Tűzkő Estate from Tolna will also participate

Winelovers X is a walk-around tasting for professionals on 9 June, with approximately 50 exhibitors. The venue is the hotel of the wine competition, Ensana Thermal Hotel in the charming Margaret Island. Are you a wine professional? This tasting is worth an escape in the green heart of Budapest! Entrance is free of charge for the members of the wine trade.  The first 15 exhibitors are revealed, Tűzkő Estate, a “daughter estate” of the Tuscan Antinori will also be present.

Date and time: 9 June 2026, 15.00–19.00
Venue: Ensana Thermal Hotel, Margaret Island, Budapest, Hungary
How to register? In case you are a member of the wine trade (wine merchant, importer, buyer, sommelier, restaurant manager etc.), write an email to info@winelovers.hu. Besides your name and profession, please, provide your workplace and your position. Our colleagues will reply shortly.
Exhibitors: 15 names are announced and some more is coming soon, we plan to have 50 exhibitors. See the list here.

Did you know that Antinori estate is Europe’s most admired winery?

Just check out this list! And did you know that Antinori has an estate in Hungary? Tűzkő Estate is located in the hilly Tolna wine region, and they have a wide range of wines from the crispy Grüner Veltliner to the complex red flagship blend, Tűzkő Domb. The winery has won The Best Chardonnay trophy at the first edition of Winelovers Wine Awards international wine competition, while Tűzkő Domb 2023 has just won gold medal at VinAgora, the other international wine contest organised in Hungary..

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10 great wines to remember, #3

Towards the end of the year, we look back to some of the great wine moments we have enjoyed. All the 10 wines we will list until New Year’s Eve are special for some reason and they are all worth buying, multiple bottles, if you can afford. (The order is NOT a ranking.)
(Cover picture background was painted by Emma Katalin Dobos)

 

Tűzkő Domb is the gem, the flagship wine of the estate. The carefully selected grape comes from Mórágy vineyards. A blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc aged in Hungarian oak barrel for 18 months. “Deep ruby red color that suggests elegance at first glance. The nose reveals complex fruitiness and delicate spiciness: sour cherry, red berries, tobacco leaf and a hint of earthy, peppery character give it a rich aroma. A balanced, sophisticated red wine with substance and style.”
It pairs perfectly with venison, game, red meat, long seasoned cheeses, chocolate and sour cherry desserts. Serving temperature: 16-18 °C.
The retail price is now only around 17 EUR!

 

Tűzkő Estate website and webshop

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Wine of the Week: Tűzkő Kékfrankos Selection

Tolna wines from the Szekszárd hills

Dr. Erdélyi Árpád (in the photo above), the estate manager of Tűzkő Estate has explained in a recent radio interview that 140 hectares of their 180 hectares in total are located in the Szekszárd hills, even though the wine region is Tolna. He has also revealed that the Italian owners–Antinori and Mazzei–let the team make as Hungarian wines as they want.
Meet Tűzkő team and the wines at ProWein on 16–18 March, location: Hall 9 /B90 (Wines of Hungary)

Why is Tolna behind God’s back?

As mentioned above, there has been a radio interview with Dr. Árpás Erdélyi recently by Egon Rónai, a well-known Hungarian journalist. Erdélyi explained that even though there were evidences of grape growing from thousand years before, for many years there were not many estates bottling wine, unlike in the neighbouring Szekszárd. It was only in 1998 that Tolna wine region was officially created and separated from Szekszárd wine region (earlier Tolna wine region was part of Szekszárd). Yes, as we wrote above, the majority of Tűzkő vineyards are located in the Szekszárd hills.
Tolna vineyards might have not been so famous, yet they have given lovely wines for centuries. The history of Tűzkő Estate goes back to 1799 and connected to the noble Hungarian Apponyi family of French origin. The modern history does not lack aristocrats either: now Tűzkő belongs to two Italian “marchese”, Jacopo Mazzei and Piero Antinori. If the Italian superstars have realized the potential of the wine region, we can believe them, it is worth discovering!

“To what extent is Tűzkő Italian?”

The owners, Antinori (with 80% of the ownership) and Mazzei do not think as globalizers. The Antinori family has estates in several countries, and we should imagine them as different pieces of the puzzle, all giving different wines from different terroir. As Erdélyi revealed, the Antinoris had been looking for crispy, easy drinking, aromatic wines, and they had found them in Tolna. And since the wines are made “from Hungarian grapes by Hungarian people, aged in Hungarian barrels–so Tűzkő wines are truly Hungarian”. The Italian owners give freedom to the Hungarian team, though certainly there is an Italian consultant helping the team, and he is more involved when it comes to wines exported to Italy. Altogether 2/3 of Tűzkő wines are exported.

“The man’s fate is the woman”

It is not common to have a “Dr” degree and managing a winery, and Erdélyi has a degree of a humanistic science (psychology), yet he has been leading the estate for nearly two decades. How did he encounter the Italian owners – asked Rónai in the interview. “Well, the man’s fate is the woman, and I have a lovely wife, who has a degree in Italian language, she met them first, she worked with them and I was introduced to Antinori and Mazzei by her.”

