"Red Balaton" – Oraculum Pinot by Borbély from Badacsony -

Borbély Oraculum Pinot Noir 2023, Badacsony, Hungary

May 8, 2025

“Red Balaton” – Oraculum Pinot by Borbély from Badacsony

We have introduced an “estate red” by Babarczi recently based on the panel tasting of the Hungarian Vince magazine. The tasting presented affordable red wines representing the “style of the house”. These wines are really worth trying, just like the star of our cover photo, which comes from Badacsony, one of the wine regions around Lake Balaton.

Back to black grapes

BalatonBor, the community brand of the wineries around Lake Balaton is made of Olaszrizling, the most planted grape of the region. It is white, just like the other popular grapes in the region, like Szürkebarát (Pinot Gris), Muscat Ottonel, Kéknyelű.
However, before phylloxera devastated the vineyards of Europe, Balaton was planted mostly with black varieties. Nowadays we live in an era when rediscovering ancient traditions and extinct varieties is a trend in the wine scene. Balaton producers have started to make red wines, not only to enlarge their portfolio and to have something for the duck and the beef dishes, but also because their forefathers did so.
Quite unexpectedly the winner of the above-mentioned panel tasting is a wine from Balaton by Zelna Winery from Balatonfüred. The wine is called Bárka and is made of Kéfrankos, Cabernet Franc and Merlot and indeed a great wine.

More about Zelna Winery
Meet Zelna in London at CEE Wine Fair

Borbély Oraculum Pinot Noir 2023

Vince magazine is quite close to me, because I used to be the editor-in-chief for 12 years. I know how rigorous the chief expert, László Romsics is, so I absolutely trust in the results printed in the magazine. What is more, my sister still works there, she is the tasting coordinator, and a guarantee of fair and professional judging. I remember our first Pinot Noir panel tasting, back in 2005. Well, almost all the wines were barely drinkable, our conclusion was that the Hungarian producers cannot handle Pinot Noir, this difficult variety.
Tasting Oraculum, I can admit that those times are behind us. The wine is excellent – as the magazine’s panel evaluated it, with 16.25 points out of 20, 4 stars out of 5.
“Vibrant nose with red berry fruits and a touch of vanilla and clove. Ethereal, lighter body, easy drinking, juicy, enchanting with moderate tannins and lively acidity. The palate is abundant in fruits: raspberry, redcurrant, sour cherry, forest fruits and again vanilla and clove.”
And where does the name come from? The idea came from Tamás Borbély’s wife. She suggested the name because an “oraculum” can predict the future, and maybe this wine can tell if black varieties have a future in Badacsony.