From super modern to super premium – Lajvér, innovation from Szekszárd

February 7, 2017

From super modern to super premium – Lajvér, innovation from Szekszárd

The last vintage proved to be outstanding in the hills of the village Szálka, near Szekszárd, in the vineyards of Lajvér Estate. The preserve the real value of the outstanding vintage of 2016, the winery introduces serious innovations within the winery as well. Lajvér is a relatively young winery, which works very well both in the category of easy going wines for instant consumption, and in the premium segment with selection wines. What’s their secret?

Breathtaking view, sectrets in the heart of the hills

Though the winery is not situated in Szekszárd, in the centre of the wine region, its location is fabulous: there is a lovely lake nearby, hills and vineyards in every direction, and the tiny village of Szálka is just a few minutes walk. The ultramodern winery building has only the smallest part above the ground – though this visible part is fascinating enough –, most of the winery is inside the hill with spacious vinification halls.

2016 vintage – hard but promising

Attila Nagy, the chief winemaker and manager of the estate is really satisfied with the fruit of the last vintage. „It was hard, we spent a lot of money and energy on prevention and protection, but the work was rewarding: we could harvest healthy, beautiful grapes.” The first wine in the bottle was a rosé from Menoir grape, a charming and fruity, lovely rosé. The next two wines in early November were two blends: a rosé blend with Kékfrankos base, in which Kékfrankos gives nice, crispy acidity, and Cuvée Blanc, which is the blend of Sauvignon Blanc and the aromatic Cserszegi Fűszeres. „First many people were surprised by this combination, but our boldness proved to be a good decision, by now this blend is one of our most popular wines.”

Regarding the red grapes, only Syrah was of lesser quality – Syrah loves heat, however 2016 had less hot periods while there was a lot of rain –, it is used only for rosé in vintage 2016, the other red grapes – Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon – were all beautiful!

2012 was fantastic, and 2016 wil be the second chapter

„We were lucky with 2012” – said Attila Nagy. The vintage was great, and we did not have market pressure on us to release the wines too early. Patience paid: 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon was evaluated as a Top Wine of Pannon Bormustra, the national wine contest, and this wine was selected to be the „Wine of the 650 year old University of Pécs”. Kékfrankos and Bikavér from 2012 was also successful, it is on the wine list of numerous top restaurants. 2013 vintage has a selection wine as well, a Bordeaux Blend, „we hope our consumers will like it as much as they liked 2012.”

2016 vintage is great in every aspect, and to make the maximum of it, the winery introduces several innovations in the period:

A new pressure which is even more gentle with the berries,
New machinery to enable more gentle moving of the fruit,
A laboratory with the most modern equipment,
Trained experts for the laboratory and other departments,
Solar panels to produce environmental friendly energy,
A furnace that runs on dry vines, thus the winery becomes self supplying,
Purchase of 200 new barrels of 225 litres and 500 litres – all made of Hungarian oak.

Why Hungarian oak?

„We used American oak so far, and meanwhile we were experimenting constantly, and we have learned that American oak gives popular aromas to the wine more easily, however Hungarian oak has more dense structure, which results in slower maturation – but it has the adventage of the wines with a longer period ont he peak!”