ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE

In his Divine Comedy ,Dante Alighieri passes through the gate of Hell on which there is an inscription that ends with 'Abandon hope all ye who enter here'.

That thought crossed my mind a few minutes after I sat down at a table inside Cezar Pince. 

 I first tried a Chardonnay which was served only moderately cool.  One sip was enough.  Harsh ‘grapey’ swill.

I sought out what I thought was the best wine on the menu, a 2013 kekfrankos from a well known Sopron winery.  It almost equaled the Chardonnay as a tawdry excuse for executing helpless grapes!

Did this place have a couple of leftover vats of wine from the Soviet era?

I paid and left the barely touched glasses on the table.

But just as Dante emerged from the nine circles of Hades, I too emerged from Cezar and back onto the streets of Sopron.  The ‘S’ is pronounced sh as in show by the way. 

It is a beautiful city studded with baroque architecture, churches, monuments, bakeries, ice cream shops, and outdoor cafes where people linger for hours over coffee or milkshakes.  Take a look of a few of my photos below.

Here are the bar stools as Papa Joes.  I wonder if there is a bar somewhere in Texas that looks like this.

For the history buffs, here is a brief synopsis of its history:

The site was inhabited by different tribal folk for several centuries BC.  About the year 1 or 2 construction of a Roman city began.  Actually, some think it was 14 or 15.   However, let’s not quibble over a few years one way or the other.

It was not fortified, just a place for retired soldiers and regular folk to make a living.  The main city square of modern day Sopron sits where the Roman forum was located.

By the 9^th century when the Hungarians showed up, the city had been abandoned and lay in ruins.  They began to build the city on the site of the former Roman city.  You can see a few vestiges of Roman ruin as you stroll about the city today.  The city square sits atop the site where the Roman forum used to be.

Around the year 1000 the Hungarians built a castle and then proceeded to build fortified walls around it.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but it became a centuries long white elephant.  The cost of upkeep kept them cash strapped off and on.  To make matters worse, for all those years not many other countries seemed very interested in capturing the city.

So, for the next several centuries the castle went from disrepair to repair back and forth again because they kept running short of funds to keep the darned thing fixed up.

Finally this problem was resolved in 1676 when the castle burned down taking a number of surrounding houses with it.  It makes me wonder if that was a form of medieval urban renewal by a crafty government official.

What a beautiful town arose from the ashes.  It oozes charm at the turn of every corner.   As you can see from the pictures above baroque architecture abounds.  Narrow streets turn lazily this way and that.  The cobble stone streets add the finishing touch.

As you might guess with all these restaurants, outdoor cafes, nice hotels, ice cream parlors and bakeries, tourism is the engine that drives Sopron.

SOPORIFIC IN SOPRON

(79 wines tasted as of the end of this post)

I left Gyor at about 11 am for a two hour bus ride to Sopron.  The city sits in the northwest corner of Hungary and is only about an hour from either Vienna, Austria or Bratislava, Slovakia.  It makes an interesting prospect for a day trip to each city or even spending a night or two in each of them.

I took a taxi from the bus station and arrived at the Ringhofer Guesthaus.  A young lad showed me to my room: think a small French garret (top floor with slanted ceilings and two skylights), and when I asked him whom to pay, he replied ‘grandma’.   Grandma turned out to be a gentle, good natured, a gray-haired woman of many years.  I think anyone would be proud to have her as a grandma.

I paid for my room and was immediately off to catch the last afternoon of the three days of the Sopron Festival.  The part of the festival that interested me was the wine tasting offered by some twenty odd regional wineries.  When I got to the tasting area, however, I discovered that many of the small, temporarily erected wooden structures were closed. 

Only about ten were open.  I bought a sauvignon blanc from one winery.  I was asked if I had a wine glass; I said no, and the wine was poured into a plastic picnic cup.  The 2015 vintage was nice, light and fruity.  I drank and walked until I came to another winery’s booth.

 There I bought two red wines: a Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 with a cherry sweet bouquet and a taste going quickly to minerality and dry. That was followed by Soproni Ejszka.  What a lovely wine. Not much bouquet; however the wine’s flavors take time to unfold in the mouth.  A profusion of slightly under ripe fruit.  The booth’s proprietor and I talked about wine, and he proceeded to pour three more wines, one after the other, for me to taste.  I’d say about a half deciliter of each.

