Danch & Granger Selections, USA

“Importer of Memorable Wines from the New Old World of Eastern and Central Europe”
www.danchandgranger.com
Wines from Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, California, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia

Hungarian labels so far:

Somlói Apátsági Pince (Somló), Barta Cellar (Tokaj), Bodrog Borműhely (Tokaj), Bott Cellar (Tokaj), Zoltán Demeter (Tokaj), Fekete Cellar (Somló), Heimann Family Winery (Szekszárd), J&J Eger Winery (Eger), Káli Kövek (Balaton Uplands), Karner Winery (Mátra), Kikelet (Tokaj), Kolonics (Somló), Levente (Mátra), Losonci (Mátra), Patricius Winery (Tokaj), Pfneiszl (Sopron), Réka Koncz (Barabás), Stumpf Winery (Eger), Sziegl (Hajós–Baja), Samuel Tinon (Tokaj), Tokaj Nobilis (Tokaj),VáliBor (Badacsony), Wetzer (Sopron)

– Sorry to start with this, but I read that you used to work in a circus. It is quite peculiar, what did you exactly do?

– Fair question:) This was a 3-hour non-stop Vaudeville meets mini Cirque du Soleil show with a 5 course dinner and wine pairings called Teatro Zinzanni in San Francisco. While I was not swinging on the trapeze, I was in full costume/makeup, moving set pieces, dancing in various routines, and so on. I was also serving food and opening bottles of wine as part of the show – the line between service and entertainment was well blurred. Equally important, I became friends with many of the performers, many of whom were from Central and Eastern Europe. Post show, we would all hang out, eat, drink and tell stories. Think honey peppered Vodka paired with whole pickled tomatoes with an accordion playing Ukrainian juggler. Everything we consumed tasted better and felt better with these strong personalities, traditions, and stories accompanying them. And while acrobatic acuity is not crucial in selecting winemakers, the combination of finding strong characters, story, and a dedication to leaving behind a legacy to future generations certainly is. The circus world is incredibly family centric, whether by blood or not. The best parts of the wine world are no different.

– You and your business partner, Catherine both were part of Blue Danube team, and on your website you say about your company ‘”The independent offspring of Blue Danube Wine Company, a pioneering importer of wines from Central and Eastern Europe”. Did it occur to you to go on with the same name? Or it was not an option?

– Correct and no. Frank and Zsuzsa, the owners of Blue Danube Wine Co. have an extremely strong emotional connection to that name. They put over 17 years into it that went well beyond a dollar amount. Catherine and I agreed and also wanted to create something that was still connected to that legacy, but also forging a new identity and path forward.

– What are the most important differences between Blue Danube and Danch and Granger wine selection?

– The biggest difference is that when Blue Danube started they were importing grapes and places to the US for the very first time to a market that had virtually no other references. And while we are still bringing in wines for the very first time as well, there is much more competition, more buyers are aware of this part of the world, and the diversity of wines and regions are increasing year after year. Blue Danube kicked open the door and found many of the first generations post Communism/Yugoslavia. Danch & Granger is now seeking out the 2^nd and 3^rd generations and of course the successful generational hand-offs. It’s a much different wine world in 2020 that it was in 2003, especially so in Central and Eastern Europe. I doubt that 20 years ago Hungarians would have imagined Pét-nats from Tokaj or skin contact Királyleányka from Barabás to name just a few.

– How have you been proceeding so far? Do you have a lot of clients? Do you sell in most states?

