What Is Your Favorite Hungarian Wine?

I wish I could could try more HU wines but I usually just go for a mid priced Merlot, rose wines are ok but not my fave.
I do enjoy the Tokay region wines, homemade wine is fantastic here.
I no longer have access to homemade wines here in the city though.
When my cousin was in town we sprang for 4,000 a bottle wine a few bottles but again, as I am the main offender in the house, husband doesn't like drinking too much, I don't usually go crazy and blow the budget on my drinking of wines.
I hate to spend more then say $100. a month on my bad habits.
I do like a half bottle of wine a day, sometimes less sometimes more so if I gave up on drinking with dinner daily, I might spring for a more pricey wine twice a month.

klsallee wrote:

....or Tokaji wine, as those are way, way too predictable. 

Not only predictable but totally horrible.....yuck...the sweetness....awful...

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

....or Tokaji wine, as those are way, way too predictable. 

Not only predictable but totally horrible.....yuck...the sweetness....awful...

There are actually some very good dry wines from the Tokaji region. You just never hear about them due to the over dominating reputation and marketing of the sweet wines from this region. Rather sad, actually.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

....or Tokaji wine, as those are way, way too predictable. 

Not only predictable but totally horrible.....yuck...the sweetness....awful...

There are actually some very good dry wines from the Tokaji region. You just never hear about them due to the over dominating reputation and marketing of the sweet wines from this region. Rather sad, actually.

I quite like Irsai Olivier but even that's a bit sweet.  But very (and I mean very) slightly sweet wines seem to be best for cooking. Soave etc.

When my husband ever does drink wine, he likes sweet wines, I like more dry ones, He says I am a real drinker, the more it tastes like vinegar the more one can tell if they have become a "whino"!
He has twisted humor!!
I don't like overly dry wines so suppose I have not YET crossed the line between a social drinker and a whino!!
Suppose when I go for the wines with the twist tops I will know for sure!

Then again, I suppose one can say the have hit the bottom when they go in for the wines that come in 2 little sizes and in plastic containers.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
Suppose when I go for the wines with the twist tops I will know for sure!

Really? 

I will be looking twice at that 1/3 of a bottle of Merlot in a twisty top I consumed while watching a zombie show  (it was "Fear The Walking Dead").

I was already in bed so I didn't have to even struggle to the bedroom to nod off.

Don't sweat it, once we go in for the 2 liter plastic bottles, we may have a problem!

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Don't sweat it, once we go in for the 2 liter plastic bottles, we may have a problem!

I feel better now.

I could say I needed anaesthetic/calming influences in case the scary zombies kept me awake.

(yeah, right).

I must say, I am semi proud of myself.
last visit to Vegas I saw a doctor for a couple of minor issues.
This new to me doctor was really cool, a gay doctor ( we are talking Vegas baby) must say he was a million times cooler then most doctors I have seen lately.
He gave me a script for sleeping pills for 3 months the max he could give at one time.
I have not even opened up the bottle yet.
All set to go if anything bad hits the fan however!
I think I mentioned awhile back how my mother used to tell us as kids that we had no need to fear those big ol' mean commies in Cuba, she had a stash of pills to let us sleep well before things got out of hand.
Wow, my baby boomer generation has been through allot of crazy stuff!
Oh, sorry, thought I was on the free for all site.... I am drinking my last bits of my "allowed" half bottle of merlot, if that covers my off topic subject matter.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

When my husband ever does drink wine, he likes sweet wines, I like more dry ones, He says I am a real drinker, the more it tastes like vinegar the more one can tell if they have become a "whino"!
He has twisted humor!!
I don't like overly dry wines so suppose I have not YET crossed the line between a social drinker and a whino!!

Any dry wine that tastes like vinegar is considered a flawed wine and should simply be discarded. No quality wine should taste like this.

However, one may notice a lot of "chemical" tastes in many cheaper wines, which are used to stabilize the wine to reduce the chance of any problems during the wine making process to ensure maximum output and thus profitability. Which is why I only buy from smaller wineries that I know and whom are more interested in crafting quality over quantity.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

.....Oh, sorry, thought I was on the free for all site.... I am drinking my last bits of my "allowed" half bottle of merlot, if that covers my off topic subject matter.

You are on the Anything Goes section.  More power to you Marilyn. [ooops, not you are not in the right place -I've lost trck where we were, never mind]

But bit disconcerting your mother had plans to do everyone in case the Commies came.

