Over the long May Day weekend the City Park is given over to the simple springtime delights of the proletariat, so Rob suggested we go sample some hardworking plebian wins from the Alföld (the "lowlands" or Great Plains of south-central Hungary) at the one-day tasting at the neo-neo-Baroque Agricultural Museum, which looks like this on the outside:
Possibly the most grandiose venue for a wine venue I've ever been to, if you don't count the exterior of the Buda Castle, which contrasts nicely with the humble workaday wines that the Alföld tends to produce - not because the winemakers don't know what they are doing, but because of the sandy soil and dry climate it's hard to grow grapes that pick up a lot of interesting flavors and acids, although they make lots of perfectly good table wines. Also, they are spread over a giant wine-producing region which is mainly given over to crops and grassland and probably have difficulty establishing a collective market persence - which presumably is why they are having this showcase event in the capital, as most of them, smaller producers, are priced out of the more important wine festivals.
So we three, intent on uncovering hidden gems after the spectacular 2011 harvest were admitted for free: Rob because he is a wine-maven-about-town and knows everyone in the wine world, me because I am evidently a celebrated gastro-ish-bogger (see, it's not a complete waste of time and might even have tax benefits) and Dougal because he's from Scotland via Australia and claims he's moving to Trieste (and was duly warned: Trieste is near the top on my short-short list of cities to visit).
We started out tasting the range of the Gál winery from the southern tip of Csepel, roughly Budapest's equivalent of Long Island, except it's in the middle of the Danube. Light and airy whites and rosés -good for those who like such things on a hot summer day when a beer just won't do.
Frittman, probably the region's closest thing to a major known producer of premium wines, winning the highly politicized winemaker of the year award a few years back, had his youthful marketing machine out in force. He has a solid selection of white and roses, but I've noticed lately that the taste of the steel tank technique tends to come through more than that of the grapes themselves. Occasionally he comes out with a compelling red at a reasonable price. I have to see if I can find some of his kadarka - kind of a Magyar analogue to pinot noir, and equally fickle, before the sweet cherry season starts in a few weeks: two very distinctive Hungarian flavors that for some reason complement each other very well, at least for me.
Top prize, by general consensus of our pan-anglophone cohort went to Köpcös Pince, which not only had a full bodied Harslevelű: Rob and I had a good row as to the perceived and fundamental elegance of Harslevelű vis-á-vis Furmint, its overbearing stepsister in the crucible of Tokaji Aszú-making, from under whose shadow it only occasionally gets to escape. I say Harslevelű is an intrinsically finer wine and is widely appreciated as such. Rob agrees on the first point but holds that it is a minority view, which is why there is so little of it. Anyway, dry Harslevelű goes very well with a freshwater fish, especially trout. Köpcös doesn't seem to have a website, but this is what the winemaker, Zoltán Léder looks like:
A walking testament to the quality of his own product. If you run into him on the streets of Csengőd, ask him to sell you some. Also he had some excellent Kékfrankos, the 2008 vintage of which accompanied the following day, to great effect, Móni's and my last roast duck breast until the autumn leaves wither and die once again.
Honorable mentions go to Birkás and Balla Géza, the latter right over the Romanian border, both with a range of quality products.
The exhibits were closed because you can't have tipsy people learning about sugar beet cultivation processes, but from around behind the corner was peeking Kincsem, the greatest racehorse of all time.
One of these days I should have a look around when they're not slopping out booze.
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