– We don’t have nor want a national distribution model. We only distribute to one state (Oregon) because we have a strong personal and professional relationship with the distributor. The vast majority of the wineries we work with don’t produce enough wine for national sales anyway. I also have three young children and don’t want that kind of travel itinerary anyway. Focusing on California (~39 million people) where we can forge all of the relationships ourselves is more meaningful. It should come as no surprise that no one needs to work with us to build a successful wine list. It’s far more work to drop the Sancerre by the glass for an Olaszrizling or drop a Pinot Noir for a Kadarka for instance. At the same time, this also thins out the herd for the kind of buyers I want to work with in the first place. I want to find people willing to take risks, follow their gut, and share these new people, stories, places and grapes with their clientele. I think people are even more eager post COVID to explore new things and escape a little in the process. It’s not about aggressively replacing wines like a Sancerre or a Pinot Noir, it’s the joy of being humbled by how endless the wine world is. I would argue that appreciating these “new” wines from Central and Eastern Europe also help remind us how special the wines we already know are.

– What is the biggest challenge in selling Hungarian wines?

– Where do I begin? I read an interview a while back with Hugh Johnson right before the first vintage of Royal Tokaji Company was to be released. They essentially had to set a new price to quality ratio for Aszú in a newly privatized wine landscape. In many ways, that’s still happening for many regions and styles today. What should a $25 dry Furmint taste like? What’s the difference between a $15 Juhfark and a $35 Juhfark? There are so few points of reference or widely accepted and known benchmarks in the market. Some Hungarian grapes lend themselves to being understood in relation to more well known grapes. Take Kadarka to someone who loves Gamay/Pinot Noir, a Hárslevelű to someone who adores Chenin Blanc, or a Dry Szamorodni to someone keen on Sherry or Vin Jaune for example. There’s some common ground, but still tons of distinction. This is harder when pitching a salty Kéknyelű or a skin macerated Kövidinka where the level of Hungaricum is off the charts. Having a diverse enough portfolio that can show both the small and big leaps is a major challenge while keeping the wineries we work with happy and paid. Price is of course also an issue. The global competition in concert with the domestic wineries in our market is extremely competitive. While perhaps deserving of the price, there’s an investment in order to break into the market and in many cases I have some wines I’m incredibly happy and humbled to have, but find difficult to sell based solely on price.

– What are the most popular products?

– The most popular wines are what I can pour by the glass or sell retail in the $20-$30 range. This is where people are both willing to explore and feel the quality (farming in particular) will be there as well. A good story of course helps, but especially if there’s something that jumps out rarely found in other wines. Perhaps it’s the salt in the volcanic wines, the aromatics of the cooler climate reds, botrytis, and so on. The idea of a quality table wine is also popular. Something indicative of the place, easy to drink, I can get in some quantity, and is affordable. We have a few liters, two from Austria and one from Slovenia that are staples in our portfolio. I’m still looking for the Hungarian version.

– How about Tokaji Aszú? Is it sought after or is it a mission impossible?

– 2019 was our best year ever selling sweet wines, Aszú in particular. It worked really well on pairing menus and we even got a few places to serve fresher styles of Aszú (minimal aging, not oxidative), Szamorodni (dry and sweet), and late harvest as aperitifs as opposed to being quarantined on the dessert wine page. They are amazing with charcuterie, fried foods and anything pungent. Sadly, restaurants and wine bars were the driving force so we are in a holding pattern until things change. It’s much harder to sell strictly via retail. They need food.

– Your newsletters are exciting and fun, I bet your clients like them. Is there anything else you do to educate your actual or potential clients?

– Thank you. I’ve enjoyed writing them more than usual since I can’t travel this year. The newsletters are at least a reminder of past travel. Pre COVID we were very event heavy. While we didn’t focus too much on expensive wine dinners, we did do a lot of educational classes, in store tastings, and small seminars (trade and consumer). Much like the newsletters, they are less about the fermentation regiment or racking schedule, but more about the place, history, farming, culture, the families, and what traveling there is like. With more time and resources, I would like to bring more and more of our clients to experience Hungary in person. That’s a major goal going forward.

According to the judges, the Central & Eastern Europe Specialist of the Year is Novel Wines!

