Hungary is still suffering from the pandemic and the lockdown, people are quite depressed and wine bars are still not open to ease the stress. What to do? Go out, enjoy the green parks and countryside, and if you are loving this green parade, add some more green things. Drink ‘Zöld Veltelini’, which is the Hungarian name of Grüner Veltliner (‘zöld’ and ‘grüner’ mean green).

And the green attitude can be intensified: return your wine bottle to recycle. Bottles cause a huge carbon footprint, so if you can do something to reduce, do it. If you happen to stay in Budapest, the best place to return your bottles to is Borbázis ‘Wine Base’ winestore, because you will get 50 HUF (about 15 euro cents) discount on wines for every single bottle.

Borbázis returns annually 250.000 bottles to production, therefore they spare about 17.250 kWh energy, 16 tons of carbon dioxide and 50 tons of garbage.

Okay, but what ZéVé / GrüVe to drink?

As for Hungary, Sopron is the region for this variety. Steigler Cellar is a newcomer – respecting all the traditions of their ancestors. The grapes for the wines of Steigler Cellar come from our own 21 hectare organic vineyard.

They have two Grüner Veltliner wines, one entry level and one premium. The entry level (or medium range as they call it) costs only 6–7 euros in retail. “A lighter, more easy going Zöld Veltelini (Grüner Veltliner) from Steigler Cellar with vivid greenish yellow colour and amazingly fresh nose – mainly with grapefruit, lime and fresh green herbs. The crispy acidity and the subtle carbon dioxide makes the wine even more refreshing and zesty.”

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