Hét Kakas farm table by Kristinus, South Balaton

Maybe your grandparents are long gone, but you cherish the memory of sitting at the table, together, a big family, then the smell of the meat soup, the flavours of the sun-ripened cucumber, the sweet cherry pie that you could not stop eating. Well, you can have that experience – seasoned with natural wines by Kristinus. Hét Kakas (Seven Roosters) is a “farm table”, not a “real restaurant”. You can sit at the table for 12, under the sky and the walnut tree, every Saturday evening, from April to October. Plus, some extra, “pop up” events are held, like Sunday Lunch next Sunday (19 July).

Hét Kakas farm table

– Traditional recipes, locally grown vegetables and fruits, meat of locally bred animals
– Natural, biodynamic wines made by Kristinus
– Location: Kéthely (South Balaton), Kéthelyihegy dűlő 2249/4 (about 1 hour and 45 minutes from Budapest by car)
– Contact: +36 30 722 4993 (the guys speak English, don’t worry)
– Since only 12 people can participate in a Saturday dinner, a bit more (around 20) at the Sunday Lunch next week, it is crucial to make your reservation as soon as possible.

https://reservours.com/hetkakas/tablereservation

Do you want to spend September in the paradise? Then contact Kristinus, a biodynamic estate on the south shore of Lake Balaton. Paradise on earth, where cows, hens, bees, humans and other creatures live together, and wines are made in the most natural way.

Places are limited!

Here comes the announcement of Kristinus:
Ready to connect with the soil, the vines, and an incredible community this autumn?
Send a brief introductory email letting us know why you want to join a biodynamic harvest, along with your CV/experience to:
– info@kristinus.hu (Cc: sales@kristinus.hu)
– Subject Line: Harvest Team 2026 Application – [Your Name]
Spaces are limited as we keep our harvest team tight-knit and highly collaborative. Apply today to secure your spot in the South Balaton sun!
We offer accommodation and food during harvest.
September 1-30

How is it like working at Kristinus?

Read about the experiences of two French guys, who spent three months at Kristinus in 2021.

Two French guys in a Hungarian vineyard

A summer wine by Kristinus

“Watch glass after glass disappear”

Kristinus Siller – a Best Buy: 96 pts from Wine Enthusiast

Natural, organic and biodynamic wines

Confetti claims to be the largest natural wine festival in Poland, but actually it is one of the largest in Europe for sure with more than 100 wineries from 16 countries, including Hungary. Csetvei Cellar (Mór / Somló) and Kristinus (South Balaton) will also be present at the 6th edition of Confetti. The event looks so awesome, that it might be worth converting to organic to be able to participate!

“Being precise does not mean standardizing” – it is an important sentence from Mirtha, an Italian winemaker. She means that natural wines are not accepted to be unclean, the era of the “funky” wines is over, natural wine lovers want great terroir wines without faults. You can listen to Mirtha and others talk about “that cool thing in wine that everybody loves and she does not” here, within the Confetti Questionnaire.

Date and time: 19 Apr 2026, 12.00–19.00 (from 12.00 for trade members and from 14.00 for all guests). There is an afterparty from 19.00 to 22.00!
Venue: Stara Zajezdnia, Św. Wawrzyńca 12, 31-060 Kraków, Poland
Tickets: trade: 129 PLN / person (approximately 30 EUR), 199 PLN / person (approximately 47 EUR)
More information

The wines from our cover photo

Csetvei Juhfark 2024, Somló

Csetvei Cellar is located in Mór wine region, but they own a vineyard in the volcanic Somló wine region as well. This wine is made of Juhfark, the emblematic grape of Somló. Gentle pressing, spontaneous fermentation on the skins, aged in stone clay amphora, unclarified, unfiltered, bottled without adding sulphur. Spiciness and dried southern fruits, raisins in the sip. A total of 340 bottles were made.
More about Csetvei Cellar

Kristinus Liquid Sundwoner 2022, Balatonboglár

An orange wine made of 40% Gewürztraminer, 20% Pinot Gris, 20% Welschriesling and 20% Chardonnay. Fermented spontaneously, long skin contact (30–90 days), aged in several vessels: amphora, used oak barrel, stainless steel. Unclarified, unfiltered, bottled with a small amount of sulphur (33 mg/L). “Sundowner means a drink that you enjoy in the late afternoon, around those few minutes when the sun disappears behind the horizon – a feeling that reminds us of this complex and structured orange wine.” (Movin Agency)

More about Kristinus

Trade tasting available for Bortársaság club members as well

If you are a wine connoisseur expat living in Hungary, the spring tasting by Bortársaság is an event for you. Though you should join Bortársaság Club first, but then they can join a tasting where all the winemakers will pour the wines personally.

