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.”
White dominancy with red gems
The 300 old cellar and the wine processing plant has been renovated, the machinery represents the most modern equipment made in Italy, and the vineyards have also been renewed lately. As Dr Árpád Erdélyi explained in an earlier interview, between 2011 and 2016 under his management 120 hectares of vineyards were planted to adapt the international trends. The estate harvests altogether from 180 hectares mainly white varieties–just like in the whole of Tolna wine region–: Szürkebarát / Pinot Grigio, Tramini, Zöldveltelini / Grüner Veltliner, Chardonnay, Rhine Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc. As for the black varieties, Kékfrankos is grown on 30 hectares and there is a little Cabernet Franc and Merlot for the flagship red wine called Tűzkő Domb.
Wine of the Week: Tűzkő Kékfrankos Selection 2021
The grapes come from Mőcsény and Mórágy vineyards. After careful selection and destemming, fermentation took place in stainless steel tank at controlled temperature for 14–18 days. After gentle pressing and malolactic fermentation the wine aged in Hungarian oak barrel (made in Trust Hungary) for 18 months. The result is a ruby coloured wine with attractive nose of cherry, rose pepper and paprika. Vibrant palate, subtle flavours, refined tannins, long and fruity aftertaste. Retail price on Tűzkő webshop is only 2700 HUF / approximately 6.5 EUR).
The original interview is available here (in Hungarian)
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