New eatery by the Winery of the Year in Villány

If you have ever visited the wine hotel of Gere, you could see and feel the outmost subtleness in every single detail. The former restaurant, Mandula was a great place to eat, but the family decided to make something even better, something more up-to-date, something to reflect the arrival of the new generation. The A. Gere Restaurant awaits guests with Swabian– Mediterranean cuisine, no matter how strange it sounds!
By Ágnes Németh

In the cover photo: “A juicy slice of Székelyszabar heritage duck is joined by the delicate nostalgia of poppy-seed Schupfnudeln and the modern lightness of red-wine-laced beetroot.“

Smooth shift of generations

The change of the generations is an issue all around the world, but while some wine regions sadly almost extinct due to the lack of continuity, in Villány wine families seem to handle the question well. It was a topic at the last edition of Franc & Franc conference as well, and we could see that the sons and daughters are fully involved and they do not plan to leave the family estate and enterprise.
Gere Winery was founded by Attila Gere, and Attila is still active and supervises everything, but he wisely admits that times change, and the younger generation adapts better to the high speed of changes, the challenges of the new marketing channels and the social media.
Andrea, his daughter and her husband, Kristóf Csizmadia have taken over the management successfully, and the winery was renamed to A. Gere Winery – what a blessing that Andrea begins with the same letter as Attila.
Our earlier article about A. Gere Winery obtaining the Winery of the Year award in 2024

Oil in the valley, vine on the plate

I was lucky enough to have dinner in the brand-new A. Gere Restaurant in November, during the Franc & Franc conference, so I have first-hand experience of the novelties. The interior is a mix of modern and traditional, like a mirror or modern armchairs combined with the old timbers – though I did not realize it until I heard Zoltán Varró interior designer speaking about his concept. I just felt good, but now I know that this good feeling is the result of a very conscious process. “My goal was to design a space where anyone could feel at home at any time, while also reflecting the elegant style, ideology, and brand renewal capabilities of the Gere family. I designed the Gere pattern that appears on the wallpaper and textiles earlier, during the renovation of the winery, and a monochrome version of this pattern provides a unified visual appearance in the restaurant,”said Zoltán Varró.
One of the things I liked the best is the dessert plate with a subtle reference to the wine region: a sleek grape vine imprint in the ceramic plate (photo below). Also, there are plates for the oil made by the same ceramic artist in the shape of the “crus” of the winery. We can dip our bread (home-made, of course) in the valley near the slopes of the iconic Kopár mountain…

Swabian– Mediterranean fusion?

We prepare Swabian food from a Mediterranean perspective, or Mediterranean dishes with a Swabian twist,” said consulting chef Richárd Farkas. The ingredients are local including lamb, hen and mangalitza pork from Gere manor, and there are vegan dishes as well, for example the “risotto” made of porcini from the nearby Mecsek mountain, stuffed in pickled grape leaf. In my own photo above with the vine-plate there is a stunning dessert, the creamy, featherlight cottage cheese dumplings.
Certainly, the stunning wines of A. Gere Winery are available in the restaurant, including the rare Gere Fekete Járdovány, which is sold out everywhere else. Also, guests can choose from old vintages from the cellar with more than 100 references.
A reasonably priced “Swabian lunch menu” is also available, while true foodies should go for the MAG degustation menu.
More about the restaurant with menu and wine list