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"Aranysárfehér" and organic champagne |
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Trip to the Izsák champagne factory
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Central Europe's largest winery with processing unit and storage facilities, this factory has seen better days. During the communist years, the factory produced 15-16 million bottles a year, mostly for the Russian market. After the change in regime, ownership changed hands at first belonging to the producers then was bought by a German company, Ecker. Under Ecker they sold the Walton, Pompadour, Claudus, Viola, and the kids champagne brandnames, as well as the recipes, to the German-owned Henkel-Söhnlein who dominates the Hungarian market. ...
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The Great Villány Visit (part 4): |
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Gere Attila, Mandula Restaurant, Diófás Tér. 4.
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Villány is really developing nicely! This is also impart thanks to Gere Attila. Mandula Restaurant and Wine Bar will be opening at the end of November. This was the location of our most recent wine tasting where we tasted Gere's best wines. The restaurant was completed most recently under the renovations. Next to it is the brand new hotel with 12 superior rooms, a swimming pool, wellness, and spa. Up till now, Villány did not have a hotel, visitors could only choose between pensions and bed and breakfasts. Villány was really lacking in luxurious rooms, tranquil surroundings, and lots of extras to help visitors relax. They completely renovated the old pension and built a cigar room and wine vault. ...
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The Great Villány Visit (part 3): |
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Gere Tamás & Zsolt Winery
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Gere Tamás Winery and Pension can be found in the centre of Villány, at Diófás Square, directly opposite Gere Attila’s winery. The two Geres are related in many ways being both second cousins and in-laws (Gere Attila married Gere Tamás’ sister-in-law). Upon arrival, you immediately feel the place’s wonderful ambiance with its large walnut trees outside, old-style buildings on the premises, and modern tasting room and pension. The winery was established in the 1980s and today it operates as a real family business. Working beside Gere Tamás is his son, Gere Zsolt, from the next generation of vintners and his daughter, Viktória, who works on the other end of things in the restaurant/lodging department. ...
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The Great Villány Visit (part 2): |
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Sauska Pincészet
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This winery has peaked my curiosity for quite some time now. I’ve always been interested in the "black sheep" in the wine industry, those who crave something new, those people and places that do not choose the trodden path. Sauska winery is not one of your "typical wineries". Their philosophy is to strive for perfection both at the vineyard and during processing, always following their high standards. To the locals, they may seem a bit irrational with their nightly harvests, the lengths they go to for maximum sterility, etc., but there is a reason for all that. They produce nice, clean cut wines. I must admit, I was also interested to find out more about the winery because of its ties to California (the years I spent living in California made me a die hard fan of their wines) and I had been hoping to find some similiarities to the Calfornian wines here. And boy did I! …
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The Great Villány Visit (part 1): |
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Beginning with Bock
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We decided to take on the huge and very important task of tasting all the wines at Bock. First we took a look around the winery and observed all the harvesting activities that were going on. Interesting enough, all the harvesting work takes place right at the winery and not at another location, as most wineries tend to do. And it looks like this is how it's going to stay. ...
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Tasting at Buda Castle |
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Report on Buda's Wine Festival
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We dedicated two days to wining and dining at the nation's largest wine festival. It was a high-end and well-organized festival held at a beautiful location with 202 wine stands and filled with people. The entrance fee for this was 2200 forints and included a tasting glass, a glass holder, and a 200 forint tasting ticket. Tickets were the form of currency used, though some stands accepted cash as well. We had just two rules during the festival. One was was not to taste any of the wines from Szekszárd—hard as that may be—because we knew we would be there the following week for their wine festival. The second rule was not to taste wines from Villány, because we can drink that any time since it's so close by. ...
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Ördögkatlan Wine Festival |
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The inside scoop on the first Ördögkatlan Wine Festival
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The first Ördögkatlan Wine Festival was held August 7-9 at four separate locations: Kisharsány, Nagyharsány, Palkonya, and the Szoborpark (Statue Park). Personally, my favorite location was Kisharsány and there, the Vylyan Winery. Art and wine. This type of festival is quite a new conecpt for Vylyan, but in other parts of the world, the pairing of these two together has proven to be quite a match. In Napa Valley, Califonia, for example, it is quite common to see a exhibit or gallery on the grounds of the winery or even a museum where the art of wine making is introduced. And not to mention the music! A stage is set up, tables stand between the rows of grapes set with checkered tableclothes, a bottle of wine, picnickers sit on a blanket in the grass, and mellow jazz plays on stage. Vylyan and Bárka Theater did a wonderful job of bringing this same wonderful ambiance to our wine region. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! ...
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Wine club begins in September |
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Be a member!
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We are starting a club called the Wine Tourist Club. Our goal is to bring people together, to expand our knowledge of wine, and to learn from each other through sharing our experiences and opinions. Our wine tasting tours will be hosted here in Hungary and abroad. We will taste lots of wine and have a lot of fun together in the process. I must admit, I love wine and want to become more familiar with more wine regions, taste more and more types of wine, and share my experiences with more people. It's about travelling, having fun, meeting old freinds, making new ones, talking into the night, a little bicycling, a little relaxing at the spa, cellar tours, good food, beautiful scenery, interesting people, and the thing that brings us all together—the wine! ...
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