IF PINOCCHIO HAD ONLY KNOWN ABOUT THIS WINE

First I need to tell you how I got to taste the wine.

I went to the Benedictine Pannonhalma Archabbey  because the wines are advertised as being, well, almost deified.  The Apatsagi winery is located on the abbey grounds.  If you look you will likely find them on your local wine shelves.  The better vintages are rather pricey.  BTW, this is the second largest Benedictine abbey on the planet.

 This is a picture of one of the buildings on the abbey grounds erected in 996.  It is one of the oldest structures in Hungary.

 When I alighted from the bus and went to the main entrance to the abbey to inquire about tasting wines in their cellar, a man in a starched white shirt told me to go to the cafe which is on the abbey grounds .  Fine vino he said.  I walked 50 feet in the direction of the cafe and saw a sign pointing in the other direction for the Apatsagi winery.  

I came back and said that was where l wanted to go to taste wine.  It was met with the word  ‘no’  in four different languages and two different octaves, none being in English.  The best I could get was that you need an appointment but even that might not have been close to the mark.

I decided to do a little exploring on my own in the direction of the winery later, if for no other reason given the experience I had in Malta.  Well, the experience actually started out in Jordan in the city of Jerash.

A few years ago I hired a driver for a few days to take me around to several sites in Jordan including Jerash.  Jerash is an amazingly intact Roman city.  After a long and leisurely late lunch on our way to Jerash at a well-known restaurant we arrived, alas, just as the gates to the vast ruin were being closed for the night. 

My driver tried bribing a guard at every gate to get me inside, but no luck.

We wound up driving to the back side of the ruin.  He found a hole in the eight foot high chain link fence and through we went along with a few locals.

It is one of my all-time trip memory highlights.  I vividly remember strolling through those streets just before dusk.  The only sound that came other than my footfalls on a street rutted by chariot wheels was the occasional soft murmurings of burka clad women we passed and punctuated from time to time with children's laughter.

That experience stood me well a couple of weeks later when a bus dropped me off at an ancient site on the island of Malta.  I walked to the entrance but the gate was chained.  A soccer field was off to one side.  I walked across the soccer field, around a fence and hopped up on an ancient wall.  I sat down amidst s profusion of tall feathery fennel plants and admired a close up view of the ancient ruins.

So, here we at the 'archabbey of forbidden tasting'.  I am interested in wineries.  Even looking at a closed winery is better than looking at no winery.  So after taking in a couple of churches and monuments I wandered down towards the winery.

Near the entrance of the working end of the winery I could see where they had recently pressed grapes.  There were some carts of skins and stems outside. The tasting terrace along another side of the winery had quite a few tables and chairs but I could tell it was disused from the accumulation of dried leaves strewn around them.

A few more steps down that side of the winery brought me to an open door and three young men standing just inside.  I pointed to a cart of grape skins sitting outside this door and inquired Cabernet?  No one young man answered in English merlot.  I explained I used to grow merlot and it was unfortunate I could not taste their wines.

He said it might be possible and walked me inside to an elevator and down we went into a barrel room which adjoined a tasting room.

 He disappeared momentarily and came back with another person who kindly permitted me to join a French tour group coming in about a half hour to taste wines.  As instructed, I walked back to the main entrance of the abbey and waited about half an hour.  The winery representative came and took me to join the tour group and explained in English that the tour and tasting would be free for me.  I guess that is in part a courtesy to a fellow vineyard owner.

At the end of the winery tour I sat down with my 20 some odd new French friends to taste two whites and a rose.

Now for the tasting notes:

Risling 2105

Color almost clear

Light by floral nose

Pure trusting very delicate

Taste risling grape going to slight citrus and finish pleasantly tart

Hemina

 2015

Nose very faint

Taste profusion of citrus flavors

Finish slightly acid a touch drywith a touch of chalk

A little fuzz on my lips - no doubt a little chapped

Pinot noir 2015

Served chilled  I wrapped my hands around the glass for a couple of minutes to warmed the wine to cellar temperature.  A delightful aroma developed.

The taste was pinot grape and slightly resinous going dry at the finish.

Now, we come to Pinocchio.  As the wine warmed several degrees more that delightful nose shrank to almost nothing!

The bus back to Gyor was not scheduled to arrive for about an hour and a half.  I sat on a bench outside the abbey to wait and struck up a conversation with an 84 year ‘young’ Hungarian lady.  It turned out she enjoys wines.

After a while we walked down to the café for a bit of refreshment.  The ‘café’ turned out to be a hut that served coffee, ice cream, wine, etc. Over her coffee and my glass of Sauvignon Blanc 2015 we had a nice discussion about Hungarian wines. (the wine had a very light nose and a fresh but slightly tannic taste).

Here is a photo of my ‘bus stop friend’ handing me a piece of paper on which she had written szurkebarat szaraz, a wine she insisted that I try when I returned to Budapest.