First: Iraqi Oliver 2015.   Wonderful nose of linden flower.  Delightfully clean and fresh on the palate.  Then a Rose zweigelt (Siraz) with 2 grams of sugar.  That was followed by a dry merlot rose which had a light taste and a semi dry finish.

By now my head had a buzz, so I went in search of something to eat since I had not eaten anything at all that day.  I came upon a patisserie nearby and chose a slice of cake.

The large slice of dessert helped tame some of the alcohol roaming around in my stomach.  By now it was late afternoon, and I headed back to the wine tasting area.  It turned out that many of the wine producers had taken midday off and were reopening their huts.  I went to one where the guy told me he could only sell me wine if I had an official festival wine glass.  He pointed to one of the huts, and off I went. 700 forint later, with an official wineglass in hand, I returned to his booth.

After I purchase and drink another couple of deciliters of wines, I find out belatedly that the glass I am now in possession of is a magic portal.  By my rough calculation, there are well over 100 wines available that afternoon.

I am already half in the bag but feel I cannot resist the opportunity to taste some more wines.  So I launch, or perhaps I should say lurch, onward on my tasting expedition.  A couple of hours or so later, after drinking or tasting some 24 wines, I quit the field of battle and go in search of a substantial meal to soak up the alcohol.  That sounds like a large number of wines, but the total consumed was somewhat less than two bottles, give or take.

Just before I leave, it is hoot to find that I can sell my 700 forint glass back for 500 forint.  So for 200 forint, or 72 cents, I could have tasted every wine at the festival!  Live and learn.

On the way back to my guesthaus, I find a restaurant that turns out to have garnered the TripAdvisor 2014 award as the top restaurant in Sopron.  Take a look at the entrée which arrived in an enormous wooden ‘boat’.  And this was after I had eaten a delicious appetizer of ground meat wrapped in a delicate pancake drenched with a tasty sauce.

(I later found out that the restaurant - Erhardt was the number one rated restaurant in Sopron by TripAdvisor)

No wine with dinner, thank you.

For those of you interested in the gory details of my tastings,  you can see them below, other than the ones I mentioned above.  Alas, some are missing completely.  Others became abbreviated as I became inebriated.

Kekfrankos 2014

12.5 % alcohol

No nose

Dry 

Blue Frankish

Harsh tannic

Not enjoyable

Like a lot of Argentine wines made to drink with an assado to cut the rich grease

Pinot blanc

Dry white wine

Slightly acid 

Slightly mineral nose reminiscent of a French grave

Zoldveltelini 2015

Light floral

Harsh new grape!!

Zenit 2014

Bonis Peter winery 

Zowie what a bouquet

Beautiful taste as well

Fidelissima 2006

(oops, forgot to write)

Irshai Oliver 2015

Outstanding bouquet and fresh flower taste

Korai piros velteluni 2015

Light floral with dry finish

Kekfrankos rose

?????

Kekfrankos 2015

Classic

Alcohol new wine

Dry tannic acidic

Chardonnay 2010

Traditional method 

Blanc de blanc

Unique flavor reminds me of a Montrachet I tasted years ago in France with green apple and a little fizz on the lips

Traminer 2015

White fragrant bouquet

Fresh raw wine

Zenit 2013

Delicious bouquet

Floral sweet overtones

Taste: you get the flavor of the grape, then acid dry, and then the flavor of the grape returns

Kekfrankos 2015 rose

Very assertive rose

5 grams of residual sugar

Concealer 

Zweigelt 2014

Grape nose

Dry, tannic

Kekfrankos 2013

Nice kekfrankos nose

Delicious dry, tannic 

Looking back at the entries above, I think it is the first time I ever used ‘zowie’ as a descriptive term for tasting a wine.  Then again, it is a first to have consumed so much alcohol in several hours (well, other than college.

(nb.  Above blog professionally edited by none other than MBSF)

GYOR FOOD AND WINE

(55 wines tasted to date at the end of this blog)

My bus from Balatonfured arrived about 1 pm in Gyor.  Since I had not eaten breakfast I looked around for a nearby restaurant and found Kristaly.  This place gives a whole new meaning to soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch.

