own terms. The grape of course, is completely different from Olaszrizling, although the character of the wine is similar. These people have a different aesthetic than some do and it shows. This wine reminded me very much of a dry wine from the Loire, with an austere and uncompromising backbone of crisp clean acidity. It’s exactly the kind of wine I’d like to import.
Kreinbacher Pincészet – I first went to this winery a few years ago and if I remember correctly, it was still under construction or else had just finished because there was a lot of debris remaining about. They’re located in Somló and once again, we’re finding Olaszrizling. They’ve also planted Furmint because the soils here, like those of Tokaj, are often volcanic, although these have more basalt. But unlike Tokaj, they have also planted many other white varieties. Their signature grape is almost unknown anywhere else. It is called jufark, or “sheep tail” because the bunches look like a sheep tail. It tends to produce wine with both high levels of sugar and acidity. This particular winery is actually imported now – I went into shock the first time I saw them on the shelves in a NYC store, but it was inevitable I guess, since they were very commercially oriented from the outset.
Kreinbacher Pincészet 2007 Jufark – very nutty toasty nose and almost a sweet nutty quality on the palate. There’s even a bit of salinity on the long finish, with some notes of pear skins. A lot is going on with this wine and if you find it, you should try it.
Kreinbacher Pincészet Szt Ilona Olaszrizling 2007 – The wine is clean, slightly nutty even, with a long finish that’s got a touch of sweetness to it. It’s perhaps one of the best examples of Olaszrizling – very nice, no real flaws, and something you’d like to drink at almost any time. The only reason it isn’t selling more in the US is because people just don’t know the winery, the region, or the grape. But it should really have wide appeal.
Kreinbacher Pincészet Taposo Olaszrizling 2006 – this is a cuvee of different vineyards. It’s got more of the walnut quality on the nose, much creamier on the palate, with acid on back of the tongue, but not harsh in any way, more lemony really. The wine itself has more roundness than some of them and is again a very good example of the grape.
Laposa Pincészet Somlói Olaszrizling 2007 – also from Somlo, this is a completely different Olaszrizling. I smelled this for about 20 minutes because I found an unmistakable aroma of marijuana. I suspect a lot of the aroma came from the wood, as this was barrel fermented after which it was put into barrels 1/3 new, second year, and old. They came up with a brand name called “Friss” which would probably go for around $14 retail in the US. Once you get past the marijuana, you have a very fruity nose with citrus and even a little spice. Again pleasant drinking, with citrus and tropical fruit flavors. Fermented dry but still has a little over 1% RS.
Laposa Pincészet Somlói Olaszrizling 2008 - Olaszrizling with a new label – This has a lot of pineapple to it. Both aromas and flavors. It’s got tropical and citrus flavors and may be one of the “classic” profiles, based on my poor understanding of this grape. Nicely done wine with a long finish. Mixed fermentation in barrel and tank and I think they hit it with this one.
Laposa Jufark 2007 – Just by way of comparison with Kreinbacher, I needed to try their Jufark. It has a big fruity nose promising a big fruit follow up. Instead the palate showed a lot of spice on top of the fruit and a saline quality again, maybe some quince or an equally strange fruit, closing with a long finish that displayed lingering notes of butterscotch. Again a singular wine. Too bad this grape isn’t grown anywhere else because it really is unique. I’d like to know if the character I’m finding is the grape itself or the winemaking.
Csutorás Pincészet Olaszrizling - from Eger. Citrus, green apple, also a touch watery and lacking complexity. This wasn’t offensive but was the kind of Olaszrizling that makes connoisseurs turn up their noses at the grape.
So what to make of it. I’m looking through my notes and there are dozens and dozens but I really don’t feel like transcribing them all and the train is coming in. I was able to find several different styles of Olaszrizling and for me, the grape seems to be at its best when it is given a light touch with wood. Barrel fermentation seems to soften it, but it is never as crisp as something like Furmint and I quite like the unattenuated acidity it can display. The flavor profile shows citrus, pineapple and tropical notes but with less intensity than a Rhine Riesling. On the other hand, that may also give Olaszrizling wider appeal and may help account for its ubiquity in Hungary.