Wines that have already proved their merit

Kristinus is a state of art winery, which has created a special wine brand for the festivals.
– Sziget Fehér (Island White) was awarded gold medal at the regional Balatonboglár wine contest, and a silver medal at the National Wine Contest.

• Sziget Rosé (Island Rosé) was warded silver medal at the regional Balatonboglár wine contest along with
• Sziget Vörös (Island Red) won a silver as well.

The agreement between the organizer of Sziget Festival and Kristinus Wine Estate does not include only the August festival of Budapest, but all the other huge events organized by Sziget Ltd. this year and next year, for example two August festivals at lake Balaton, B.MyLake (23–26 August) and Strand (23–26 August).
Florian Zaruba, estate manager of Kristinus commented the agreement: „We are delighted to serve the visitors of music festivals with great quality wines from Balaton. For us the most important element of the terroir is the wine grower, who produces noble wines for Hungarian people – who are and have always been good at partying…” He added, that their mission is to give unforgettable „Balaton moments” with their wines regardless of location, and he claimed that adding soda water to the wine (so to make ’fröccs’, the Hungarian equivalent of ’spritz’) is not a crime. On the contrary: some bubbles can help open aromas of their wines!

Some of the Sziget line-up this year

Pink (USA), Billy Talent (CAN), Kasabian (UK), Clean Bandit (UK), White Lies (UK), George Ezra (UK), Two Door Cinema Club (UK), Kensington (NL), The Vaccines (UK), The Strypes (IRL), Bad Religion (USA), Gusgus (ISL), Paul Van Dyk (D) and many others.

Full line up: szigetfestival.com

More about Sziget Festival (from Wikipedia)

The Sziget Festival (Sziget, pronounced [ˈsiɡɛt] ( listen), is the Hungarian for “Island”) is one of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every August in northern Budapest, Hungary, on Óbudai-sziget (“Old Buda Island”), a leafy 108-hectare (266-acre) island on the Danube. More than 1,000 performances take place each year.

The week-long festival has grown from a relatively low-profile student event in 1993 to become one of the prominent European rock festivals, with about half of all visitors coming from outside Hungary, especially from Western Europe. It also has a dedicated “party train” service (with resident DJs) that transports festivalgoers from all over Europe. The second event (1994), labeled Eurowoodstock, was headlined by performers from the original Woodstock festival. By 1997 total attendance surpassed the 250,000 mark, reaching an all-time peak in 2016 with 496,000 visitors from 95 countries (the daily capacity having been raised to 90,000). It is now being increasingly labeled as a European alternative to the Burning Man festival due to its unique features (“an electronically amplified, warped amusement park that has nothing to do with reality”).

In 2011, Sziget was ranked one of the 5 best festivals in Europe by The Independent. The festival is a two-time winner at the European Festivals Awards in the category Best Major European Festival in early 2012 and 2015.

The winner is barely known

The panels made up of experts and winemakers judged wines from Somló, Villány, Tokaj, Mátra, Lake Balaton, Bükk and of course from Eger and Debrő. Gold medals were awarded in all categories and also a high number of silver and bronze medals. The proud winner of this year’s Double Gold award is István Gecse with his sweet 2014 Debrői Hárslevelű. The unique climate, the various soil types and tradition all contribute to making Debrői Hárslevelű a special wine, typically in the off dry category, with rich fruit and strong character. The ripe grapes endow the wine with a complex nose and opulent fruit beautifully balanced by lively acidity. Feldebrő is a small village in Eger wine region, north-east of Hungary, and István Gecse makes his wines here. He is not really known out of his region, he does not even have a website, however he offers bed and breakfast with wine tasting opportunity.

61 medals altogether

Though Hárslevelű is one of the main grapes of Tokaj, the fanous wine region was rather under-represented at this competition, while Eger wine region was over-represented – but it is absolutely understandable, since the contest was held in a village called Verpelét, in Eger wine region. Out of the 15 gold medals, 9 gold came from Eger region. Somló won one gold with Tornai Hárslevelű, and Tokaj won three gold medals. Mátra, Bükk won one-one gold, too.

Hárslevelű – the linden leaf wine

Hárslevelű is the other main grape variety in Tokaj besides Furmint, however it is widely planted all over the country, it can be found even in the southern Villány. Late to ripen, like Furmint, but with looser bunches. It has a thicker grape skin meaning that in dry vintages the botrytis attack it more slowly. Its wine is more aromatic than Furmint with delicate linden honey aromas, sometimes elderflower. Elegant, subtle wine can be made from Hárslevelű with refined acidity, creamy texture and a touch of spices.Its name is literally ‘linden leaf’ and comes from the shape of the leaf which resembles that of the tree. According to some recent DNA researches Furmint is the parent of Hárslevelű.