When I entered the restaurant I noticed that each and every table with diners seated at it held a huge metal bowl of soup.  The waiter took me to a table and before I could order here unbidden came my own soup.  My guess is that there is about a gallon of soup there.

The only menu was outside on the wall.  I had no clue what to order so I pointed to a fellow two tables away and told the waiter I would have what he was having.  (this method worked well in China, where few waiters and waitresses spoke English.  You were usually seated family style around a table with several other Chinese diners.  You looked around and pointed to what another person at the table was eating and that was what you got).

It looked like my neighbor was eating breaded fried fish, because he was dipping a piece that he had cut off into what I thought was tartar sauce.  When my entrée arrived, the breaded fried fish turned out to be cheese.  Two large triangles about ¾ inch thick were heavily breaded and crispy deep fried.   As I cut into one of them the semi melted slightly oozed out.  A little dab of mayonnaise on it and into the boca.  What an improvisation on a grilled cheese sandwich.

I had two or three bowls of the soup.  A mushroom broth with spätzle and carrots.   Fine fare.

I take you from that lunch to the fanciest dinner I have had thus far on my trip.  The night before I left I went to the Kisfaludy Wine bar and Restaurant.  TripAdvisor ranks it high.  I can see why.  As part of the chef’s credentials, aside from working in Paris for several years, he spent about three years working for Gordon Ramsey.

I chose the ‘diamond’ tasting plate. It had among other things caviar, an obscenely large serving of foie gras, a soft creamy cheese topped with a ginger-pumpkin fume, sliced ham with a fruity topping, a pot of cheese topped with preserves (that cheese was so strong it could have gotten up and walked around the plate), and several more items.  I have a two minute audio on my phone of the chef explaining each of the items on the tasting plate.

Each item was paired with a wine.  My first wine was a lovely light summer wine.  Floral bouquet and fresh.  The second was an interesting Riesling.  It had a strong grapey flavor not usually associated with the grape.  The wine held its own with the ham. 

Next came a pinot noir rose.  Never had one before.  This one had a pinot nose and pinot grape flavor.  What was interesting about this wine was its exceedingly dry finish.  It was a perfect foil for that really strong cheese.  The dry finish of the wine took away the strong cheese flavor that clung to the palate.

The next two wines were reds.  The first one was a fresh merlot that I began as I worked on the foie gras.  I then proceeded to drink the second red which was a Malbec.  If you put this Malbec, a product of Hungary, next to one from Argentina you would be astounded at the difference between the same grape grown in the two different countries.  To be sure terroir and other factors truly influence how the grape will taste in the bottle.  This one was more of a neighbor of a cabernet.  The nose and a bit of cherry and the taste hinted at a Cab.

The final wine was a Syrah.  Full, fruity and luscious.  I finally had to give up on the tasting plate, reluctantly leaving the last two items untouched.

During the dinner chef Csaba came out several times to chat about the food and wine.  Somewhere in one of those visits we started discussing the merits and demerits of Chardonnay.  I explained that I was a traditionalist and really enjoyed the heavily oaked French Chardonnay.  I said that I would also definitely drink an Australian Chardonnay.  But when it came to California Chardonnays I said that I thought the wine producers had bread much of the true nature out of the wine, probably I thought for the palate of the American customer.

He became animated.  He told me he had just finished writing a chapter in his upcoming book about Chardonnays, whereupon, he disappeared into the restaurant and reappeared holding a large balloon glass of wine.  “My favorite Hungarian Chardonnay”, he said, “on the house”.

I sniffed and sipped and told him it was truly a delightful wine.  The bouquet was lightly fruited.   The taste was as clean as could be and reminded me of a fine ‘Chablis’ I drank forty years ago.

We wound up with a ‘picture taking ceremony’.  He is the one standing.  I am the one seated and wondering if I’ll be able to stand up.

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.

HUNGARIAN WINE REGIONS AND A LITTLE WHINING

There are 22 official wine regions in the country.  As far as distance goes.  Budapest sits just about in the center of the country.  For example, it is 124 miles to the Tokaj wine region in the east of the country shown as number 20. To the far west sits the Zala wine region about 123 miles from Budapest shown on the map as region 21.

