Wine of the Weekend

Another gold medal went to Dúzsi Family Winery – but who counts? Tamás Dúzsi junior cannot recall if they have won 37 or 38 gold medals at Vinalies Mondial du Rosé in the past decades. Certainly, enough for the crown of the “Rosé King” as Tamás Dúzsi, the founder of the winery is often called.

“Regulars” at Mondial du Rosé

Vinalies Mondial du Rosé is an OIV competition organized in Montpellier, France annually. This year 264 wines received medals from 20 countries. Hungary received 3 gold and 5 silver medals. Dúzsi Family Winery is one of the gold winners this year, and they were always on the top list of Mondial.
– In 2019 for example they won 3 silver medals (for rosés made of Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc).
– In 2018 they won gold with Dúzsi Kékfrankos Rosé.
– In 2017 they won 5 silver medals (this year Merlot Rosé entered as well).
And we could go on and on.
More about Vinalies Mondial du Rosé

What is this “Pink Power”?

As you can see from the above examples, The Dúzsis make rosé of practically every black grape they have: Kadarka, Kékfrankos, Pinot, Cabernets, Merlot. Is there a pink cloud above them? Do they want to grab the easier end of wine production? On the contrary. As once Tamás Dúzsi senior explained to me, he prefers the challenges of rose making. He believes that creating great rosé wines does not require less effort and skill than making great red wines. “With a fresh, elegant, sleek rosé winemakers do not have the playground of long ageing and barrels of different level of toasting” – said Tamás Dúzsi about the creation of outstanding rosé wines. Rosé winemakers have much less tools, therefore they have to be more precise during the vinification process. Barrel ageing can mask the wine, with rosés the winemaker has much less time. “Monkeymilk” – as Dúzsi calls the very pale rosé – is hard to make, time passes fast like hell, the winemaker has to stay put and interrupt immediately. Tamás Dúzsi put his life on it: to capture probably the most fragile thing in winemaking – the pure essence of fruit. The family has made rosé selections – a collection of different varietal rosés, as in the cover photo above – since 2012.

More about Dúzsi Family Winery

How did Syrah arrived in Szekszárd

There was an old Hungarian foreign trader, who spent a lot of time in France, and after – or during – business negotiations, he loved tasting a spicy, fruity red wine. He soon learnt the name of the variety: Syrah. In his home town, Szekszárd, back around the year 2000, he planted some Syrah, and later, when he grew old and decided to sell grape, he was happy to sell it to Tamás Dúzsi. It was also the foreign trader, who persuaded Tamás Dúzsi to try to make Syrah rosé. So he did – and as we can see, with great success.

The grapes were harvested fully ripened in this old vineyard at the top of Alsónána. Fermenting and maturation took place in stainless steel tank. The wine is more complex than the average rosé wines, ideal to pair it with meals as well. Cherry and picante sour cherry on the nose and abundance of fruit on the palate with the typical spiciness of the variety, too. It fills the whole mouth yet there is no clumsiness at all.

Dúzsi wines are also available in Budapest at Dúzsi Wine Shop in Budapest (Ráday street 37.)

Dúzsi wines are available in several countries. If you can’t find an importer nearby, order Dúzsi wines from Winelovers Webshop. They ship to every European country!

Champion Dúzsi wines are available at Budapest Airport Memories of Hungary shop

Champion rosé at the ‘other’ Budapest Airport shop