New release: Babarczi Merlot 2021 from Pannonhalma
The new vintage of the multi-award winner wine is available in limited quantity!
2020 of Babarczi Merlot won gold medal at VinAgora international wine contest plus it was selected the Best Merlot of the contest. It won another gold at Winelovers Wine Awards. In October this Merlot won 5 stars at the panel tasting of Vince magazine, an influential print magazine in Hungary. Vintage 2021 is now available – we suggest to order quickly, only 2400 bottles were made.
Only at top restaurants
The family winery is gaining more and more recognition with their red wines, even though they have long been popular and well-known for their white wines. The first vintage of this Merlot was 2017 and it was a big hit immediately listed by top restaurants like the Michelin star Borkonyha and the legendary Gundel restaurant. Vintage 2021 has just been released and it will only be available at the winery and top restaurants of Hungary.
Vintage 2021
As we keep saying, Pannonhalma wine region is really a region to keep an eye on. It is a small wine region with only 638 hectares under vines, the climate is moderately dry with moderate heat, short winter, the soil is mostly loam, loess, sand and forest soil. Winemaking goes back to as early as 996, when Benedictine monks settled on the mountain of Pannonhalma.
Babarczi Winery cultivates 65 hectares, the estate centre is in the village of Győrújbarát. According to the legend the main building of this estate centre was built of bricks from the castle of Győr, which was demolished by the Turkish troops.
The crispy Sauvignon Blanc, the juicy Irsai Olivér, the sleek Rhine Riesling and the other whites are the favourite of many winelovers, but the winery seems to reach higher peaks with the red wines – for example with Marianum, a Cabernet Franc (with gold medal at Berliner Wine Trophy and VinAgora).
Regarding Babarczi Merlot 2021, the wine was aged partially in French and partially in Hungarian barrique for 10 months. Just like for its 2020 predecessor, the grape was healthy and fully ripened. As Zsuzsanna Babarczi commented, probably 2021 is even more fruit forward, and it has a lot of potential for certain. Only 2400 bottles were made.