Memories of Hungary wine selection

Last week we published a piece praising the wine selection of Heinemann Duty Free shop at Budapest Airport. Our article was a top read writing and we received some comments as well. A reader of ours suggested to take a closer look at the other shop with wines at the airport, called Memories of Hungary – so we did.

Memories of Hungary is undoubtedly a great store to go if you wish to purchase quality gifts for your precious ones. Hand crafted jevellery, a large selection of the world famous Herend porcelaine, a wide range of our obligatory red pepper. As for the wines, at the first sight the verdict is that the portfolio could be more diverse – especially in case of Tokaji Aszú with only one brand. On the other hand we could find interesting and great wines. Vylyan ‘Bogyólé’ is a good example: the Beaujolais-like wine of the Villány estate is already sold out in most places, but here we can still find a few bottles. You’d better hurry!

From Kékfrankos Rosé to ‘Fürtike’

And we can find a good selection of wines from Dúzsi Family Winery from Szekszárd. Tamás Dúzsi, the founder is often called ‘The Rosé King’ since rosé wines have a special importance for them. Dúzsi believes that rosé is not a side product, its not a wine for beginner winemakers, on the contrary: rosés are more fragile, they are more sensitive and the winemakers should be even more careful. Kékfrankos Rosé 2021 won gold medal at International Rosé Championship  and at Berliner Wine Trophy. It is crispy, fruity, delicate wine made of grapes from Leányvár vineyard, an old vineyard with soil of loess rich in hummus. As one of the UK distributors, Hungarianwinehouse.co.uk of the wine describes it: “Powerful, yet deliciously balanced aromatic Rosé. Fresh floral and fruity aromas on the nose or strawberry and grapefruit with slight nutty and mineral notes. Great palate with fine tannins and refreshing acidity. Aromas of ripe stone fruits, pineapple and grapefruit.” It costs only 7.50 euro, great price for a champion.
For the red wine lovers we can spot Dúzsi Grábóc Cuvée, a Bordeaux blend of great complexity, abundant in spices (bay leaf, pepper and oriental spices) and red berry fruits. Dúzsi Grábóc Cuvée is gold winner at Berliner Wine Trophy and Asian Wine Trophy and it also got a silver at Decanter World Wine Award with 90 points.
Winelovers on the white side should try Fürtike, a wine made of a rare grape variety. ‘Ezerfürtű’ (‘Thousand Bunches’) is a crossing between Traminer and Hárslevelű, and this grape gives the base of ‘Fürtike’ (something like ‘Little Bunch’). Citrusy flavours, refreshing aromas, a charming wine to bring colours to the grey weekdays.

‘Fresh blood’ on the shelf

Apart from the above mentioned Bogyólé or Fürtike we can find a peculiar wine called ‘Nászút helyett’ meaning ‘Instead of the Honeymoon’. A Cabernet Franc – more precisely a Villányi Franc – of very limited quantity from István Ipacs Szabó, who used to be the winemaker of Vylyan. The story of the wine is on the label – yes, the grape comes from a parcel bought from the money that was supposed to spend on the honeymoon of the young couple…
How come that we can find such rarities in an airport shop? Péter Bogár, a young and talented member of the team has definitely has a role in it. He is responsible for the wine selection, and though he cannot make all the decisions himself, he can shape the portfolio to a certain extent. He works on offering more and more exciting, small lot wines especially from young, talented producers. He is proud of the wines from producers of the Junibor association (a nationwide group of young winemakers). Péter Bogár constantly improves his wine knowledge, as he says, he needs first hand experience of the wines to sell them. WSET courses, tasting thoroughly at Budapest Wine Festival and at other events is a must for him. He has plans for the near future regarding the wine selection, and listening to his passionate speech, I am convinced that Memories of Hungary will become an important place for wine connoisseurs.

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