Hungarian Wine Recommendations

On the way to Budapest and I know fuck-all about Hungarian wine other than sweet Tokaji. Which AFWE wines should I look for in restaurants, both varieties and producers?

Thanks!

Visited Zoltan Demeter some years ago and enjoyed a lot his dry, single-vineyard white Tokaji. They were either Furmint or Harslevelu. I have bottles of the 2010-11 vintages which are still drinking very well.

I don’t know much about Hungary either but I have been selling Evolucio dry Furmint for a long time and we sell a few bottles a week, it’s on the shelf for $13.99. I haven’t had it in a while, I need to revisit it.

Hi Mark - look for Kiralyudvar’s tokaji furmint sec. An excellent value and extremely versatile food wine. One of my secret weapons on overpriced wine lists - the somms always smile and nod when I order it, despite the reasonable price, as if to say “yeah, you get it.”

Sarah,
Take a look at Frank’s Blue Danube Imports WebSite. They have a good selection of Hungarian wines.
Tom

Check out the “Tasting Table Budapest”. They have a standard wine tasting, but can also do custom tastings. Cheese and charcuterie boards available. My wife and I visited in 2016, thought it gave us a pretty good overview of Hungarian wines(standard tasting) and a pleasant overall experience. Enjoy!

Too much to really put into one post but I’ll give you a few suggestions b/c I don’t think there are many posters who have had much Hungarian wine.

BTW, if you’re in Budapest Sept 6-9, make it a point to go to the wine festival at Buda castle. It is a can’t miss event if you want to taste a lot of Hungarian wines. Kind of like the Wine Experience for Hungarian wine.

Furmint is the main white grape used in Tokaj but it’s not widely grown elsewhere. It tends to be grassy and a bit like Chenin Blanc when it’s done well, but it also tends to oxidize. A lot of it is done in barrels, so while it also has some things in common with Melon de Bourgogne, it’s not exactly like that. The guy who owns Kiralyudvar also owns Huet and when he started he had Istvan Szepsy and Zolton Demeter as consultant and wine maker but they’re both gone. Last time I was there the vineyards had gone to hell and I thought they were closing, but they weren’t. The wine can be pretty good but it has had serious oxidizing problems over the years.

Szepsy sets the standard for the area and has pioneered single-vineyard bottlings, which lots of people are doing. St Tamas is one of the most revered hillside sites, so if you want a Burgundy comparison, look for bottles from there. Because there’s not a big market for sweet wines, a lot of producers are also making still wines these days - that’s a very recent phenomenon though and not all are great. Oremus, owned by Vega Sicilia, puts out one called Mandolás, which has improved by leaps and bounds over the past 20 years as it was pretty sad initially. Royal Tokaj also makes a tolerable one and their sweet wine has gotten much better too.

Smaller producers you should look for include Attilla Hommona, considered the best by some, Demeter Zoltan, Judit Bott, and Alana. And don’t be locked into Furmint. Hárslevelű is considered by some to be a superior grape and it can make a very good still, sparkling, and sweet wine on its own, although it generally plays a supporting role to Furmint.

Outside of Tokaj there are lots of grapes you should just explore because they’re not grown here. One of the most common is Olaszrizling, which is seemingly grown by everyone in the country. In the suburbs you find people with a few vines in the back. It’s frowned on by many because of its ubiquity, but it can be a charming grape. Kracher makes a super expensive sweet wine from it in Austria, so some people respect it. It’s grown all over the country, so just like Pinot Noir in California, there are bad and good versions of it.

There are quite a few white grapes actually, more than red which makes sense in a mountainous country. Irsai Olivér is a very aromatic grape that can be flabby but from good producers can be crisp in the way that a good Muscat can be. There is Muscat incidentally, but that’s not as interesting since it’s widely available. Cserszegi Fűszeres is another one, and it’s actually a cross of Irsai and Roter Traminer so it also has a floral, grassy note. It’s mostly grown in the central plain regions and tends not to be super crisp. I think it became popular under the communists because it’s got good disease resistance, but the communists destroyed pretty much everything they touched, so people are trying to work with it these days to develop more interesting versions.

The red grapes can be interesting sometimes but often depend on French varieties like Cab Franc, which they do well, Merlot and Cab Sauv. For me, far more interesting than another good Cab is something like Kékfrankos, which is known in Austria as Blaufränkisch. The best I’ve ever had come from Eger, which is a beautiful town high in the mountains that gets cold as hell in the fall and winter. Best producer would have been Grof Buttler but Bukolyi, the owner, lost the place in 2011 and after bankrupcy, the wines aren’t the same. His son Marcell Bukolyi however, has land nearby and makes wine under his the family name name Bukolyi. Its “natural”, made in small quantities, and worth looking up. IMHO that region is the top area in the world for the grape, but the politics keep the wines from becoming as great as they can. The most respected winery in the region is probably St. Andrea Pinceszet, and you can find their wines in Budapest fairly readily. They’re clean and well-done. (You’ll see “pinceszet” on many wines - it essentially means bodega or cellar or winery.) And you should look for some Egri Bikavér, which became a nasty joke under communism. It’s actually a good blend of several varieties and much like CdP or Bordeaux, once had a stellar reputation. Some people have devoted themselves to restoring its name and Bulkoyi was well on his way a few years ago.