I started tasting at number 20 (Tokaj-Hegyalia), came west to 18  (Eger), further west to Budapest, and then further west to 6 (Balatonfured-Csopak).  I then turned north to go to 10 (Pannonhalma ).  Next stop is the northwestern most tip of Hungary number 12 (Sopron).  To give you an idea of distances, Sopron sits only 45 miles from Vienna, Austria and 54 miles from Bratislava, Slovakia.

My Hungarian wine tasting adventure to date really hasn’t covered that much ground in terms of regions.  Having to rely on intercity train and bus schedules and then local bus schedule times, what could have been done easily in five days by car has taken two weeks by public transportation. 

It just isn’t the time to go between placers by public transportation.  It is the research needed and then double checking to make sure you are headed where you want to go.  The complexities are multiplied when you consider that few people speak English, and the name of every place is unpronounceable since the spelling of each is liberally sprinkled with z’s and s’s, etc.

Added to that, most wineries lie outside cities and are not possible to get to with public transit and simply too far to walk.   

That leaves tasting ‘winehauses’ in cities as the best bet to sample a range of regional wines.  Most offerings are very recent vintages.  You usually find mostly 2015, followed by a few 2014 or possibly 2013.  The new wines tend to be a bit raw, generally speaking.  I can only count two or three times to date when I have established sufficient rapport in the Eger caves to sample older and more seasoned vintages. 

A particular drawback of not travelling about by car is the missed opportunity of one on one with the vineyard employees or the vineyard owner himself.  That way you have a much much better chance to learn more about the wine and taste samples that give you the true essence of the region.

Even the tasting at the Apatsagi cellar in Pannonhalma the three wines tasted were all 2015.  They were OK.  However, some of their older vintages are outstanding.  I think the country sells itself short by offering lesser wines for tasting.  Folks such as myself  who want to learn about new wines and who would appreciate the better wine a winery can offer should be given the opportunity to pay to taste them.

I think there is a bit of the same problem in Hungary that exists in say Thailand when it comes to going after the tourist dollar.  Tour operators who charge big bucks to squire people around for the day simply want to keep more reasonable cost operators out of the business.

I have recently concluded that is necessary to supplement my tastings at venues with also buying a bottle of ‘better’ wine.  This can only go so far.  A half bottle of ‘decent stuff’ at the end of the day on top of several deciliters consumed at tastings puts a strain on the old liver.  And I do in fact have an old liver.

Hence, a purchase of a Bock 2012 Ermitage was in order here yesterday. (‘Here’ is Gyor, a large city just a few kilometers from Pannonhalma).  Bock, located in southwest Villany, was awarded ‘Winemaker of the year’ in 1997 and ‘Winery of the year in 2007’.

 Half a bottle later, I declare the wine a winner.  It is a blend of up to seven wines.  Each varietal was put in oak individually, then blended, and then returned to the barrel for an additional time.  This was the same process for making the better versions of ‘bulls blood’ in Eger.

This wine has a full well rounded body and would be a fine accompaniment to a substantial dish.  Think relative of a fine Cabernet (which is one of the wines in the blend).

Tasting notes say there is a hint of sour cherry and chocolate, no less on the finish.  I definitely got the sour cherry.  I’ll leave it to my sweetheart who has a much more refined chocolate palate than I do to see if she divines that essence.ungarianH

I go next to Sopron.  It is reputed to be one of the most important wine regions in Hungary.  After Sopron, I think that ends my Hungarian wine tasting adventure with the possible exception of Villany which is located in southwest Hungry.  I might land there on my way back from Croatia headed to Budapest.

CSOPAK - HUNGARIAN WORD MEANING YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE

I started out the day with a quick trip to a winery that is just about 6 minutes up the road from my guesthaus.  The first wine (and last) I began tasting was their chardonnay – pinot blanc.  After two sips I put down the glass paid my bill and left.  Harsh with a very off putting after taste.  Go figure, their wines have won three gold medals.  But I didn’t want to stay and pan for gold.

Then it was on to my primary mission of the day – tasting wine from at least three wineries in the neighboring town of Csopak.

Simple huh?   Instead of walking two or three kilometers on the edge of narrow two lane road without shoulders with cars whizzing by within a couple feet of you to get to the several wineries by the most direct route, you play it safe and go by bus.  

