Walk-around tasting of novelties and great favourites on 5 October in Szekszárd

Barbár, the iconic red blend of Heimann Family Estate has “received a brother”, Barbarossa. We had the chance to taste it: exciting, elegant, layered, definitely a new expression of the Szekszárd terroir, and at the same time worthy of the great flagship wine, Barbár. The new, 2020 vintage of Barbár and the new Barbarossa will be available to taste at a relaxed, familiar event at Heimann Family Estate in Szekszárd, along with the new Heimann & Fiai Bikavér.

Welcome in the family! A relaxed tasting on 5 October

Heimann family awaits regulars and new fans at a relaxed walk-around tasting at their estate in Szekszárd, in the picturesque Iván valley. Zoltán Heimann, the founder will explain the “baptising” stories of Barbár, Barbarossa and Franciscus wines in his enchanting baritone voice, Ági, his wife will provide mouth-watering bites of seasonal ingredients and delicacies like buffalo, while Zoltán Heimann Jr will present his low intervention, single vineyard Kadarka and Kékfrankos wines along with the novelty: the first vintage of Heimann & Fiai Bikavér.

The novelties

The producers have not revealed much of Barbarossa 2022, all that we know is that the wine was bottled on 16 July. As mentioned above, we had the chance to taste, though it was a very quick glance at the wine, since it happened during our our event (7th Hungarian Gettogether) and being the organisers, we were regrettably too busy to pay proper attention.
As for Heimann Barbár 2020, we know that it is the flagship wine of the estate made only in outstanding vintages, of Cabernet Franc, Kékfrankos, Merlot and Tannat. The wine is always a selection of the finest barrels. Vintage 2020 is not available on the webshop yet, but we can find earlier vintages back to 2016 also in magnum format on the renewed website of the winery.
Heimann & Fiai Bikavér 2022 is a “village wine” from Szekszárd from vineyards with loess on red clay bedrock. “Bikavér is our heritage cuvée based on Kékfrankos. Hand harvested grapes, spontaneous ferment with whole bunches, aged in traditional barrels.”

The 5 finalists are announced

This award is considered to be the most prestigious Hungarian award by many experts, because the winemakers themselves choose the best one. First the previous award winners nominated, thus we received a list of 50 top winemakers. Then the voting period took place, the 50 nominated winemakers voted for their favourite among them.

On Monday (17 April) the organizers announced the top 5: Sarolta Bárdos (Tokaj Nobilis, Tokaj), Frigyes Bott (Bott Winery, Garam wine region, Slovakia), Zoltán Heimann (Heimann, Szekszárd), István Ipacs Szabó (earlier Vylyan, Villány, now Pécs University Wine Estate), Zsolt Liptai (Pannonhalma Archabbey Winery). Except for Frigyes Bott all of the finalists have already been in the top 5, and Frigyes Bott has been among the 50 best several times. You might be surprised at the home country of this latter producer: why is Slovakia included? The answer is simple: the award is for Hungarian winemakers not only living within the borders of Hungary, but also for Hungarian winemakers living in other countries of the Carpathian Basin.
Now the 50 winemakers will vote again, they will decide who gets the “Hollywood Walk of Fame”-like star on the pavement of Zrínyi street in Budapest. Announcement of the winner: 21 April.

See the previous winners here

Let us introduce one of the finalists: Zoltán Heimann

If you hear him speaking, you might think he is an opera singer or at least an actor. Capturing voice and polished way of speech. Zoltán Heimann is undoubtedly one of the most educated and sophisticated wine people with a passion for art. Certainly it would not qualify him among the best ones, but Heimann Family Estate has become a leading estate of our country with wines like the icon Barbár. Zoltán Heimann places extreme emphasis on local grapes like Kékfrankos – Alte Reben Kékfrankos is a great example –, and he made immense efforts to put Kadarka grape back to the wine map of Hungary. He regularly organized conferences, workshops and planted an experimental vineyard to select the best clones of Kadarka. At the same time, he is open to the varieties of the world, he introduced Viognier and Sangrantino in Szekszárd wine region – this latter one contributes to the blend of Franciscus.

Read more about Heimann Family Estate