True novelties all year long

One of the founders of Novel Wines, György Zsiga is from Hungary, no wonder the shop has a fine and unique selection of Hungarian wines. Most of the wineries in their sortiment are real gems to discover, for instance the small Sanzon or TR from Tokaj or Sabar, a small size winery from Badacsonywine region. Sabar produces stunning wines of the Kéknyelű grape, which is an indigenous variety grown exclusively in Badacsony – and now Sabar Kéknyelű 2018 is on sale at Novel Wine webshop for only 12.99 GBP). “Fermented in stainless steel and then partly matured in oak barrel, the resulting wine has a vivid, floral nose and a zesty, crisp palate. Notes of citrus and white flowers with an elegant, long finish.”

More about Sabar Wine House

Read our earlier article about Novel Wines

Wines and delicacies to match

The runner-up at Decanter Retail Award is another Hungarian related company called Best of Hungary. The owner, dr. Mónika Gyenes left her dentist career for the wines, and her choice has been justified several times, for example when she and her son – now business partner – won the Wine Buyer Awards. Now another prestigious award is here to reward the passionate work. The shop sells delicacies like high quality honey, truffle, goose liver or caviar. The wine selection includes smaller and larger wineries, but they all meet one requirement: the wines should be outstanding and have good price-value ratio. Béres Vineyard and Winery has been producing great wines for decades, and their bottle fermented sparkling wine made of Hárslevelű grape is a real rarity – and now on sale for only 19.95 GBP!

More about Béres Vineyard and Winery

Read our earlier article about Best of Hungary

– What does vintage 2020 and the upcoming harvest look like to you?

– This is the third year for us cultivating our vineyards with sustainableapproach, without chemicals. It has been an exciting year so far: no winter at all, but a beautiful spring, then summer with drought, later a huge amount of rainfall and now autumn has arrived with frost! It hasn’t been easy for us, we had to sprinkle several times. A good lesson for our team and it hasn’t been over yet.

– What is especially good or especially hard this year?

– Well, during the flowering season it was windy and cool, which is not the ideal for the berries later. Plus in our Somló vineyards unfortunately we suffered from some hail, too. But looking around in our vineyard we can see beautiful, healthy crop (yield is controlled). We would like to harvest the best fruit, but for that we need some more sunshine!

– What variety did you start the harvest with?

– We haven’t started the harvest yet and we need one more week for sure! I am waiting with the mock harvest as well, because the huge amount of rain diluted the parameters. We don’t need to rush, but have to keep an eye on the varieties with thinner skin like Ezerjó and Juhfark.

– What novelties can your followers expect for this autumn?

– The 99% of our barrel or amphora aged wines from 2019 have already been bottled! From the recent vintage we will make Ezerjó again in stainless steel, barrel and amphora, we will vinify our Grüner Veltliner and – as usual –, we will have the trilogy of Olaszrizling. Our blend, Kő-Papír-Olló (‘Rock-Paper-Scissors’) is unmissable, just like the other flagship blend of ours, Napholdcsillag (‘SunMoonStar’). At the beginning of the year 2021 we will release Panna, a fresh, crispy rosé, and for the first time we will make an aerated rosé from Pinot Noir.

– What is your favourite variety?

– Ezerjó and Ezerjó – in every style!

– Is your winery experiencing any negative effects due to COVID-19?

– Well, our HoReCa orders decreased significantly due to the lack of visitors in Budapest bars and restaurants. Thanks God the visitors to our cellar in Mór compensate us to some extent. During the summer we had a lot of guests and we are so happy about it. Our aim is to go on holding smaller scale, exciting events throughout the year. For example on the 12th of September we await participants for a vineyard tour with 5 more Mór wineries together (#welovemór).

– What sort of investments or developments do you carry on in order to survive the present situation?

– We planted some vines (mainly Ezerjó) in the place of the old or missing ones, though according to the guys in my team we should call it ‘new plantation’ (since there were a lot of replacement vines). Now it has a psychological aspect as well: we believe in Ezerjó, we believe in the future! And back in March, during the lockdown we launched a series of online tastings, we plan to continue with them, and of course we will go on with online orders and shipments (thanks to ‘Pinceképviselet’!).