Quick and easy dessert recipe

Tűzkő Estate has recently renewed its labels, and as a consequence the new labels finally reflect the character of the estate: history, tradition, quality, elegance, passion. We wrote about the renewal of the Selection / Rarity and Icon line recently, and by now the Classic line has been redesigned as well. Tűzkő Kékfrankos 2020 is the protagonist of this easy-to-make recipe – a stainless steel fermented and aged fruity, easy going red wine.

Tűzkő Classic Kékfrankos 2020

The grapes come from Mőcsény vineyard in the hilly Tolna wine region, 100% Kékfrankos (aka Blaufrankisch), fermented and aged in stainless steel.
“Ruby red in the glass, the nose is characterized by notes of cherries, red fruit and pink pepper accompanied by delicate spicy hints of hot pepper. A vibrant palate delivers refined tannins with good freshness and an excellent finish. Ideal to pair with typical Hungarian dishes with paprika, and meat based first courses or entrees.”

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Red wine & chocolate cake

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 240 g sugar
• 300 g butter
• 300 g flour
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1 pinch of cinnamon
• 2 pinches of cocoa powder
• 100 g chocolate
• 20 cl Tűzkő Classic Kékfrankos

Preparation: 
Mix the butter and the egg yolks, add the red wine and then add the flour mixed with the baking powder. Mix in the cocoa powder, the chocolate and the cinnamon, and at the end add the egg white (beaten well into a firm foam).
Spread some butter into a baking tray, sprinkle some flour as well, pour the dough into the tray and bake it for about an hour at 175 C.
Enjoy it:)
Merry Christmas!

Refreshment for a hot May day

Charming and refreshing aromas of green apple, citrus, white flowers and other tropical fruits with the spiciness of white pepper – these are the most typical of Grüner Veltliner grape variety, well known in Austria, but also popular in some wine regions of Hungary. In our country we call it “Zöldveltelini”, az “zöld” means green just like “grüner” in the German name.

Tűzkő Estate in Tolna wine region makes superb juicy Gruner Veltliner: “Produced on the hills of Mőcsény, well known for the fragrance and the ripe character that gives to wines. Fermentation in stainless steel followed by a short maturation in bottle.
Fresh and crisp acidity, good structure and complexity with fine citrus and floral notes. Goes well with appetizers, fish soup and pasta.”

If you happen to stay in Hungary, the easiest is to order the wine from Tűzkő webshop for only 1390 HUF / bottle (3.6 euros).

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Tűzkő Estate

Tűzkő webshop

Tűzkő wines are available in several countries:

Importers: The Netherlands (Activin B.V.), Belgium (Drankenservice Vandermolen – Vanko bvba), Germany (Xaver Troiber e.k. ; Weinland Ariane Abayan GmbH ), Poland (LAUBEL – Peter Illesy), Switzerland (Globalwein AG – Philipp Reher), Taiwan (European Consumer Product Trading Co. Ltd.), Canada (Mark Anthony Brands), USA (Hemispheres LLC), Israel (Havit Hungarit), Italy (Marchesi Antinori S.p.A)

Exotic Wine Travel founder and co-owner, Dr. Matthew Horkey is a frequent visitor in Hungary, what is more, he and his partner, Charine Tan are working on a new book on Hungary called Discover Hungarian Wines. Matthew and Charine participated in Borjour Magnum, the largest indoor tasting of Hungary, and now Matthew posted the 5 white and 5 red wines he liked the most. Tűzkő Cabernet Franc 2015 is one of his discoveries: “The Tűzkő estate is a project of the famous Italian family, Antinori. They produce good value-for-money wines in the lesser-known district of Tolna. The Tűzkő Cabernet Franc is a riper style with black olive, cherry, and pepper notes. The tannins are chewy and this could develop further with bottle age. All in all, it’s impressive for a wine that can be found in supermarkets. Score: 89/100“.

Find the other 9 recommendations by Matthew Horkey

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Download our free map of Hungarian wine regions

 

Marchese Piero Antinori is constantly looking for authencity in his foreign estates, so does he in Tolna wine region, Hungary. Tűzkő Estate is located near the village of Bátaapáti, among the hills of Tolna, near the river Danube. It has a long history closely related to that of the Counts of Apponyi family of French origin. Tűzkő Domb Cuvée (’Flintstone Hill Cuvée’) is the flagship wine of the cellar made of hand harvested, low yield fruit of the vineyard Tűzkő Domb. A classic Bordeaux blend (70% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot) made only in the best vintages. This wine has collected several gold medals from national and international competitions. Ideal with venison and desserts with chocolate and sour cherry. „Deep colour, full bodied, matured wine rich in refined tannins. Thanks to the two varieties fruity and spicy notes meet, and the blend is made complex with some discrete barrel ageing and 10 months of bottle ageing. Refined, integrated tannins with the deep, warm character of Cabernet Franc and the velvety and chocolate character of Merlot.” The new, 2017 vintage is available!
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