Wines in the Whale

“Bálna” (literally ‘Whale’) is a relatively new building in Budapest made of glass and metal. A shopping centre with event venue and this is where Vingardium will present 24 wineries. among others Csányi Winery from Villány, Dúzsi Family Winery from Szekszárd, Géza Balla from Transylvania. Guests can taste as much as they want with their entrance ticket and food will also be available. Let us recommend three unmissablewineries

Date and time: 15 October 2022, 16.00–
Early bird tickets: 8500 HUF (21 euro), available until 30 September here
Tickets at the venue: 12 000 HUF (30 euro)
Venue: Bálna, Budapest, Fővám tér 11-12, 1093, Hungary
More about the event (in Hungarian)

Dubicz Winery and Vineyard, Mátra

A family winery, mother and daughter with great ideas, stamina, talent and a superb terroir. Mátra is still a region to be discovered, though thanks to Dubicz estate and some  enthusiastic pioneers, a lot happens in the largest mountainous wine region of Hungary. There is.a new community wine called MyMátra made of aromatic grapes, and there are high end wines from single vineyards like Dubicz wines from Sárhegy, a historic vineyard. “As the southernmost member of former volcanos, still on the surface, the Sár Hill has become a hill of really special composition. It consists of fragmented igneous rocks in the top regions, with loess deposit at the bottom, which is one of the best possible combinations together with its southern location for quality wine grapes.”

The aromatic wines of the estate are perfect to start with (MyMátra, Irsai Olivér) and certainly it is a must to taste the wines from Sárhegy: Sárhegy Olaszrizling 2019 and a novelty, Sárhegy Kékfrankos 2019.

More about Dubicz Winery and Vineyard

Heumann Winery, Villány

While the above Mátra winery offers a whole range of white wines and a few exciting red wines, Heumann from the southernmost wine region of Hungary is just the opposite: a portfolio of award winning, outstanding red wines with a few white wines. Their Rhine Riesling fascinates experts and wine enthusiasts in every vintage, as the owner, Erhard Hemann says it is due to the Siklós terroir, since it is different from the soil of Villány. The soil of Siklós is mainky loess rich in limestone, which favours Rhine Riesling variety.
The red wines of Heaumann estate are legendary. La Trinitá, Terra Tartaro – whichever vintage you come accross, you will find gold medals and high scores from renowned critics. They are really unmissable to taste – we had the chance to taste them in several vintages, thus these words are based on facts and personal experiences. For example La Trinità  2017 is among the latest Top 12 Villányi Franc – but if there were a Top 3 selection, it would be there, too.

More about Heumann Winery

Feind Winery, Balaton

We have recommended an estate with a great selection of white wines, another one with strong red focus, and now we will recommend Feind, another family winery from the corner of our beloved Lake Balaton with a really wide portfolio from sparkling wines through rose wines to great, velvety, luscious Syrah wines. State-of-the-art machinery, a French winemaker, enthusiastic team, ideally posed vineyards. The sparkling plant of the estate is brand new, now they are capable to make bottle fermented sparkling wines as well as charmat method wines. The still whites are also successful, jus one example: at the latest Asia Wine Trophy Feind Sauvignon Blanc 2021 and Feind Reason 2019 and Feind Choice 2018 received gold medal, the latter one great gold.
If you want to try something really rich and bombastic, taste the above mentioned Feind Choice, a late harves sweet wine made of Zeus grape, with some botrytis (and 175 g/l residual sugar). And what did Tamlyn Currin(JancisRobinson.com) say about the wine? “Golden. Smells like golden syrup on the nose. Koeksisters and konfyt and gingerroot cooked and drenched in syrup. Clove spice. Instant-coffee note. This is very, very sweet. An interesting planed sandalwood lift to the finish.” 16 points out of 20. (Koeksisters is an African type of sweets.)
More about Feind Winery

https://feind.hu/?lang=en