Baron Steiner & Baron Esterházy on one table

April 24, 2022

Baron Steiner & Baron Esterházy on one table

Some aristocratic touch for the weekend

One of the above mentioned aristocrats is was not actually a baron, just a skillful gambler… We will tell you the story below. Eszterbauer Winery from Szekszárd wine region has released a new premium Bikavér, a selection of the best wines from vintage 2019. Szaletly restaurant in Budapest paired it with roast beef in Esterhazy style, an iconic plate of Hungary. Plus some news: Eszterbauer Winery has just won a gold medal at VinAgora wine contest with Grand 2017, and 5 gold medals at Szekszárd Wine Contest!

Photo by Miklós Acsai, VinCE Magazine

As we reported earlier, Eszterbauer Winery has gone through a rebranding recently: they could keep the main concept of featuring ancestors, forefathers, yet the labels look fresh, elegant, and what is more important: the different categories can clearly be distinguished from each other.

Báró Steiner Bikavér 2019 is a member of the premium line, a blend of selected lots from a great vintage. A concentrated, great wine with intensive sour cherry and ripened black currant on he nose and abundant in berry fruits on the palate as well. Ripened, integrated tannins, velvety texture, long finish. As the food pairing article of VinCE Magazine points it out, the barrel aged, elegant wine is in perfect harmony with the sweetish taste of the beef and the charactestic flavour of the oven baked carrot garnish of the meal.

Eszterbauer – a good example of rebranding

But who is Báró Steiner?

Báró stands for Baron, a noble title. Eszterbauer Winery has some connection to a noble family as we reported about the 108 year old Kadarka – the parcel of Kadarka vines used to belong to Baron Antal Augusz. So was there another baron connected to the family? Not really… Steiner was the brather-in-law of János Eszterbauer’s grandfather. János, the owner of the estate remembers him, as a child he often saw the man visiting his grandpa with his horse called ‘Csillag’ (‘Star’) and having some glasses of wine together. Steiner brother-in-law survived the 1st World War and decided to enjoy life as much as possible: he was good at playing with cards, and since he used to practice his skill with wealthy people, he usually won a lot and could lead a hedonic lifestyle. His nickname “Baron” comes from here.

János Eszterbauer has a stong passion for local history, he researches documents and he often finds “treasures”of the past. This is a collection of funny names of his ancestors and friends, in Hungarian, google translate may help, if you do not understand, I am happy to translate, just write to me.

More about Eszterbauer Winery

108 year old Kadarka

Roast beef – created by Esterházy?

According to one theory Esterházy roast beef is named after a member of one of the most important aristocratic family of the Hungarian history, Pál Antal Esterházy was the founder of the Hungarian Academy of Science – among other titles. Another theory is that the meal was created by a no name cook and he attached the name only for marketing reasons – it might happened to several plates.

Recipe by Fearless & Fresh

Recipe by Boss Kitchen

Szaletly – a great place to be

We could hear the name Szaletly several times recently, everyone refers to it as a great place with good kitchen and superb wines. ‘Szaletli’ means little garden house, and in fact Szaletly Restaurant and Garden is located near the green City Park (‘Városliget’) and offers Hungarian dishes made of carefully selected local ingredients (the above mentioned carrot is also from a small grower). The wine list features mostly smaller scale wineries of great quality, like Sabar and Borbély from Badacsony, Csetvei from Mór, Steigler from Sopron, Bukoly Marcell from Eger, Babarczi from Pannonhalma, but it also includes well established brands like Heimann from Szekszárd, Vylyan from Villány, Sauska from Villány and Tokaj or Patricius from Tokaj.