Did she have plans in case giant ants arrived in tunnels dug by crazed Chinese generals?

Two references there: superb movies of their time noted for their sheer stupidity but very much appreciated by me aged about 8 as Saturday afternoon movies - Battle Beneath the Earth and Them!  Radioactive Ants/Commies? What's the difference? None! Mindless drones!

I for one will not reach for the pills when the time comes.  I will "Welcome our alien overlords" (to quote Kent Brockman on The Simpsons) while carrying out subversive acts - like not putting the top on the toothpaste and walking on the cracks in the pavement (sidewalk to the colonials).  Once again, sticking it to the Man (ant, communist,...er...whatever).

She even went as far a giving the neighbors kids a swat on the bottom if she saw them acting up!
Like having 6 of her own was not enough!
The neighbor kids all liked her though.
I have a crazy story now that we are on about neighbor kids.
My 2nd step- dad was into buying junk, not sure what was up with him but at one point our yard looked so "white trash" my mother called in a truck to remove some of his projects.
He had put a camper for a truck on my mom's front lawn, she always like a nice clean yard but he put his junk out on one side.
One day while she was taking care of the lawn she noticed the empty camping cabin shaking and moving back and forth.
She opened the door up and saw the next door neighbor girl in there by herself naked doing what will make you go blind!!!( The girl was 11)
My mom spanked her butt and sent her home letting the girls mother know what had happened.
Seriously, I just found this out a couple years back, my younger sibs. told me.
Not suppose to leave those campers unlocked just like a empty fridge, put a chain on it!
Small town livin' just can't beat it!

Those crazy B movies still give me nightmares!
In the US back in the mid 1960's they ran a show every single Saturday called, "The million Dollar Movie",
They would show the same film back to back a half doz. times in a row!
Often my little bro and I would make a batch of popcorn and go through 2 or 3 sittings of them same B film.
No wonder these days my mind is mush!
Ooops, tried 3 times to remove this post, wrong section again!!!
Yes I like merlot.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Those crazy B movies still give me nightmares!
In the US back in the mid 1960's they ran a show every single Saturday called, "The million Dollar Movie",...
Ooops, tried 3 times to remove this post, wrong section again!!!
Yes I like merlot.

You gotta love the thinking in those movies.  Many a product of the times.

I told those that have the power several times that we should have the ability to move our own posts to other threads.   

I'll quote on your other post in Absolutely Anything Else.

Back to the thread!  Has anyone tried cserszegi fűszeres (?) Makes a great fruity spritzer on a hot day. There's a really great Rosé made by Egri Korona Borhaz 699HUF in Tesco. Delicious! We buy our other wine in bulk direct from the grower in Lescencetomaj at 450HUF per litre. We only drink expensive wines when we go out or celebrate. Autumn is here now so time to concentrate on the Reds. 🍷🍷

jdbm1959 wrote:

Back to the thread!  Has anyone tried cserszegi fűszeres (?) Makes a great fruity spritzer on a hot day. There's a really great Rosé made by Egri Korona Borhaz 699HUF in Tesco. Delicious! We buy our other wine in bulk direct from the grower in Lescencetomaj at 450HUF per litre. We only drink expensive wines when we go out or celebrate. Autumn is here now so time to concentrate on the Reds. 🍷🍷

Some of those are a bit sweet. I find anything sweet very sickly tasting.

Fave (Hungarian - not) wine: Côte du Rhône

I think they should produce some lighter wines in Hungary.  I am starting to find the reds a bit too heavy.

What's expensive anyway in HU?  I think anything over about 1500 HUF is beginning to look extravagant. Around the 700-1000 HUF is more like a normal target price.

I like a nice red wine. If I'm going out and in somewhere like divino then my choice is a Heimann Birtokbor. I love Budapest for it's wine bars as you can try so many by the glass.

From a supermarket then there's a fairly cheap bulls blood that I quite like. It's about 600-700 Ft, Ostoros Bor Egri Bikavér Dry.

I've tried some really nice dry white Tokaji Furmints as well. Seems the one with "MAD" written on them are quite good.

I also like the Kreinbacher Extra Dry for a champagne, sorry sparkling wine (but it is made the traditional method rather than air pumped in afterwards like prosecco).