Farther west is the Lake Balaton region. Szent Donát winery makes a few whites, including the aforementioned Olaszrizling, which is also known as Welschriesling, and also Furmint, which is very different in this warmer region than it is in the mountains of Tokaj. It’s warm enough to make reds but the lake is so big and it’s surrounded by hills, which makes all kinds of interesting micro-climates. Konyári has to be the top producer there and you can find their wines under their own label as well as under the brand Ikon. They really make some good stuff so you should look them up. They have some Malbec and I don’t know if they’re making it as a monovarietal, but it’s in their blends, which are mostly Cab-based but seriously good.

Szekszárd was once one of the most famous wine regions - it’s a bit south and west and considerably warmer than the hills of Eger to the north. It is also one of the regions that claims to be the birthplace of Bikaver as there are legends both there and in Eger regarding that cuvee. Szekszárdi Bikavér is a little more lush than the version in the north. At any event, the wines can be pretty good - Franz Liszt used to have them shipped to Vienna. Heimann is one of the best and most interesting producers there - he’s experimented with growing Sagrantino and lots of other things. He’s also interested in developing the local grapes in addition to the Cab-family and Syrah wines, so has put a lot of energy into Kadarka and Kékfrankos, which I really think should be the signature red grapes of Hungary. The thing is, some of those colder regions also make stellar Syrah, so it’s good they’re working with it.

The most southerly region would probably be Villány, where they’re known for reds. The most famous wineries would be Gere Attila, Wunderlich, and also Sauska. Sauska owns property in Tokaj as well and makes nice sparkling wine from Furmint and Hárslevelű.

As far as grapes, other grape to look for is Kékoportó, or Blue Portuguese, which can make medium to full bodied earthy wines when done well. It’s kind of randomly grown in red wine regions and not always good, but sometimes quite wonderful.

You might want to try a couple wine shops. “Bor” means wine, so Bortársaság is a wine store and there’s one on Lánchíd utca, (utca means street or road) which isn’t far from the castle - I’ve walked it a number of times. They have a good collection. There’s also one on Kossuth tér, a little farther. Both worth visiting.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck.

I need to bookmark this for the next time I visit.

Is the tasting room up on Castle Hill still open? There were some caves in the hill that they gave tours of, and then there was a tasting at the end. I think it may be closed now.

Thanks, all, for your replies and especially for the Hungarian wine primer.

Robert Pavlovich has some recent highlights on Hungarian wine on his IG page.

I had a fantastic bottle of 2013 Kiralyudvar Furmint Sec a month ago. Got even better after a couple days open. And I don’t think you can lose trying anything with Szepsy on the label.

And if all else fails, PM Greg (above).

Sok szerencsét!

Just book a table at Mák Bistro, they will answer all your questions on Hungarian wine.

Thanks, all!
Sounds like I will be there sometime after Mark. Would appreciate your observations when you return. Safe and enjoyable travels!

a) Echoing the recommendation by Greg: anything by Szepsy.

b) Anything from Somló, especially so if it is made from Juhfark. The smallest wine region in Hungary, but also making probably the most distinctive, mineral whites. They usually cost next to nothing.

Yes. I didn’t mention that region because it’s not as well known - same with a few others. It’s a small region that is basically volcanos. Kreinbacher put some serious money into their winery and they’ve been joined by a few others. Szabo, Fekete, Somlói Apátsági, and Tornai are probably the best-known. Juhfark is a high-acid wine that can be really delicious. There’s no single method of working with it some of the producers use barriques, some large casks, and most of them also produce Furmint and Hárslevelű, but it also produces some of the best Olaszrizling, which I would definitely look for.

Drank two glasses of 2013 Szent Tamás Szőlőbirtok és Pincészet Nyulászó 1-es hordó Tokaji Édes Szamorodni with foie gras last night. I know that it is botrytised Tokaji and the sommelier said that it was an auction wine. What else should I know? It was delicious, with excellent acidity to balance the sweetness.

And I’ve heard some very good things about the Weibel Green Hungarian !!
Tom

Had a good time in Budapest and Tokaj when I was there in July. Visits to Demeter Zoltan and Bott in Tokaj were great, and found some great spots in Budapest…

One I’d recommend is Konyvbar & Restaurant, which translates to book bar, and strikes a nice balance between a casual and serious, smaller spot for lunch or dinner. I got to meet and spend some time with the owner/manager, Mihaly, who’s definitely well informed and leans AFWE for sure. He sampled me on a lesser known, almost sour dry Furmint that impressed me at another wine bar he’s connected to. Forget the name, but that’d be another good one. Can get it for you if you want.

I was blown away by this Szepsy wine:

Know that your are a fortunate guy . . .

I knew that after the first sip, which is why I ordered an encore. In fact, I’m sitting outside the restaurant, which is closed for the afternoon, drinking another glass at a table that they so graciously set up for me on the sidewalk.