Pajzos Tokaj Late Harvest Hárslevelű from 2013 is  one of the gold medal winners. A charming wine with tropical and floral fragrance and with the fine spiciness of the acacia. On the palate the honey notes are followed by a silky marzipan flavour.

Opinion from the jury and the winners

„The Jury had their work cut out as there were so many top quality Hárslevelűs entered this year from all over the country ranging from dry to sweet”, said András Főczény, President of the Verpelét Appellation. „15 gold and a large number of silver and bronze medals were awarded and the Chairmen of the panels have all confirmed that the wines in the competiton showed a good level of consistency.”

„Thanks to the special microclimate Botrytis may be a wonderful gift of nature”, said István Gecse, whose 2014 sweet Debrői Hárslevelű has won the Double Gold award.

János Bolyki’s 2013 Meta Téma Harvest I, II and III wines have all won silver and gold medals. „I have entered three Hárslevelűs and all three has won some medal. The grapes come from the same plot, the 3,7 hectare Középbérc-vineyard and from the same vintage. The difference lies in the timing of the harvests. There were three harvests, one in the middle of October, one at the end of October and one at the beginning of November with correspondingly ascending residual sugar levels.”

Nincs egyedül tézisével

Nálunk is gyakori, hogy szakértők inkább fehérboros pohárban kóstolnak pezsgőt. Maximilian Riedel, a neves Riedel pohárcég ügyvezetője régóta azon van, hogy hivatalosan is elavultnak tekintsék a flőtét, és a legtöbb champagne-i pincemester, többek közt a márciusban Budapesten fantasztikus mesterkurzust celebráló Jean-Baptiste Lécallion, a Roederer vezetője is flőte-ellenes.

A szépség nem elég

A flőte mellett a szerző szerint annyi szól, hogy

• Ideális mennyiség fér belé, ezért szeretik a cateringcégek.
• Kevesebb esély van rá, hogy kiömöljön belőle az értékes ital.
• Jól mutatnak benne a felszálló buborékok (főleg mivel a legtöbb flőte belsejében alul van egy diszkrét pont, amely még inkább serkenti a buborékok áramlását.

A megoldás: kirobbanó buborékok

Nem újkeletű vélemény, hogy a pezsgő buborékjai bizony ízeket hordoznak. Ez lehet az egyik kulcsa egy champagne-i sommelier, Philippe Jamesse poharának. A fiatalember a reimsi Les Crayères vezető sommelier-jeként támadást indított a flőték ellen, és egy helyi üveggyártóval, a Lehmannal létrehozta az ideális poharat, amely legszélesebb pontján 88 mm, a szájánál pedig összeszűkül. A kutatások szerint az ízhordozó buborékok a felszínen pukkannak ki, s mivel itt a legszélesebb pontig töltjük a pezsgőt, egyszerre számtalan buborék ontja az aromákat, amelyek az összeszűkülő száj miatt összegyűjtve maradnak, hogy beleszagolva maximálisan élvezhessük őket.

A cikk további pezsgőkészítőket szólaltak meg, melyek mindegyike a flőtével szemben a fehérboros kelyhet vagy egy-egy speciális, pezsgőre kifejlesztett kelyhet részesíti előnyben, és azt is többen elmondják, hogy az évjáratos pezsgőnek más pohár áll jól, mint a nem évjáratosnak. A cikkben szavazásra buzdítják az olvasókat, amely szerint jelenleg a 15 000 szavazó több mint 57%-a flőte-ellenes.

Az eredeti cikk itt olvasható

The Zoo’s guest animal: a fox from Szekszárd!

Rosé is a refreshing wine in the summer, and Szekszárd has its own style of it, called schiller. It’s a Swabish tradition, winegrowers used to harvest red and white grape together, resulting a darker pink wine, which was often referred to as ’Fuxli’, because of the colour reminding of the fur of a fox. In Szekszárd most of the winemakers used to make Schiller only from Kadarka. This tradition came to life when producers of Szekszárd decided to bottle their cchiller wine under the name of Fuxli. And this ideal collaboration is not yet complete: they even promote each other’s Fuxli on every label to urge consumers to taste the other Fuxli’s as well!

In the current vintage (2016) six wineries made Fuxli: Eszterbauer, Garai, Heimann, Hetényi, Sebestyén and Takler wineries. Eszterbauer made its Fuxli of 75% Kadarka and 25% Kékfrankos. Flowery and spicy, light and vivid wine, ideal for a summer night.

