WTNs: Hungary

Szilágyi Pincészet Tokaji Hárslevelű Szemszúró Vineyard 2008
It smells strongly of bruised, green apples: a slightly oxidative aroma. Dry, a little bitter, spicy. Good.

Szilágyi Pincészet Tokaji Late-Harvest Semi-Sweet Hárslevelű Szemszúró Vineyard 2009
The aroma is very similar to the previous except sweeter (of course) and with lovely green pea and copper kettle aromas. Slightly sweet but acidic enough that it is very refreshing. This is a food wine despite being labelled late harvest. Good.

Szilágyi Pincészet Tokaji Furmint Esztáva Vineyard 2009
A dry wine, floral and spicy. A little bit strange palate in having a distinctly salty taste and in being slightly flabby despite having noticeable acidity and not a massive body of fruit. It sounds unbalanced; except that it is balanced. Good. Not great, but good enough that I won't mind drinking it again.

Hárs Pincészet Merlot 2009
A bio-wine; no oak that I can see, but dark fruit, a little bit scorched character (was '09 a super-hot year?); rich, soft fruit, ok acidity, fairly long finish. Not bad at all - seems to be an unspoofulated style, but the combination of a grape I prefer blended with, preferably, Cab Franc and a seemingly hot year is not one I really like, so my "not bad at all" might mean a better wine than I make it out to be.

Gajdos Pincészet Egri Kekfrankos 2008
Lovely. A Bio-wine and seems to have the liveliness and sheer fun of "natural" wine: the fruit is pure, unoaked and wears its heart on its sleeve; sweetly fruity, crisp, crunchy, moreish, wonderfully refreshing. I want more. Lots more.

Szilágyi Pincészet Tokaji Forditás Esztáva Vineyard 2005
A sweet Tokaji, slightly oxidative in style, very Granny Smith in style with that lovely copper kettle nuance, too. Though perceptably sweet, the acid bite makes this seem almost dry. Racy. Nice!

Hi Otto -

Thank you for the interesting notes. I do like trying new Hungarian wines from time to time, and not just sweet Tokaji, either. There seem to be many more promising wines coming from Hungary nowadays, and I think that this is a country that we will be hearing a lot more about over the next decade or so.

Speaking of Hungary, just had the 2007 Pfneiszl Kékfrankos Újra Együtt, Sopron over the last couple days. Relatively light-bodied, cherry and blackberry with some pepper notes, and food-friendly. Opened up even more on day two. Nice wine.

Thanks for reading. It's not only Hungary that is making stuff that should be talked about, but central and eastern Europe in general is a very exciting area.