Soul Archives - Hungarianwines

Soul – a Syrah with Soul

Hungarianwines.eu — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 11:47:20 +0000

Is Syrah variety, the main grape of Rhône wine region in southern France feels at home in Hungary? Panel tastings in the past decade showed some uncertainty. The lush, spicy character was not always present unlike in their French counterparts. However, a serious development has been seen recently, as was proved at a panel tasting organized by Borsmenta online wine magazine. At the blind tasting 10 wines were poured from 5 wine regions including a French one (Château d’Ampuis; E. Guigal: Crozes-Hermitage 2016, it came in 3rd together with Ikon Fekete Tulipán 2016).

The winner is a Syrah made from grapes in Eger by Attila Domokos (head winemaker of Dobogó Winery in Tokaj). This is a sort of experimental wine, not available on the market unlike the second best wine, Soul by Kovács Nimród Winery. The wine region is Eger again, this versatile land with so much potential. “Soul. This is name of our 100% syrah wine which is an exclusively sourced from the ripe fruit of the grapes from KNW’s Nagyfai and Nyilasmar Monopole Terroirs. The Nyilasmár vineyard has thin, stony, and tuff based soil, facing south, which gives the wine spice and body, while the Nagyfai vineyard contains rocky brown forest soil, which adds rich and complex flavors. Music, travel and arrival of the soul. This is our Monopole Soul Syrah.” The name Soul refers to jazz music, which the owner Nimród Kovács appreciates a lot.

See the whole range of the tasted wines (in Hungarian)

More about Kovács Nimród Winery

Dowload our free map of Eger wine region

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Shiraz by Hungary

Hungarianwines.eu — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 09:31:00 +0000

5 star wines at monthly panel tasting

Speaking about Hungary we certainly emphasize our indigenous varieties like Kékfrankos or Kadarka, but we must mention that Hungarian winemakers can cope with their international counterparts in international varieties as well – maybe not constantly, but there are refreshing exceptions. Leading Hungarian print wine magazine’s latest Shiraz panel tasting revealed three 5 star wines, and two of them were Hungarian: Monopole Soul Syrah by Kovács Nimród Winery (Eger) and Villányi Syrah by Vylyan Vineyard and Winery.

Tasters with WSET diploma

For November issue of VinCE Magazine 44 Shiraz / Syrah wines were tasted, and this time all the members of the jury were Wine and Education Trust diploma holders. Besides Montes Alpha Shiraz 2015 the two above mentioned Hungarian Shiraz wines achieved the highest result, the so called VinCE Award (5 stars).

The two national stars according to the tasting panel

Monopole Soul Syrah, Kovács Nimród Winery, Eger, 2013
Deep purple-ruby colour. Rich, spicy nose with eucalypt, cranberries, blackberries and restrained oaky tones. Complex, wide spectrum wine with spices on the palate as well. Clove, pepper, nutmeg. Elegant wine typical of the variety. Vivid, zesty with outstanding structure and nice acidity. It has a long ageing potential.

Vylyan Villányi Syrah, Vylyan Vineyard and Winery, Villány, 2013
Deep ruby with garnet rim. Outstandingly intense nose full of ripened fruits: strawberry, strawberry jam, vanilla, coconut, cocoa and refined oaky tones. Ripe, rich and complex palate with fine tannins. Relatively high alcohol and lower acidity, still elegant and enjoyable to drink.

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Hungarian wines full of gold in the USA

Hungarianwines.eu — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 19:40:47 +0000

Competition is really high in wine sector all over the world, and as a recent article reveiled, competition is super strong in the USA. According to Wine Business Monthly, roughly 90 percent of wine sold in the U.S. comes from the 30 top producers, and more than half of the wine sold domestically comes from E. & J. Gallo, The Wine Group and Constellation Brands. The fact that most of the domestic wine sold in this country is produced by a handful of companies is not shocking. What is shocking is that there are now more than 9,000 domestic wineries competing for the remaining 10 percent of sales.. As Tim Carl points out in Napa Register: „…in 2016 the total number of wineries in the United States reached 9,091, with California having the most (4,202) and 1,167 of those being virtual — without a dedicated winery or facility to make and sell their wine; these winemakers making their wine at a custom-crush facility with shared equipment and space. I’ve reported earlier that there are likely more than 1,000 wineries in Napa County alone.”

Denver Golds on Kovács Nimród Winery

If domestic wineries struggle for their share, how hard it could be for a foreign winery? Especially one from a tiny country with its strange language. Nimród Kovács, owner of Kovács Nimród Winery in Eger had lived in the USA for many years, made a career in the broadcasting business, and now he uses all his experiences to make his great wines known in his second home, in the States. One definitely effective tool is to participate in prestigious wine competitions, and Denver International Wine Competition is undoubtedly a renowned one. In its latest issue in Kovács Nimród Winery won 6 gold medals with their 6 wines!

Grand Bleu, 2011
NJK, 2009
Furmint, 2011
Kekfrankos, 2011
Rhapsody, 2011
Battonage Chardonnay, 2013

Read more about Kovács Nimród Winery

Read the whole article by Tim Carl

Read the full results of 2016 Denver International Wine Competition:

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