Seems simple enough.  Take the local bus to the bus station which you have done several times since you have been in Balatonfüred.  Buy a ticket to Csopak the neighboring town just a few kilometers away and in a short while you alight from the bus and go in search of several wineries for tasting.

What could go wrong?

1.     The bus to Csopak was supposed to leave from bus station bay number 2.  After two separate conversations with the bus driver, none of which I understood, I finally got the point by gesticulation.  For you non English majors that means generally waggling your fingers around to help make a point.  Here it meant to take the bus in bay number 3. Which brings me to point number 2.

2.     I board the bus in bay 3 show a piece of paper on which I have written Csopak to the driver.  He takes my money, gives me a ticket and the bus takes off.

3.     I figured the bus would stop somewhere in downtown Csopak and I could make my way to the wineries on foot.  I had previously Googled them and knew them to be not too distant from ‘downtown Csopak’.

4.     Instead after a few kilometers down the road the bus stops in the middle of nowhere.  I mean REALLY in the middle of nowhere.  The driver opens the door and says to me Csopak and I so get off the bus.  The only thing around was a little open fronted hut with the name Csopak on the front of it.  I could see the town some couple of kilometers in the distance.  I looked over to the other side of the road and there was a corresponding white hut with the name Csopak on the front.  I walked across the road to commune with the other white hut, hoping for a sign from the wine gods.  The only sign I got was the one on the front of the hut.

5.     Shortly a bus pulled up going in the direction of Balantonfured.  He opened the door.  I asked the driver ‘Balantornfured?’  He nodded affirmatively, I boarded it, paid the fare, and arrived back where I had started not more than 30 minutes before.

6.     When life gives you lemons .........

7.     I hoofed it from the bus station to ‘downtown  Balatonfüred’ and the Winehaus and commenced my wine tasting of wineries listed on their board from Csopak.  So there!  Wine tasting notes follow:

Figula Pince Winery

Zenit 7ha 2014 WHITE WINE

Nose can't figure it out.  Light bouquet

Taste starts out grapey then light charcoal, flinty

Interesting wine

Drink with cheese plate

Palate cleansing

Fordowin Winery

Jjuhfark 2014 WHITE WINE

A bit of a risling nose. Light floral bouquet

Similar to a risling with a tart finish

Grapey green raw taste

Both of these wines go to my head and I decide to go down the street just a little ways to have lunch at Taverna.   I’ll continue my wine tasting after I’ve gotten some food.

I ate there yesterday – roasted pig knuckle with potatoes and cabbage salad.  It was very tasty.  Today I opted for a plate of two crispy fried duck legs topped with bacon wrapped duck liver.  It was accompanied by red cabbage and potatoes.

 After lunch I returned to the Winehaus to taste three red wines.

Figula 3

2014

Cabernet Sauvignon, merlot and Cabernet franc

Light red color

The wine is poured from a refrigerated bottle about 2/3 full.  It has no discernible nose.  I decide to order a rose and drink it while I  let this wine come to room temperature.  As the wine starts to warm an incredible bouquet begins to emerge.  Rich fully ripe raspberries .  As it begins to warm to cellar temperature a slight hint of resin. 

Taste starts fresh berries and morphs to very dry with ripe dried fruit at the finish.  This is the best red wine I have tasted to date!

Fordowin Cabernet Sauvignon 2011

Also refrigerated needed to let wine warm

Dark dense color slightly purple

No traditional Cabernet flavor instead tobacco and alcohol and exceedingly dry finish.  Chewy and astringent dry.  This was one of the priciest wines I tasted at the Weinhous.  It was so dry it parches the mouth 

Fordiwin Cabernet Sauvignon rose 2014

Light floral bouquet fruity 

Light cab taste with a semi dry finish also ends on a tart note.

And on that note I have to go home and pack.  Tomorrow I take the bus to Gyor.  It is a large city in the north of Hungary.  My ultimate destination is a series of day trips about 10 kilometers from Gyor to Pannonhalma. It is the smallest wine region in the country.    Let’s hope the bus works better that my attempted trip to Csopak.

By the way, I really enjoyed my lunch.

  

I WENT TO BALATONFURED FOR TWO DAYS TO TASTE WINE- BUT IT WAS CLOSED

Well, almost.

