Borsmenta online food and wine magazine published the diary of a female winemaker, Kata Zsirai for a year. From now throughout a year another wine woman, Zsuzsanna Babarczi – Zsuzsi in short – tells the readers about the everyday life of a winemaker. Let us share the first chapter of the diary!

Borsmenta literally means peppermint, but if we take the word apart (bor s menta), the meaning changes into “wine and mint”, expressing the theme of the publication brilliantly. Borsmenta is a wine and food publication featuring things that spice up our life, just like wine and mint.
Borsmenta is full of wine reviews and recipes of mouth-watering dishes, it is more than worth following it! (Borsmenta is in Hungarian, but automatic translation is not an issue in our times.)

Zsuzsi’s diary, 1st chapter

My name is Zsuzsi Babarczi, and I am the winemaker and production and sales manager at Babarczi Winery. I was surprised and very excited when Edit Szabó (founder and editor-in-chief of Borsmenta) asked me to take part in this exciting adventure, namely to present my year. My first thought was whether people would be interested in what a female winemaker does on a daily basis, but then I decided to go for it – what did I have to lose?

The beginnings

Let me start at the beginning. There is an old photo of my mother planting grapes at the end of our garden, and I am already there with her, invisible, as she is pregnant with me – this was in 1980, to be precise. My parents bought a plot of land in the town of Győrújbarát at that time, planted grapes in the garden, and in 1986 they built a cellar as well. They thought it would be a nice little extra income alongside their main jobs. Then, in 1993, our lives took a turn: my dad lost his job, and since they were already working on about 5 hectares at the time, he decided to focus on that, but on a larger scale. The stars were aligned, as there were many vineyards for sale, so they invested all their savings in land and vines. Meanwhile, my brother and I were growing up, and between work and school, we didn’t have much time for anything else, no shopping malls or anything like that. I’m not saying that I preferred hoeing to going to Lake Balaton, but in those days, we didn’t really have a choice, and it was natural for our parents to involve us in the work.
However, studying always came first, and it never occurred to us not to continue our education. I knew for sure that I would not go to agricultural university, and if possible, I would seek my fortune as far away from viticulture and winemaking as possible. At that time, the international relations program (my father still cannot remember the name) started at Széchenyi István University in Győr, so I applied for that. I had always been interested in history, law, economics, and languages, and this program was a mixture of all of these. I later completed my master’s degree in Veszprém. I really enjoyed it.

Why did I buy a red bag?

I believe that we need to distance ourselves from home a little in order to rediscover ourselves and our goals, to see things in a slightly different light. To this end, I studied in Milan for two semesters on an Erasmus scholarship and spent 10 months as an intern in Zurich as part of the AIESEC program. These years taught me a lot in every respect. After returning home, I was still spreading my wings, first at a small Austrian company, then at a larger American multinational. I gained insight into how companies operate and gained experience in human and workplace relationships, which was also instructive. Then one day, I was called in by HR (which is never a good sign), and they told me that my position had been eliminated and I was being laid off. I admit, the news came as a shock, and that same day I bought the red bag I had been eyeing for four months.
I went home, it was harvest time, and my dad spread his arms wide, asking what I was doing home at 10 in the morning! Okay, I’ll go inside and reflect on my fate today, but tomorrow I’ll join the harvest – there’s no time for depression. I thought of this work at home as a temporary period, but as we know, life turned out differently.

Wine opens doors

At first, I worked in the cellar under my dad’s supervision and did administrative work with my mom while looking for a job. Then one day my dad came to me and said he was organising a trip to Tuscany for Sopron wine region (who wouldn’t want to go to Tuscany?!), followed by the winter fair, which was still a good source of income at the time, and there were many other similar motivating trips and tastings. I saw the other side of this world beyond hoeing, pruning, harvesting, and tank washing – to mention only the hardest or least favourite jobs. Wine opens doors, brings people together, and always connects me with something good, with parties. On the other side, there is a fixed point, a place, but you can travel alongside it, see the world, and grow.

The power of family unity

Then, after a year of working together, my father had a stroke, and there was no question that I would get seriously involved, as he was no longer part of the daily routine. Many people ask me what the secret of our success is, and I would definitely highlight one thing: family unity. Since 2010, the one-man show has been replaced by teamwork, both within the family and at the company. The winery, the family, and I myself have undergone a tremendous transformation. I can smile now when I think back on those initial uncertain steps. Every year, every harvest brings challenges and difficulties, but also many experiences and opportunities. How I see things depends, of course, on my mood and the situation.
Just like the past years, the coming years will also bring positive and negative surprises. Get to know the Babarczi family, the foundation of Babarczi Winery, our present, our future, my colleagues, and me! I invite you to join me on this journey!

To be continued…