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Hungary's Balaton region – the tasting notes

Tuesday 23 July 2024 • 14 min read
Somló hill with staked vines in the foreground

After yesterday's exploration of the Balaton renaissance, Ollie reports here on the wines themselves. Above, the Somló Hill, with basalt-rock terraces and the basalt 'organ pipes' visible at the top, and traditional staked bush vines in the foreground.

The following 102 tasting notes are grouped by subregion as follows:

Within those groups the wines are presented alphabetically by producer (sur)name but you can change this. Note that the word dűlő signifies that a wine is the product of a single vineyard. 

Badacsony

From Szent György Hill. The grapes were crushed and then spent...

Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Csókaszőlő. From vineyards on Szent...

From the Templomdombi vineyard on Szent György Hill. Bencze’s...

Rajnai Rizling (Riesling). From a plot of terraced vines on...

From a plot on the Gulács Hill, where there is a little loam...

This bottling includes a small proportion of the pollinator...

From Badacsonyörs. Hand-harvested. Fermented in stainless-steel...

From Badacsonyörs. Hand-harvested. Fermented and aged in...

From a warm south-facing site on Badacsony Hill (terraced, hence...

30-year-old vines co-planted with Rózsakő on the south- and...

Bálint Földi is a great believer in Kéknyelű – he even wrote his...

40% Furmint, 40% Rajnai Rizling, 20% Olaszrizling. Owner and...

Contains 10% of the co-planted pollinator variety Rózsakő. From...

From a vineyard on the southern slopes of Badacsony Hill. The...

From a small plot on the south side of Csobánc Hill, next to the...

This is grown and made by the Viticulture and Oenology Research...

From a vineyard on Gulács Hill – pergola-trained vines. Hand...

Hand-harvested. Stainless-steel fermentation with selected...

From the Bács-Hegy vineyard on the ‘skirt’ of Köves Hill. Hand...

From an eight-year-old vineyard plot between the Bács and...

From the north-west side of Badacsony Hill. Bush vines. Low...

From a reclaimed vineyard on the Szigliget hills next to Lake...

From Szent György Hill. Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation...

From Szent György Hill. Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation...

From Szent György Hill. This autochthonous Hungarian variety was...

A great vintage, according to winemaker László Szeremley. Whole...

Hand-harvested. Short skin contact, then spontaneous...

A vineyard planted in 2005 on the southern side of the Tóti Hegy...

Ceramic bottle. 12 days on the skins and aged in amphora. Péter...

Rajnai Rizling. Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation. Aged...

A blend of Chardonnay, Rajnai Rizling, Olaszrizling...

From Csobánc Hill. Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation...

Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation. Aged for 20 months in...

Balatonboglár

Classified as a ‘Hegy Bor’ (hill wine) under the Balatoni Kör...

Classified as a ‘Hegy Bor’ (hill wine) under the Balatoni Kör...

A blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir in equal...

Stainless-steel tank only. TA 6.2 g/l, RS 1 g/l.
There’s a...

Aged in 3,000-litre oak barrels for nine months. TA 5.3 g/l.
Tra...

Aged in 225-litre Hungarian oak for 14 months. TA 4.6 g/l.
Mid...

Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz. Aged for 14...

From 25-year-old vines in Kötcse, south of Lake Balaton. Hand...

100% Cabernet Franc from the Landord vineyard. Hand-harvested...

Rajnai Rizling, Furmint, Chardonnay and Zenit. Traditional...

A very hot vintage. Owner and winemaker Ottó Légli never uses...

Fermented and aged for seven months in stainless-steel tanks. TA...

Balatonfüred-Csopak

A rare Kéknyelű from outside its Badacsony home. Hand-harvested...

Unusual to find Juhfark away from its Somló homeland. Hand...

Grown on calcareous soils in the Tag vineyard. Hand-harvested...

Certified organic.
Slightly more generous and fruit-expressive...

A blend of Zenit, Cserszegi Fűszeres, Királyleányka and...

The bottle carries the ‘Balaton Bor’ branding and label used by...

Conventional machine harvest, reductive fermentation, stainless...

Machine-harvested. Reductive fermentation in stainless-steel...

Machine-harvested. Stainless-steel-tank fermentation and then...

Winemaker Mihály Figula notes that Olaszrizling and Furmint are...

An unusual blend of Chardonnay, Olaszrizling and Furmint. Named...

A rosé made from Cabernet Sauvignon grown on the Öreghegy in...

A Csopak Codex wine from the Kertmög vineyard in Paloznak. Hand...

90% Olaszrizling, 10% Rajnai Rizling. From vineyards around...

From 30-year-old vines in the Lipos vineyard on the Tihany...

Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation. Aged for seven months...

Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation. Aged for six months in...

Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation. Aged in 225-litre used...

From the Nivegy Valley. Stainless-steel fermentation with...

From marl soils ('márga' means marl). Hand-harvested. Fermented...

From the red Permian sandstone soils in the Slikker vineyard...

A field blend of Kékfrankos, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc...

A blend of vineyards from the Tihany peninsula, which juts out...

From the Tihany peninsula on basalt tuff. Hand-harvested. Aged...

From the eponymously named vineyard in front of the winery – a...

From vineyards located between Csopak and Paloznak. Hand...

From the Hajnóczy vineyard in Paloznak. Fermentation and ageing...

Hand-harvested. Reductive fermentation and then aged in oak...

Furmint and Olaszrizling. Fermented in stainless-steel tanks. TA...

Stainless-steel tank fermentation. TA 5.6 g/l, RS 0 g/l...

Single-vineyard wine (dűlő). Hand-harvested. Fermented in a mix...

Single-vineyard wine (dűlő). Hand-harvested. Aged for 12 months...

Kékfrankos, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah. Hand-harvested...

Balatonfelvidék

Rezeda is the name of a flower which grows around the vineyards...

From the Töltési vineyard (dűlő) on the Fekete Hill. Grown on...

From the Pengyér vineyard (dűlő) in Monoszló. 35-year-old vines...

Kékfrankos and Cabernet Franc. A blend of basalt-rich sites in...

Furmint. Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation in stainless...

From the Mál vineyard. Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation...

Olivin is the name of the semi-precious green crystals that are...

60% Rajnai Rizling, 40% Olaszrizling from the basalt-rich tuff...

A blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Kékfrankos...

Hand-harvested. Spontaneous fermentation lasting four weeks...

Somló

Spontaneous fermentation in barrel. Aged on lees without added...

From the basalt-rich western slopes of Somló Hill. Spontaneous...

Aged for 12 months in old Hungarian oak (1,000 litres).
Smoke...

6–12 hours’ skin contact. Then the juice goes into very old 1...

A field blend (owner/winemaker Tamás Kis calls this his...

100% Juhfark taken from different sites on all sides of the hill...

Same winemaking as the 2023. Certified organic.
Mid-straw colour...

A sui generis wine – made with the two rarest of the authorised...

Aged in large-format old oak. TA 4.8 g/l, RA 5.2 g/l, dry...

Aged in large-format old oak. Full malolactic conversion –...

A great vintage, according to István Spiegelberg. Aged for nine...

Zala

...

60% Olaszrizling, 40% Rajnai Rizling. Grown on the loess, clay...

From the Kövecs vineyard – the name is a reference to the large...

Dori Bussay’s father was one of the pioneers in reviving this...

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