More about Csetvei Cellar

– How did you two meet and how did you start working with wines?

– Gábor and I met in the Atlantic Ocean, when we were both working on a Carnival Cruise ship. When I moved to Hungary in the late 1990s we started exploring the Hungarian wine regions, and that is how we both got into wine. Since then we’ve both taken WSET courses (I just have one more exam left in the diploma program), and have really immersed ourselves in learning about wine, especially Hungarian wine. As a journalist, I wrote about Hungarian wine, and we started doing food and wine tours when we founded Taste Hungary in 2008. We slowly started getting more deeply involved in wine, as we discovered ways that we could further spread the reach of Hungarian wine.

– I remember your lovely book on Hungarian food (Food Wine Budapest), I used it a lot. But I guess writing and organizing food and wine tours was just the beginning for you.

– We opened The Tasting Table in 2014, and before Covid hit, we had finally reached our goal: to have two educational wine tastings daily, to introduce travelers to the wines that we love. (Now we have re-opened, but we just have a few tasters every week.) We always heard the same things from our guests: they were so happy to discover Hungarian wine, but they were disappointed that they could not find the wine when they returned to their home countries.

– Indeed, at Hungarianwines.eu we keep getting emails with the same problem, and somehow most Hungarian wine stores do not take much effort to ship wines abroad. What did you do then?

– So, at the Tasting Table we started regularly shipping wine to guests in EU countries. A few months ago we launched our online shop for EU residents. In the shop we offer many of the wines that we sell at the Tasting Table (we are still adding more products), as well as curated selections (which will change every few months). After launching our US wine club, we also launched Hungarian wine clubs in the EU. In Europe our wine clubs are shipped monthly, and we have four types of clubs: Tokaj Wine Club, White Wine Club, Red Wine Club, and Mixed Wine Club. All club shipments include our educational packet of tasting notes, information about the regions, and recipes.

To the US from an ‘obsucre country’

– Last year we started a new company and began importing Hungarian wine to the US, and at the end of 2019 we launched our boutique online wine shop and Hungarian wine club, through which we ship to many US states. Our focus is on high-quality wines, from family wineries which are mostly on the small side. Though Hungarian wine has been getting good press in recent years, these wines are still not easy to find in the US.

Through our quarterly Hungarian Wine Club—which as far as I know, is the first one in existence—subscribers receive six new wines every three months (along with tasting notes, recipes, and an educational packet). We are proud to have 100+ loyal wine club members already, as well as customers around the country! Before the pandemic, we were also doing private Hungarian wine tastings in the DC area—guided by Gábor, who presented our wines to groups at events organized at their homes and businesses. Since the pandemic started, Gábor has been doing weekly Saturday evening virtual wine tastings on facebook (now we are taking a break from this for a few weeks, but we will be back doing this again soon!). Though the tastings were free, participants could also order the wines in advance so they could taste along with us, as many did.

We are also licensed as a wholesaler/distributor in DC, and we are working on getting our wines placed in selected shops, restaurants, and bars. Wine importing and sales—especially when the focus is solely on a relatively obscure country, is not an easy business to break into.

Passion for wines wins bureaucracy

– And how can you manage all these things? Getting all the licences, managing such a complicated business with sales both in the US and in Europe, it must be a lot of work! How big is your staff, how many people do you work with?

– We are a small team now (since Covid, unfortunately we had to let a few people go). We still have three sommeliers/managers who handle the tastings at The Tasting Table and the wine sales in Europe. Gabor and I handle all of the US wine sales (and we just hired a warehouse assistant here and a delivery person, who happens to be a Hungarian expat). We have a team of about two dozen tour guides, who unfortunately do not have much work now. It is a lot of work – it took Gabor a few years to manage to get all of the correct licenses in the US, and figure out the logistics. But all of these different ways that we work with Hungarian wine are like puzzle pieces, and we really enjoy being able continue to offer our customers different services that can bring them closer to Hungarian food and wine – and to keep them supplied with tasty wines.

