hemina Archives - Hungarianwines

4 Cool Wine Terraces for the Heat of the Summer

Hungarianwines.eu — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 13:30:39 +0000

Pannonhalma, Mór, Balaton, Tokaj

Content:
1. Pannonhalma Archabbey – yes, the abbeys love wine!
2. Homola Paloznak – jazz is all around
3. Csetvei Cellar & Garden – heaven for music & wine geeks
4. Sauska – fine dining on a flying saucer

Pannonhalma Archabbey – yes, the abbeys love wine!

Do you know how much a “hemina” of wine is? “Hemina is the proper daily amount of wine – if you drink it, you find God, but it is not enough to make you vulnerable for the devil’s temptation.” According to the explanation of the team of the winery, Saint Benedict’s rule does not define the exact amount… (Read more here.) So, if you enjoy well chilled wine on the stunning wine terrace of Pannonhalma Archabbey Winery, you do not have to have remorse, as long as you consume your own Hemina…
Where: Vár 1. Pannonhalma, 9090 (Pannonhalma wine region)
How to get there: It takes approximately 90 minutes by car from Budapest via M1. By public transport the best way is to take an IntercCity train to the city of Győr, then a bus to Pannonhalma (‘vár főkapu’ stop).
Opening hours: The terrace is open from Thursday to Sunday. Thursday: 12.00–18.00, Friday: 12.00–19.00, Saturday: 12.00–19.00, Sunday: 12.00–18.00. It is worth combine the terrace tasting with a visit to the World Heritage Archabbey.
What to taste: The whole range, including Hemina, which has a white and a red version. The white is made of Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc (vintage 2023), a creamy, juicy Burgundian style wine. Also, do not miss the icon red wine, Infusio! This wine has collected countless acknowledgements, the latest one is a gold medal from the 44th Hungarian National Wine Contest (vintage 2022).
An event not to miss: A jazz session on 25 July with Sárik Péter Trió & Szőke Nikoletta – Jazz Request Show. Tickets are available here or contact the organisers.
More about Pannonhalma Archabbey Winery
Get a glimpse of the atmosphere with our own video of our Gettogether event on the terrace!

Homola Paloznak – jazz is all around

Lake Balaton is an obligatory place for every tourist and also for Hungarians – we cannot live without the unique, light blue colour of the lake. Now, imagine a place, which is slightly farther away from the buzzling beach, yet it offers the stunning view of the lake, and the wine terrace has its own buzzling life all the summer (and longer). Outstanding wines, great food and unparalleled mood.
Where: 8229 Paloznak, Vincellér utca 0534 (Balatonfüred–Csopak wine region)
How to get there: By car it takes approximately 90 minutes from Budapest via M7. By public transport tha fastest way is to take a “sebesvonat” (faster passenger train) from Budapest, stop at Csopak and walk about 20 minutes.
Opening hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 14.00–21.00, Sunday: 14.00–20.00 (closed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday)
What to taste: Homola Winery makes stunning bottle fermented sparkling wines made of our flagship white and black indigenous grapes (Furmint and Kékfrankos). Olaszrizling, the grape of Balaton is obligatory here, and do not miss the Kékfrankos still red wines, they impressed Andrii Stetsiuk of JamesSuckling.com!
An event not to miss: There are smaller events frequently like DJ sessions in the vineyard every Saturday (from May to September), also on 30 July (find more info here), but the top attraction of the Paloznaki Jazzpiknik with foreign and Hungarian performers. This year among others we can see the French Zaz and the Danish Lukasz Graham. The event takes place from 31 July to 2 August, find more information here.
More about Homola Wine Terrace

Csetvei Winery & Garden – heaven for music & wine geeks

Krisztina Csetvei and her DJ husband, Nesta have created a music and wine crow funded project again this year, we wrote about it here. On 18 July natural wines can taste the wines and listen to songs of the LP in Székesfehérvár in “Már Vártalak”, and the vinyl will be available there as well. More info about the event here. Hovewer, the cellar itself is more than worth visiting in the small town of Mór. The cellar is surrounded by the vineyards, and Kriszti is happy to show guests around.
Where: Mór, Hársfa utca hrsz.737, 8060 (Mór wine region)
How to get there: It takes approximately 75 minutes by car from Budapest via M7. By public transport the best route is to take an InterCity train to Székesfehérvár, then a bus to the town of Mór.
Opening hours: Prior booking is needed.
What to taste: Napholdcsillag (meaning ‘Sun-moon-star’) is the first Csetvei wine we have ever tasted, a legend, a wine not to miss. The 2020 vintage is made of Chardonnay, Szürkebarát (Pinot Gris) and Ezerjó. Also, taste the new RAW/KA Róka 2024 orange wine made with spontaneous fermentation, unfined and unfiltered.
An event not to miss: The couple offers several wine programmes, for example the whole day “Napholdcsillag” event with home-made lunch on the terrace, wine quiz and horse drawn carriage ride or a complex harvest programme. Read more about the tastings and programmes here.
More about Csetvei Cellar
Get a glimpse of the atmosphere with our own video of our Gettogether event in Csetvei Garden (a few hundred metres from the cellar).