Did you know about Bortársaság?

BorTavasz = WineSpring
The most important annual event of Bortársaság wine store chain.

Why is there an engine in a venue called Eiffel?
BorTavasz tasting takes place in the so-called Eiffel Műhelycsarnok (‘Garage’) or Eiffel Art Studios named after the famous architect, Gustaf Eiffel, whose company built Nyugati pályaudvar, one of the railway stations of Hungary. The actual building the venue of the tasting was not designed by Eiffel.

Bortársaság = something like Wine Society
Not by accident. The founder, Attila Tálos spent years in London and got obsessed by wines through the British Wine Soicety.

How many shops does Bortársaság have?
16 in Budapest and 8 in the country.

What about the international selection?
Many icon wineries are represented, like Krug, Chateau Margaux, Chateau d’Yquem, Antinori, Vega Sicilia, Graham’s, Penfolds, Kaiken, Opus One.

And the Hungarian selection?
Currently there are 70 wineries in the portfolio with many renowned wine estates, many of them are family wineries, but also with new wave wineries like the biodynamic Kristinus. Attila Tálos, the founder / owner also has an organic winery of 7 hectares in Balatonfüred wine region called Gellavilla.

How to join the club? Simply buy wines for more than 10 000 HUF online or in any of the Bortársaság shops, provide your email address, and get started. More information here.

BorTavasz

Date and time: 31 March 2026, 18.00-22.00
Venue: Eiffel Műhelyház, Mozdonycsarnok (‘Engine Hall’), 1101 Budapest, Kőbányai út 30.
Tickets (for club members): 20 000 HUF (until 5 March) or 25 000 HUF (from 5th March)
Some of the exhibitors: Etyeki Kúria (Etyek), Gál Tibor Winery (Eger), Gere A Winery (Villány), Heimann Family Estate (Szekszárd), Kristinus (South Balaton), Pannonhalma Archabbey Winery (Pannonhalma), Patricius Winery (Tokaj), Sauska (Tokaj, Villány, Budafok)
More information (in Hungarian)

Kristinus from Balaton and 93 other producers

Taste natural wines from 94 exhibitors from several countries at the next edition of RAW, the international wine exhibition of wines with low intervention. The biodynamic Kristinus will be their pouring their stunning unfiltered and unfined wines like Liquid Sunshine.
Cover photo: Florian Zaruba, CEO of Kristinus and his dog

 

“RAW WINE is a community of people who grow/make/sell/drink clean wine cultivated in a clean environment – pure, fermented grape juice with few, if any, additives, grown without the use of synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides, which means plants and soils flourish.”

Date and time: 12.00–18.00, 30 November 2025
Venue: Markthalle Neun, Pücklerstraße 34, 10997 Berlin-Kreuzberg (U1 Görlitzer Bahnhof), Germany
Tickets: 25 EUR for trade members and 45 EUR for consumers
More information

Kristinus wines are available in many specialty wine bars

Kristinus Irsai Oliver in Venice wine bar

High scores for Kristinus wines in Falstaff wine guide

Taste Kristinus Kelet (Falstaff 93 pts) at Karrakterre in Austria on 17 May

Bock, Csetvei, Etyeki Kúria, Kristinus, Gróf Degenfeld

Orange wines are undoubtedly trendy, exciting and have their own personality. Though the style comes from the heart of Europe – Croatia, Italy and Slovenia –, and Georgia is another country must to be mentioned, the term “orange wines” comes from British sommeliers, and the Orange Wine Day comes from the United States, where they are especially keen on dedicating days to everything. Let us introduce 5 great orange wines from Hungary.
Cover photo (without bottle shots): Pexels / Robin Kumar Biswal

What is orange wine?

Long macerated white wine, which gets a special, orange-like colour due to the prolonged skin contact. There is an epicentre of orange wines in an area of three neighbouring countries, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. Now orange wine is made in many countries, from New Zealand to Hungary.

Amber wine

In Georgia, one of the oldest wine countries of the world, long maceration is a tradition. Here the wine style is called amber wine.