– How about your new shop in Budapest?

– At the end of May, our team in Budapest opened a new wine shop (we have had it in the works for awhile, and decided to go ahead with it, despite all that has happened in recent months). The shop is located across from The Tasting Table, at Bródy Sándor utca 22. We have pours of different wines every week—new arrivals and staff favorites—so you can discover new wines while browsing.

– Your wine selection is really diverse and exciting. How do you choose wines? Do you have time to travel around Hungarian wine regions?

– We do travel to the Hungarian wine regions as often as we can. Gabor mainly chooses the wines that we sell in the US, and our team at The Tasting Table has curated our selection there. They stay on top of all of the new developments, and taste many wines!

It started with love, passion, Balaton

• How did you become a wine professional?

Well, at the end of the 90s I fell in love with wines. I tasted many German, Italian, French and Austrian wines. I was participated in many wine tastings in Germany. Moreover once I was invited as a jury to a German Riesling tasting. I decided to take part in a professional wine seminar in Wien, Austria. Somehow I was convinced I would like to work with wines.

• How did you become a specialist of Hungarian wines? Do you have any Hungarian relatives?

As I already had deeper knowledge on wines of the international market I travelled to Hungary for a holiday in the summer of 2004. In Balaton region I was with my acquaintances and they advised me to taste Hungarian wines. First I was a little sceptic, I must say…  but after some particularly interesting samples I was very surprised at the quality and the style of the wines. I was wondering about launching a small wine firm and if I start, why not with Hungarian wines? Hungarian wines were at that time really unknown in Germany and in Western Europe so it was quite a big challenge for me. But somehow I have started and now I am a Hungarian wine specialist! Moreover I am very happy married with a Hungarian wife and I have a son (6), who speaks Hungarian already very well! Thanks to my wife and son, Hungarian culture and love of Hungary stays with our family.

Long lasting relationships and quality oriented attitude

• Do you remember your first experience of tasting a Hungarian wine?

Yes, I do. My first experience was with Konyári, Garamvári and Takler wines. They were also my first partners. I am very proud of these long lasting relationships and cooperations.

• You have a really wide selection with smaller wineries and icon names as well, how do you pick a winery? What was your last discovery?

I am always very curious about new vintages, new wines and new smaller wineries. I think in the last 5-8 years a very significant innovation took place in Hungary. New small startups and new winemakers with international knowledge, experience and brand new ideas appeared on the market. Sometimes it is really difficult to follow the new trends, but I regularly take part in thematic wine tastings in Budapest and I visit the wineries personally. Thanks to my wife I get also information and news from the social media as Facebook, Blogs etc. So I am very up-to-date. Unfortunately almost all information is in Hungarian… So alone it would be a little bit difficult. I am always searching for wines of the best quality and for interesting notes. Of course the price should be also ok, but quality has priority. If I bought cheap wines of low quality, I could not sell them to my customers. We and I as specialists must stand for quality. My last big interesting discovery was in February and this is a Pinot Noir from the Tokaj wine region!

You should know your customers to make them happy

• Who are your clients?

Through our online webshop we sell Hungarian wines all over Europe and sometimes wines go also overseas. But of course our main market is in Germany. We have a lot of regular customers. In the last 13 years we tried to maintain their trust and we are always happy to get their order. Of course we are very interested in gaining new customers as well. Thanks to our wine tastings we reach open minded people interested in new styles and new wine countries as Hungary. We have also reseller partners in Germany and Austria such as other wine stores, supermarkets, hotels, smaller wine seminars and other companies. It is very important to know your customers and their tastes moreover to have the overview about your assortment. We would like to make our customers happy with our recommendations.

• What are your plans for the future? What will be the next new item in your portfolio?

I could say we are very satisfied and would like to continue our work on the same basics in the near future. Of course, with the same enthusiasm. I am personally dreaming about a small wine bar in Munich but it is only for the remote future. And I eagerly look forward to wines of the new vintage 2017!