Sauska – fine dining on a flying saucer

“Stars in the sky, stars in the glass. Sparkling wine bar above the Tokaj vineyards with a view of the universe.” The other end of the country, the other way of feeling good. While the previous three places are relaxed, why-not-sit-on-the-grass places, Sauska Tokaj is a stylish restaurant and wine terrace with award winning architecture and interior design. The estate building is the home of the winery as well, hard to believe, but the unique building is a functioning vinification plant with cellar to ferment the wines.

Where: Rátka 2722 hrsz (Tokaj wine region)
How to get there: By car it takes approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes via M3. By public transport take an Intercity to Szerencs, change into a passenger train to Mád and walk about 25 minutes. Long way, but worth it!
Opening hours: Both Padi restaurant and the Bar has terrace. Opening hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 12.00–22.00 (between 16.00 and 18.00 only the bar is open), Sunday: 12.00–16.00.
What to taste: First of all, try some of the elaborated plates created by Attila Bicsár executive chef and Máté Gerák resident chef. The ‘Tribute to Tokaj’ is a 5-course menu, a great way to discover the treasures of Tokaj with plates like Padi apple pie with apricot jam, Aszú sabayon and vanilla ice cream, paired with Sauska Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2017. If you just pop in for a glass to enjoy the beauty around you, ask for a glass of Furmint Brut Vintage 2018 from the extensive wine list of Sauska products (including jeroboam bottles).
An event not to miss: The bar hosts several tastings including a Tokaj Sparkling Wine session, find contact below on the website. The venue is also available for weddings or other events.
More about Padi restaurant
More about the Bar
Get a glimpse of the atmosphere with our own photos of our Gettogether event at Sauska Tokaj last summer.

Sauska Tokaj – the extraordinary winery

The post 4 Cool Wine Terraces for the Heat of the Summer appeared first on Hungarianwines.

Hemina – your God-given portion of wine

Hungarianwines.eu — Fri, 10 May 2024 09:09:13 +0000

VinAgora special award for the most creative label

Hemina, the name of the Burgundian style blend of Pannonhalma Archabbey Winery refers to an amount – but don’t think of litre or pint or any other down-to-earth units of measurement. A hemina is the amount of wine YOU think appropriate for you – as it was advised by Saint Benedict, the founder of Benedictine order. Now the label of the wine received a special prize at VinAgora international wine competition. Well deserved, congratulation!

“Hemina is the proper daily amount of wine – if you drink it, you find God, but it is not enough to make you vulnerable for the devil’s temptation.” According to the explanation of the team of the winery, Saint Benedict’s rule does not define the exact amount, probably because he was a witty theologist, who took the diverse metabolism of different individuals into consideration. However, hemina is defined according to some other sources, they say it is an ancient Roman unit of liquid volume: 0.274 litres. Yet, as Peter Züllig pointed out on Wein.Plus, “the measure of the hemina has changed again and again, especially where it is still part of the table tradition, in many monasteries”. Probably many of us prefer the first explanation, which says that hemina is an undefined unit that leaves the decision to us…

Pannonhalmi Hemina 2021 – VinAgora gold

The exciting story and the stunning label would not be worth much without outstanding wine inside the bottle. But Hemina meets the expectations raised by the look undoubtedly. The blend is made of 50% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Blanc, 15% Sauvignon Blanc, and 15% Viognier. The biologically ripe grapes of the different varieties were harvested separately. After destemming the grapes, the berries were first selected by an optical sorting machine and then pressed, the cleared juice was put into 500 litre Hungarian oak barrels for the fermentation. Also, the malolactic fermentation took place in the barrels and the fine lees have been stirring up regularly for 6 months to increase the complexity of the wine and enrich its aromas.

“The wine is based on Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc that ensure the full body and the creamy structure, ornamented with the calcareous minerality and the delicate notes from the aging in used barrels and enriched by the lively fruitiness of Viognier and the vivid acidity of Sauvignon blanc. It is a complex and rich wine that can even develop with bottle ageing.”