Orange Wine Festival in Vienna and in Australia

A whole event is dedicated to orange wines twice a year, once in Slovenia (Izola) and once in Austria (Vienna). The Vienna event takes place on 25 November in the Museums Quarter. Tickets are available for 55 EUR / person. Etyeki Kúria from Hungary will also participate.
In Australia in the so called “orange wine region” a series of events will be held in the second half of October.
More about Vienna Orange Wine Festival
More about Australia Orange Wine Festival

Amber revolution – the book

Simon J Woolf wine writer wrote the first book about orange wines, a comprehensive story of “how the world learned to love” this style. Woolf won the Louis Roederer Best Wine Book of the Year prize in 2019, and New York Times Best Wine Book accolade in 2018. “Learn about the backstory – the many millennia of history in Georgia, the traditions in Friuli and Slovenia. Discover how these wines are made, why they taste different, where to buy & how to enjoy. Includes food matching tips and a guide to 180 top producers worldwide.”
Buy the book here

Who started?

National Orange Wine Day was launched by Amanda Claire Goodwin wine expert in 2018. ” “I have a special interest in natural wines and lesser known / emerging wine regions. I particularly chose to focus on wines and producers that are practicing sustainability, organic, and/or biodynamics practices.” – comments Amanda on her website.
More about Amanda Claire Goodwin

“Watch glass after glass disappear”

“Crunchy and dynamic, this biodynamic, minimal-intervention from Hungary’s Lake Balaton region has minerally notes alongside raspberries, currants, and cranberries. It’s a light-bodied red that could easily be mistaken for a rosé, and its slightly earthy undertone keeps things not only balanced, but also endlessly interesting. Serve it with a slight chill and watch glass after glass disappear.” — Emily Saladino

This Siller is a steal

Kristinus Siller 2022 made of Zweigelt has recently received 96 points at Wine Enthusiast blind tasting. The organic, natural wine fermented spontaneously, unfined and unfiltered, contains only a tiny amount of sulphur. At 18 USD it is a steal!

See Kristinus Siller on WineEnhusiast.com

Do you know what Siller is?

As Elizabeth Gabay MW describes it in one her articles: “Siller (Schiller in German) is one of the oldest styles of rosé made. Its name means ‘to shimmer’ referring to the colour being between red and pink. Few people make Siller today, with the fashion for an international pale rosé.” Nowadays Siller is a rosé with darker pink colour, made with longer maceration (24–36 hours usually). The method comes from Swabian winemakers and traditionally it was produced by picking and fermenting red and white grapes together, but today it is made from red grapes only.

More about Kristinus Wine Estate

Vino Vero Venezia

The trendy Vino Vero wine bar has a large selection of natural wines from all over the world, what is more, all of them are available by the glass. A friend of us has spotted Kristinus Irsai Oliver recently on the chalk written wine list. The biodynamic winery is situated in the South shore of Lake Balaton, and the estate is worth visiting: do not miss the spectacular animal farm and have lunch in the bistro with only local ingredients.

Wine bar with a personal touch

“Vino Vero Venezia opened in 2014 and today offers one of the best selections of natural wines in the world, in just a few years it has become a meeting place for producers and drinkers where they mingle in the discovery of our wild and vast array of natural wines by the glass, the ultimate motif of conviviality!” The founders were inspired by a Tuscan biodynamic winery, where they ae partners. Their story is displayed along with other staff members on their website. Read about Matteo, Mara, Stella, Camilla, Nicola and Esmeralda, so that you can feel you are visiting friends when you finally get to the bar. Vino Vero has a sister wine bar in Lisbon.

More about Vino Vero Venezia

Oliver by Kristinus

Irsai Olivér is one of the most popular white grapes in Hungary, but, in spite of the usual simple, fresh, aromatic wine, Florian Zaruba and his team created an orange wine with much longer drinking potential, than that of a typical Irsai Olivér. The website of Kristinus is under construction, but you can find information about their wines on Bortarsasag.com, one of the most important wine store chain and webshop in Hungary. The shop offers 2023 vintage of the wine, but apparently 2021 is still in good shape. (2021 vintage received 91 points by Falstaff Wein Guide.)
“Lively and pure aromas, restrained grape flavours, fine haziness and a light palate. Here is the new vintage of Kristinus Oliver, the third with us. Another step towards lightness, with the white grape flower aroma of the variety matching the fresh acidity and loose texture. Also modest in alcohol content, at barely 10%. The organic yield of young vines growing on limestone and loess soil was hand-harvested, then the fresh must was fermented spontaneously along with the grape berries in cooled tanks. After a few months of ageing on the lees, it was bottled unfiltered and unfined with minimal sulphur in early April 2024.”
Find the wine on Bortársaság webshop

Get insight into Hungarian fine dining scene!