July 12th: Klezmer music and Eszterbauer wines

The next occassion to enjoy a concert within the Zoo is the performance of Budapest Klezmer Band – and before the show you will have chance to sample one of the best Kadarka in Hungary. Known and loved across Europe and the United States, the Budapest Klezmer Band is a remarkable performer of traditional Jewish music. The melodies they play come from various regions of Central Eastern Europe where the culture of Jewish music has deep roots. The band’s founder and leader, Ferenc „Fegya” Jávori was born in Mukacheve (Munkács) and received the Kossuth Prize for his accomplishments. On this special occasion the band is accompanied by the well-known actress, Kátya Tompos as a guest singer.

Tickets: 3700 HUF (12 euros)

Full program and more info

Traditional and modern at the same time

Though the label looks ultramodern at the first glance, in fact it represents the traditional Swabish cross stitch embroidery and its motifs. These motifs can be recognized in all of the labels of Etyeki Kúria. Simple and great, and it can be varied forever in endless mutations!

Zweigelt – stunning inside as well

The grape Zweigelt is usually considered to be a mediocre, everyday, light wine not to be kept for years – at least in Hungary. In Austria we can find amazing, long aged, complex Zweigelt wines, and Etyeki Kúria Zweigelt 2015 is closer to the neighbours in its style. Fresh, fruity, elegant, yet complex, refined and quite long.

Wineries at the festival

More than 20 wineries will offer their rosé wines in the centre of Villány, where most program will take place. Sauska, Csányi, Bock, Attila Gere are just some of the big names you can find in one place.

For accommodation, click here, you will find a list of hotels and bed and breakfast houses, only in Hungarian, but if you write to them, most of them understand some English.

The festival is free admission.

Get a glimpse of Villány Rosé Festival and Marathon!

(Last year it was a rainy weekend unfortunately, but the mood of the runners was sunny!)

More information (only in Hungarian, but we are happy to help):

Not only delicious, but healthy as well: Gere and ChocoMe

Gere Attila Winery in Villány has worked together with ChocoMe chocolate manufacture for a while, and the resulting product has a full range now.  Gere-ChocoMe Strawberry Raffinée is a real specialty. The black chocolate covered strawberry is not only delicious, but healthy too, because it contains grape seed extract rich in antioxidants. The bonbon is available with cherries, and there is a hazelnut and a pecan one without sugar. The almond bonbon is made especially for the restaurant of Gere Winery, called Mandula Restaurant (mandula = almond). So here you have some sweet reasons to visit Gere Winery in Villány!
Available in Gere webshop

The fruitful friendship of two families: Béres and Szamos

Szamos is a chocolate manufacture of a long history: Mátyás Szamos established his company in 1930, when he learned his craftmanship from a Danish expert. Szamos worked out some exciting combinations with Béres Vineyard and Winery from Tokaj, enchanting sweets like late harvest Magita Cuvée filled white chocolate, or marzipan pralines filled with Tokaji Aszú and aszú soaked grape berries. Szamos manufacture has a completely renewed visitor centre in Budapest which is well worth a visit, and they also hold chocolate courses regularly, where participants can create their own chocolate. (The website is only in Hungarian, if you need help, write us.)

Béres wine filled Szamos bonbons are available at Béres winery, of course, and at the festival of Bor, mámor …Bénye on 6–9 July, you can even participate in a chocolate course at the winery!

4 days of a multicultural event

Great wines, food and company, Bor, mámor …Bénye is a brilliant festival in the Tokaj wine region! And with both an extra day and some of Hungary’s top artists and musicians including Kiscsillag, Kerekes Band, Pátkai Rozina, Meszecsinka, Cabaret Medrano, Tóth Viktor, Jónás Vera Experiment. Mainly folk, jazz, blues, world and fusion. And if you fancy leaving the gardens of Erdőbénye to explore the area, then you can go rowing on the river Bodrog or take a bike tour in the Zemplén. Plenty of tastings, talks, workshops, events for children. A great way to discover Tokaji wines and Zemplén flavours at 13 Erdőbénye wineries with their favourite restaurants including the region’s classics: Oroszlános, A Boros and Sárga Borház. Plus a couple of top coffee roasters!

Blending, vertical tasting and and many other

You can create your own blend in Sanzon Tokaj, and taste the wines of the 15 year old Béres Winery, and also at Béres you can explore the sky and the stars with a team of professional astronomers.

Early bird tickets

For the detailed program and venues check the official website of the event

Thanks for the text to Katherine Chapman, who runs a calendar of events in Tokaj region: https://tokajwineregion.com