VinAgora result sheet of the wine

More about Pannonhalma Archabbey Winery

See VinAgora Special Prizes and Champion awards here

Winery of the Year 2023: Pannonhalma Archabbey Winery

Pannonhalma Archabbey estate building

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Winery of the Year 2023: Pannonhalma Archabbey Winery

Hungarianwines.eu — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 10:09:37 +0000

Cheers to the most serious acknowledgement

Winemaker of the Year, Winemaker of the Winemakers, The Most Beautiful Winery of the Year – there are so many awards, and certainly each of them has its significance, however undoubtedly the Winery of the Year takes the most effort to win. Not only during the selection process, but constantly. Pannonhalma Archabbey is the first estate in the history of the award to receive it twice.
In our cover photo Tamás Illés marketing & sales manager and Beáta Nyúlné Pühra winemaker (Nyakas Winery) raise their glass to celebrate

Why is this award so precious?

The Winery of the Year award is a highly recognized annual award in Hungary given annually. The award was founded in 2002 by the National Council of Wine Regions, the Hungarian Wine Academy and the Association of Hungarian Grape Growers and Winemakers, the procedure is organized by Bacchus Studio. The winery to gain the award should enter the competition with a carefully worked out, detailed document and then a professional jury decides the winner. When deciding, the professionals take a lot of aspects into consideration, like these:
– The quality of wines produced in the winery.
– The impact of the winery on local, regional, national and international level.
– The role of the winery in increasing the good reputation of Hungarian wines.
– The work of the winery to make quality and moderate wine drinking more popular.
– The image of the winery and the wines.
– The look of the winery building and all its facilities.
– Innovations, recent development of the winery.
– The size, condition, age of vineyards.
– Employees working conditions, the number of new workplaces created

The selection procedure has changed this year, now there is a nomination period (by a wide range of professionals), and then the three wineries with the nomination is asked to prepare the detailed document about the winery. This year A Gere, Takler and Pannonhalma Archabbey wineries gained the most nominations thus they have submitted the detailed documents. Upon receiving the competition files, a jury of 27 knowledgable professionals selected the winner: this year it is Pannonhalma Archabbey.

Winemaker Zsolt Liptai (left) and archabbot Cirill Hortobágyi (right) with the award artwork at the ceremony of Winery of the Year

On holy land

The winery cultivates about 50 hectares divided among four major vineyards, each of which used to belong to the Abbey in the historic past. Since the natural conditions of Pannonhalma closely resemble those of the upper Loire Valley and Alsace, two-thirds of the vineyards are planted by grape varieties that make crisp, easy-drinking white wines of fine quality – mainly from Rhein Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Gewürztraminer. In designing the composition of the vineyards, the estate has made it a point to uphold local and historic traditions by making room for Olaszrizling (Welshriesling), a native Hungarian variety as well as for Királyleányka, originally from Transylvania, the historic part of Hungary.
With visitors arriving from all corners of the world, the winery devoted one third of the acreage to popular international varieties that have shown good promise for the long term, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. Among the red grapes, Pinot Noir has a prominent role as being ideally suited to the local climate and soils, and therefore uniquely capable of expressing the potential of Pannonhalma as a red wine producing district.

More about Pannonhalma Archabbey

Pannonhalma Archabbey

The website of Pannonhalma Archabbey

Hemina – a delicate and elegant Bordeaux-style blend of Pannonhalma Archabbey

Pinot Noir is one of the most popular wines of the estate

Earlier award winners

(The award was not given every year. Pannonhalma Archabbey already won the award in 2010 as well.)

2019 Günzer Tamás Winery, Villány
2016 Patricius Winery, Tokaj
2015 Frittmann Winery, Kunság
2014 Koch Winery, Hajós–Baja
2013 IKON Winery, South Balaton
2012 Mészáros Wine House, Szekszárd
2011 Thummerer Winery, Eger
2010 Pannonhalma Archabbey, Pannonhalma
2009 Szöllősi Winery, Neszmély
2008 Vylyan Vineyard and Winery, Villány
2007 Bock Winery, Villány
2006 Garamvári Vineyards, South Balaton
2005 Disznókő, Tokaj
2004 Hilltop, Neszmély
2003 Tokaji Oremus, Tokaj
2002 Szőlőskert Rt., Mátra

The post Winery of the Year 2023: Pannonhalma Archabbey Winery appeared first on Hungarianwines.