Long and ample feasts, endless dinners, eating is the most important pastime acitivity on Christmas days. And on New Year’s Eve the stomach filling will continue, thus it is time to have some rest and eat something simple. Kitchen Paprikash YouTube channel has a good idea, and we recommend some wines with it.

The blessed cabbage

Noodles flavoured with caramelized cabbage is a simple dish we used to eat on weekdays. For kids it used to be sprinkled with castor sugar, while for adults ground pepper is more popular. The ingredients are cheap, the dish is easy to make, and cabbage is full of C vitamin, plus to digest this vegetable, our body consumes more calories than we take in: so this is what we need after mindless eating. Watch the video to make it, our wine recommendations are below the video.

Everyday meal with our everyday wine

For simple dishes (with less interventions while being made) a less complicated wine is needed. Olaszrizling, the most widespread white wine of Hungary is extremely versatile: barrel aged, more complex ones are made along with crispy, fresh examples of the variety. Because of the distinct sourness of the cabbage we cannot pair a very simple, young wine, and some minerality is welcome. Borbély Family Winery has a single vineyard Olaszrizling from Bács mountain usually with 5 months barrel ageing. „Apart from the characteristics of the variety, ripened fruit and some subtle oaky tones in the background can be discovered both on the nose and the palate. The unique character of the terroir is also re- flected in this complex wine.”

Acidity rules

The more acidity a meal contains, the more acidity you will need in your wine. Somló mountain’s authentic variety, Somló Juhfark is famous for its sharp acidity, ideal for our cabbage dish. Tornai Winery has collected so many international medals and trophies, it is really a winery to watch. Tornai Aranyhegy Juhfark is a „true terroir wine, through which reflects very well the power of Somló. Plenty of minerality on the nose, harmonious fruit in the background in combination with oakiness. Very rich on the palate, compact. The char- acter of the soil is well mirrored, which is enriched by the oaky and Very rich on the palate, compact. The character of the soil is well mirrored, which is enriched by the oaky and ripe fruit flavours in the backdrop.”

Tarkabarka? Kadarka!

’Tarkabarka’ is a funny word not only for foreigners, even for us. It means ’overly colourful, patterned’. Though the word refers to visual character, it rhymes with the grape variety Kadarka, no wonder this rhyme was used in a popular song. Kadarka is a red grape usually giving a wine with elevated acidity. Kadarka is always spicy on the palate – a perfect match with our peppery cabbage dish. Frittmann Kadarka from Kunság wine region is fruity, light, spicy: „Lighter grenade colour. On the nose sour cherry and spices. On the palate it is fresh and light due to its medium acidity. The alcohol content is low, so as the tannins. The aromas are dominated by spices, and in the background we can discover red berry fruits. A vivid and versatile wine which can easily match with typical Hungarian dishes like stew, paprika chicken or the Hungarian ratatouille.”