Hello everyone, I would like to start with announcing that since last week me and Katalin Bujdosó work together!

We will be organizing wine trips and other tourism related trips together, so if you would like to see Hungarys wine regions or just Hungary in general you can always contact us to organize you your dream trip! More information can be found on http://www.borq.hu, note that we are currently changing the webpage into English so for any inquiries you can email us at info@borq.hu. Me and Katalin will also be guest blogging each others blogs, so you can expect some really nice and interesting articles in the future!

Now lets talk about the wine tasting I held last Saturday, there were only 5 people but we did have a lot of fun and wine! We decided to sit outside since we could all stay in the shade with this small group.

The topic Rosé wines was picked a couple of a months ago, regardless of the random ”it’s rose week” crap. We planned to drink rosé wines in late June because of the hot weather in Hungary, temperatures go up all the way to mid 30s so drinking full bodied red wines would not be such a great idea. Unfortunately we dropped the total amount of bottles to 5 from 8, since more than 5 guests could not come this was the right decision.

The wines

From the Feketebács vineyards which are located on the Southern parts of the Bács hills in Badacsony, a wine region at the North coast of lake Balaton. Gábor Ádám, owner of Sabar-Dűlő borház told me that 2015 was very warm, with over 30 days of constant daily temperatures between 36 and 38 degrees Celsius, there was also a huge lack of rain which did not help the cause at all. Because of the warm weather wines turn out to be higher in alcohol because of the higher sugar content and lower in acids, this combination isn’t ideal for rosé but I am of the opinion that Sabar dealt with it pretty well.

The color was light salmon rosé, with a nice nose full of red fruits with little hints of minerals. On the tongue there were little bubbles, red fruit and a very little hint of peaches. The alcohol and acids were pretty well balanced which makes this wine a true delight.

My personal favorite.

My score  : 89 points

From the Provence region in France, just 25 kilometers from Bordeaux. A rosé cuvée made of Grenache and Cinsault. Cinsault can withstand drought very well and is very important in North Africa, Lebanon, Israel and South Africa (Pinotage is the parent of Cinsault here). In South Italy the grape is known as Ottavianello.

Pale pink, light orange color. Earthy smells with a bit of citrus fruits. On the tongue we find back grapefruits, the wine is a bit salty as well and higher in acidity. You can feel the wine going down. Fresh rosé wine, pretty smooth except from the higher acidity.

My score : 87 points  

The next wine is made out of a very special grape, it’s called Néro. It’s a crossbred grape but there is little information about which grapes were used. However this grape is very resistant, the plant is producing a huge quantity of antioxidants, thank to this it does not require any spraying with chemicals. The antioxidants are found back in the wine as well, with up to seven times more antioxidants than an average red wine.

Darker pink colour already, medium intensive nose with lots of cherry in it and a little coffee. The flavor was well balanced and you could easily find back the sour cherry notes, the alcohol and acidity was well balanced.

My score : 90 points

The one but last wine came from a wine region that a lot of experts like to compare to the Bordeaux in france. The region is known for making excellent wines out of the Bordeaux trio grape varieties but it also does wonders with Pinot Noir and the Hungarian grape Kékfrankos. Ruppert Borház is a family winery owned by former engineer Ákos Ruppert and his brother András is in charge of the wine making. Ruppert is known for making mainly single grape variety wines except from a white cuvée and owns 27 HA of land.

The grapes were harvested in small cases to prevent crushing, there was a fast and gentle processing and it was kept on peel for only 2-3 hours. Was aged in tanks for 5 months and every week they mixed it up.

The color if the wine was light pink, light to medium intense in the nose. Dominant grape fruit with little hints of peaches. The flavor was clean and medium intensive with the acidity being a bit higher, could feel the wine going down for pretty long.

My score : 85 points

We arrived at the last wine of the tasting, one that caught my attention because of its deep color. And I will be honest I was a little disappointed in it. Knowing how good all of the reds are made by Montes. Wine comes from the Archangel estate in Marchigue, the Colchagua valley estate close to the pacific ocean. The Wine derives its color by staying a night in contact with the skins.

I would say this is a raspberry color, deep rosé almost like a Hungarian siller wine. The nose was clean and medium + intensive with strawberry, minerals, a little spice and in some sense the sea. The flavor was well balanced and had a good concentration of fruits and a bit of tannins in it with a medium long finish. This wine was pretty good but it is not my favorite.

My score : 89 points

Next week I will be traveling back to Belgium for a holiday and a visit to my family. I will bring back some Spanish blue Chardonnay to taste and to talk about so stay tuned! There will be no monthly tasting in July due to holidays, but we will hold a very special Pinot Noir tasting on the 27th of August so if you would like to join in send me a private message on social media or an email but be quick because there are limited spots!