The annual open-air event is a paradise for wine connoisseurs and foodies, since there are several top-quality wineries, like Béres (Tokaj), Dereszla (Tokaj), Gere Attila Winery (Villány), Holdvölgy (Tokaj), Kristinus (Balaton), Sauska (Tokaj and Villány) and others, and the wines can be paired with samples of top gastronomy, like the Michelin-starred Costes and Essência Restaurant.

Dates: 22–25 May, 2025
Opening hours: Thursday: 14.00–23, Friday and Saturday: 11.00–23.00, Sunday: 11.00–19.00
Venue: Budapest, Millenáris Park
Entrance tickets are available from the festival webshop or on the spot.
Daily tickets cost 18 EUR / day and it includes the entrance, the music programmes and usually some vouchers as well for samples of certain products. But generally, food and drink portions are to be paid to the exhibitors.
Payments are done by card or festival card.
More information

The stars of our cover photo

The restaurants offer a special menu, the portions are usually smaller than they would be in the restaurant, but at least guests can try dishes that they cannot afford often. Essência Restaurant will offer the following:
– Sour cherry soup, goat cheese and duck ham
– “Essência Bifana” (pork sandwich and fennel)
– Coffee and white chocolate mousse
Our cover picture features none of these above, the dessert is “bird’s milk” (floating islands) by Essência, but for the coffee and white chocolate mousse will be as spectacular as this, for sure. The wine from our cover photos is available in Essência, and since Holdvölgy is one of the winery exhibitors, it will be available at the festival as well.

An enchanting intuition

Intuition No2 Sárgamuskotály is an off-dry wine of Holdvölgy with 11.4 g/L sugar from a unique vineyard called Nyulászó. The restaurant still has 2022, but the current vintage is 2023.

“In extraordinary vintages, we are able to harvest the Muscat à petits grains grape not just for a sweet lot, but also for a dry wine from first-growth Nyulászó. This wine is characterized by sophisticated terroir notes and perfume scents. On the nose, rose petal, strawberry, and a hint of lemongrass dominate the aromas. On the palate, white peach, pomelo, and lime take the lead.”

More about the wine

More about Holdvölgy

As we reported earlier, Kristinus and some more Hungarian wineries will participate in the Austrian “natural wine paradise” in Eisenstadt on 17 May. And, before Karakterre event, these wineries will present their wines in a chic wine bar in Vienna on 16 May. No registration is needed, tasting tickets will be available on the spot for 20 EUR.

Date and time: 16 May 2025, from 6:00 PM
Venue: ATLAS Bar & Kunstgalerie – Neustiftgasse 51, 1070 Vienna, Austria

“It’s a night about community, music, food, and the beauty of living wines. Whether you’re a curious beginner or a natural wine nerd – this is your kind of gathering. And the host is none other than one of Vienna’s most beloved bars – ATLAS Bar & Kunstgalerie. Let’s raise a glass together before Karakterre!”

Participating Hungarian natural wine producers:

– Bencze, Szent György mountain, Badacsony wine region
– Kolonia52, Szent György mountain, Badacsony wine region
– Hummel, Villány wine region
– Tomcsányi, Somló wine region
– P.A.N.K., North Balaton
– Kristinus, South Balaton

Liquid Sunshine – the wine of the cover photo

This orange wine, a blend of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Gris (Szürkebarát in Hungarian) has been one of the greatest successes of the South Balaton biodynamic estate for years. Both varieties, which are selected from the high, windy, Parapli vineyard overlooking Lake Balaton, underwent spontaneous fermentation with skin contact. After blending, the components were aged in amphora and used barrels, then, one and a half years after the harvest, the wine was bottled unfiltered and with minimal sulphur added.
The bone-dry palate is energetic and vibrant. Spices, mustard seeds, tangerine juice and orange peel come across. Such is the taste of sunshine at the southwestern end of Lake Balaton, on the Kéthely estate of Kristinus.
(Text by Bortársaság, a retail and online wine shop selling Kristinus wines among others)

Taste Kristinus Kelet (Falstaff 93 pts) at Karrakterre in Austria on 17 May