I got off the train in Balantonfured, a town of a little more than 13,000 souls and took a taxi to my new home for three days – the Lara Gasthous.  It gets a 9.3 out of 10.0 rating.  And, as it turned out my accommodations were very very nice.  I was greeted by a lovely elderly couple (which means they were about my age).  The lady of the house brought me a tasty glass of Riesling while the husband acquainted me with my new digs.

Just one problem.  They only spoke Dutch.

It seemed to make no difference to them.  They prattled on and on like I was a visitor from their native land.  We then exhausted attempts at communication in sign language and other arcane forms of gesticulation.  Finally, the husband jotted down some cryptic notes on a piece of paper and handed it to me.   I was off (hopefully) to town on the local bus to draw money from an ATM and do a little grocery shopping.  The mini apartment that I am ensconced in has a very nice and well equipped mini kitchen.

To my surprise, I actually successfully accomplished my mission and returned to prepare a couple of sandwiches for dinner and soon it was off to lala land.

I got up the next morning, dawdled around and left the apartment shortly before noon.  I decided to spend my time that day wine tasting in Balantonfured and reserve the next day to go to the neighboring town of Csopak about 3 or 4 kilometers away which had several interesting wineries that would be open for tasting.

I took the bus downtown and made my way to the Tour In Form office.  These offices pepper the whole of Hungary.  Even a small town such as this one will have one or more of these offices staffed with people to help the touristas.   This office had a bonus - a large space reserved for wine tasting.  A bar filled with glasses sat off to one side next to a table with about a dozen bottles of wine on it.  To the side of that were tables and chairs to seat about 20 people. 

Only one problem.  It was closed Tuesday (today) and Wednesday (tomorrow, ie. my two days here to taste wine).  Why don't they (whoever they are) impart such vital bits of information to the tourist?

‘Hello tourists.  Don’t come to taste wine these two days.  We close a lot of our businesses on Tuesday and Wednesday that do wine tastings.  You're only here for those two days, you say?  Hmm, do you by any chance like beer?'

In the end the Tour In Form lady came through.  She directed me to the one and only wine bar open in town that day where I could taste local wines – the Borhaz Weinhaus.

 

 The outdoor picnic tables behind the Winehouse could seat at least 60 or 70 people.  They are situated about 100 yards from the shore of Lake Balaton providing a nice view while drinking wine or beer.  That combined with a lovely temperate sunny day, and possibly it being the only game in town and it was not surprising they were doing a brisk business.

There were 25 wines from six wineries on offer.  Several of the wineries were located in neighboring Csopak.  I would wait and taste those wines the next day at the local wineries.  So, I confined my tasting to the six Balatonfured wines plus two others from a winery by the name of Fordowin.  It was some 10 kilometers distant and I would not get to it the next day.

 

 By the way, the usual size of glass poured for tasting is a deciliter.  In the glass it looks like this.

 

However, when you have downed four of these you have consumed the equivalent of more than a half bottle of wine.

Lake Balaton White Wines Tasting Notes

Olasrizling 2015 white

Nose mineral light floral

Very pale almost clear

Taste very little flavor exceedingly dry

Szurkebarat 2013 white

Nose medicine eucalyptus

Taste eucalyptus medicinal

Muskotaly 2014 white

Nose faint diesel

Taste semi sweet. Very dry

Slightly oily

Tolnai Kekfrankos 2014 red

Nose barnyard 

 Taste chalky slightly acid

Zweigelt 2014

Nose faint

Taste cough syrup and lollipop

Very interesting wine

Drink by itself after dinner

Kekfrankos rose 2014

Faint nose 

Taste tart finish

Fodorwin - a winery 10 kilometers west of Balantonfured

Irsai Oliver 2015

Floral slight earthy faint chadonnay

Taste slightly tart fruit Clean crisp slightly tart green apple fresh green wine,

Very little acid slightly dry. 

A good one to drink with chicken or beginning cheese plate.

I usually don’t drink all the wine in the glass.  However, this one was too good not to finish.

Cserszegi fusEres 2015

Nose none

Taste astringent green grape tart finish lingering on the palate.  

Green wine very young.  Very very green wine hardly out of the barrel.

I can’t remember tasting a wine this young!

Tomorrow it is off to several wineries in Cospak to taste wines.