I suppose "expensive" in HU is relative. You can't get a decent bottle of wine in the UK for anything less that £5 these days perhaps even £6. Buying a basic bottle in a UK restaurant costs £15-£20 minimum. HU supermarket wine prices are silly as are the prices in restaurants. But HU has more of a beer drinking culture than wine.
The two wines I mentioned aren't sweet. I can't stand sweet wines apart from a Tokay at Xmas with the goose liver, Stilton or the mince pies! We get a great Cabernet Franc from our local guy, as well as a light Shiraz (yes, light!) but the poor guy lost the lot this year following the catastrophic hail storm on 13 July, which not only decimated what had up until then been looking like a bumper crop, but also wrecked roofs across a swathe of the locality, including ours. It was like a war zone as if a helicopter gun ship had straffed the village!
We will run down the stocks in the cellar while we are here and then stock up again in April when we are next back.
2017 is the year of my (early) retirement. Can't wait to move here permanently. Cheers!

Ostoros brand wine has a decent taste, not bad stuff.
My husband is not a wine drinker, doesn't drink much at all only if we have a guest over.
Had family visiting a while back, spent a ton on a couple bottles of red wine at dinner. Was nice stuff but I honestly didn't think it was much better then a 500-600 fornit bottle. Paying that 8,000 for 2 bottles of red was a bit much.

Don't even want to get started drinking too pricey of wines, no going back to the "cheap" stuff after that. I am the only wine drinker so don't blow the family budget on myself and the bottle, have not gotten that desperate as of yet! Just like wearing the best make up or buying the best handbags, once you do that , there is no going back to a drug store makeup or a plastic bag.

My fave wines are the homemade ones I have had here in HU.
All 100% grape with no additives.
Just about any wine made in Hungary is allot better then the Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill we used to sneak as teenagers from the local 7/11 store on the corner.

Whenever one drinks out it is going to cost 3 or more times more then enjoy a glass at home.

I actually love Sake, never notice it for sale here at least not in Tesco.
In Vegas they  have sake bars, that is also a pricey way to go. My niece took me out to dinner several times in Vegas a tiny personal container of hot sake was $40. each with dinner. Can buy a bottle of good stuff at Lee's liquor for that much.

We do not go out to Japanese places to eat here in HU.
My DIL is from Japan and we always overload on Japanese style cooking when we are in the states. MY son went to a sushi place in Budapest years back, cost allot and he said it was basically bad. Of course he is comparing to Tokyo.

I find it best to stick to local foods and wines because they reflect the climate of the local place. I hate it when people visit a new country and don't try to local fare, including the drinks.
Never will understand people who travel the world and have to eat at Subway or Pizza Hut.

jdbm1959 wrote:

Has anyone tried cserszegi fűszeres (?)

Yes, I have.

It is hybrid developed in Hungary, over near Keszthely in Zala county. It grows very well in the calcareous soils in that region. I find the wine can be very strong on the nose with aromas of rose so overpowering it can make the wine seem simplistic. But this is not an uncommon issue with wines in the Traminer family. But that can vary (be mitigated) depending on where the grapes are grown and how the grapes are handled during vinification.

jdbm1959 wrote:

the poor guy lost the lot this year following the catastrophic hail storm on 13 July, which not only decimated what had up until then been looking like a bumper crop, but also wrecked roofs across a swathe of the locality, including ours. It was like a war zone as if a helicopter gun ship had straffed the village!

Our vineyards were also in the path of this storm. Indeed significant damage to the vineyards. Our damage was not total. Lost 30% to 60% depending on where the vineyard was and what variety was hit. We only lost one tile on our roof due to the wind (but it is a new tile roof so could take more pounding).



More at:

https://stcoemgen.com/2016/07/17/storm-damage/

For a short season the "Trader joe's" in Las Vegas was carrying a Hungarian wine, I do believe it was a cserszegi fuszeres.
Reasonable price too. About $5. a pop.
I once asked a liquor store, Lee's in Vegas which is a huge shop with locations all over the SW of the US., if they had any wine from Hungary.
They showed be a special room where they keep the "good stuff".
Otherwise if not high end HU wine then they don't carry it much in the US.
Not sure why not, maybe special trade with other countries or perhaps we in Hungary don't leave enough left over for export!

