Hungary – key wine regions

Eger

Eger is in the north, about 86 miles northeast of Budapest with rich volcanic and limestone soils. Scientists have identified a 30 million-year-old wine grape fossil in Eger, among the modern-day vineyards, showing that vines have grown here naturally long before humans arrived in the region.

Eger is best known for Egri Bikaver (say it – “Egg-ree Bee-kah-var”), or ‘Bull’s Blood’, a red blend, rich in tannin and spice. The wine gets its name during the siege of Eger in 1552, by the Ottomans, who spotted Hungarian troops drinking huge amounts of the red wine. Seeing their bloodshot eyes, wine-stained beards, and fiery spirits of the drunken Hungarians, the invaders decided they were not to be messed with as it seemed they were drinking the blood of a bull. Today Bulls Blood is Eger’s most famous wine which must be made of at least three grapes and at least 50% percent must be a native red grape, which is typically Kékfrankos (say it – “Kake-Fron-kosh”) or Kadarka qualifies too. They are still full bodied and rustic styles of wine with dark jammy forest fruits and good acidity.

White wines of Eger include Egri Csillag (say it – “Egg-ree Chee-log”), the blend is comprised of at least 4 white grapes but at least 50% of the blend must be native grapes including Furmint (say it – “fur-meent”), which is found in many white wines of Hungary. These fresh, dry wines are aromatic and powerful with white flowers and tropical fruits like pineapple and litchi.

Tokaj

Tokaj is Hungary’s most famous wine region and the oldest classified wine region in the world. It is home to the world’s first noble rot wine Tokaji Aszú (say it – “Tok-eye-As-zoo”). Named after the village of Tokaj, the region sits between two rivers with afternoon sunshine and constant breezes, which creates the perfect microclimate for Botrytis to form. Dry Whites of Tokaj have also appeared in the last 15 years, notably dry Furmint with an impressive minerality and structure reminiscent of good quality, full-bodied Chardonnay.

To be termed as Tokaji, wines can be dry or sweet and only contain the 6 native varieties; post Phylloxera, these are mostly Furmint and Hárslevelü (say it – “harsh-level-ooo”). The wine is made from individually picked botrytized grapes that are then mashed and soaked in dry wine or must. The sweet wines are called Tokaji Aszú and have their own classification system which is determined by the amount of sugar by its “Puttonyos”, which translates to baskets, of noble rot grapes added to a single barrel of wine. There used to be 6 levels, but this caused confusion so there are now only 2 allowed levels. There are also wines with higher levels of residual sugar now only known as Essencia instead of either Aszú Essencia or Essencia. These can be incredibly sweet but rarely exceed 450g/l of residual sugar. Vintages after 2014 can only use the following terms:

5 Puttonyos: Residual sugar – 120 – 150g/l

6 Puttonyos: Residual sugar – 150 – 180g/l

Essencia: Residual sugar – 180 – 850g/l.

These delicious sweet wines are balanced with bright acidity with flavours of tangerines and apricots with cinnamon, honey and cloves.

Villány

Villány is a warm region near Hungary’s border with Croatia with a mild Mediterranean climate which is particularly ideal for making wine. Long hot summers and mild winters produce world-class, structured and elegant wines on volcanic soils. Many producers focus on red Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, but Cabernet Franc is particularly suited to this region.

Nagy Somló

Nagy Somló is Hungary’s tiniest wine region with a unique terroir that sits on lava flows from a long extinct volcano. It only has around 300ha of vines but produces some of the smokiest, intense white wines in the world. The wines are so powerful that, in the past, the wealthy nobility of Europe would send their wives here drink the wines in the belief that it would help them conceive a male heir. While all the wines produced on Somló are remarkable, the Juhfark (say it – “yu-fark”) is most notable. Juhfark (which translates to ‘sheep’s tail’) makes white wines that are savoury and intense with flavours of lemon, hay and smoke but take time in the bottle to mellow and mature.