Tough question!
I like all wines - if they're well-made. I prefer reds but I think Hungary is better at making whites, in general. I'd have to choose Kadarka as my favourite Hungarian red grape and Juhfark, Furmint, Irsai Oliver, Bouvier (very hard to find) as my whites. Dry, definitely. Off-dry at the most.
(I'm a bit of a wine geek)

jdbm1959 wrote:

Back to the thread!  Has anyone tried cserszegi fűszeres (?) Makes a great fruity spritzer on a hot day. There's a really great Rosé made by Egri Korona Borhaz 699HUF in Tesco. Delicious! We buy our other wine in bulk direct from the grower in Lescencetomaj at 450HUF per litre. We only drink expensive wines when we go out or celebrate. Autumn is here now so time to concentrate on the Reds. 🍷🍷

Spritzer? Sacrilege!    (Just kidding. To each their own)

Hi! Yeah I know, but I only add a splash of soda to mine, honest! I much prefer reds as well and the best I have tried have been fabulous but so expensive and so hard to source outside the top restaurants which stock them. There are some niche wine merchants but again the prices are steep. I love the earthy reds from Eger as well as the more refined reds from Szekszard. Best is to visit the vineyard. One such is Thummerer (near Eger) which I think is excellent. We dropped by one day unannounced and they were preparing for a busy evening group cellar visit with food music and of course their wines. We asked to try some wines and they could have said no but they looked after us very well and let us taste a variety.....which we bought. Later I realised that the lady who looked after us so patiently and well was the owner.... 10/10 from me 🍷

GrantM wrote:

I think Hungary is better at making whites, in general.

Yes.

Mainly due to the climate in most of the country.

The south west is best for reds for this reason.

Egar is noted for its "Bulls Blood" and more recently for the varietal grapes that create this blend. But IMHO, the Cabernet Francs from Villány are better.

klsallee wrote:

GrantM wrote:

I think Hungary is better at making whites, in general.

Yes.

Mainly due to the climate in most of the country.

The south west is best for reds for this reason.

Egar is noted for its "Bulls Blood" and more recently for the varietal grapes that create this blend. But IMHO, the Cabernet Francs from Villány are better.

I prefer my reds from warmer climates like Szekszárd, Villány. Once in a while I find a great one from cooler areas like Eger or Mátra. It’s always a gamble as to when to harvest the grapes but I find that most reds (especially in cooler regions) are picked too early - before phenolic ripeness has been reached. For me, there’s nothing more off-putting in a red wine than stalky, green notes on the nose and the palate.

I prefer my whites, obviously, from the cooler regions of the country: fresh, lively, slightly less alcohol.

By the way, too much oak is off-putting for me – either in reds or in whites. Nothing worse than sucking on a 2x4.

jdbm1959 wrote:

Hi! Yeah I know, but I only add a splash of soda to mine, honest! I much prefer reds as well and the best I have tried have been fabulous but so expensive and so hard to source outside the top restaurants which stock them. There are some niche wine merchants but again the prices are steep. I love the earthy reds from Eger as well as the more refined reds from Szekszard. Best is to visit the vineyard. One such is Thummerer (near Eger) which I think is excellent. We dropped by one day unannounced and they were preparing for a busy evening group cellar visit with food music and of course their wines. We asked to try some wines and they could have said no but they looked after us very well and let us taste a variety.....which we bought. Later I realised that the lady who looked after us so patiently and well was the owner.... 10/10 from me 🍷

Okay, as long as it's just a splash. 
Thummerer is always hit and miss with me. Most of what I liked from them was pre-2007.
Agreed, prices run steep for a good Hungarian red. I, personally, think most are over-priced.

GrantM wrote:

...By the way, too much oak is off-putting for me – either in reds or in whites. Nothing worse than sucking on a 2x4.

Gives you a rotten headache as well!

Our visit must have been circa 2007/9 because I remember that we drove out from Uk. We have a romantic connection with Eger (my wife and I met there in 1979) so this maybe colours the taste buds. We want to like the Reds! Gróf Buttler also generally good. I agree about the Villany wines so too szekszard. Alpologies for an earlier error regarding Egri Korona Borhaz Rosé. I never noticed it was half dry until you mentioned it. Bought a 2015 vintage earlier and I noticed it right away. The colder it is the less sweet it tastes. Want to try the Sauska Siller next summer. My favourite rosés are Syrah wines. Peppery and spicy.
In retirement I want to set up a small wine tourism business as there is nothing bespoke or tailored to tourism unless you go to the cellar/grower in person. 🍇🍇