I don’t even know how many attempts I made when I was around the area of Sopron to get to Fertörákos to the Restaurant of József Horváth, the Ráspi.  And finally I made just last week with a good friend of mine Zsolt…

I heard a lot of good things about the food and the wine. The wines I tasted on several occasions last on the wine tasting in the Castle of Buda 2008 (tasting notes yet to be added), hence I had a picture of them and they were more then positive. A renaissance of the Kékfrankos, beside Weningers one of the best not just in the wine region of Sopron but in Hungary as well. But the food was what made me even more curious, its not always easy to find something special when it comes to local cuisine in Hungary. So there was this Ráspi Restaurant in Fertörákos just off Sopron (20 km beside the Fertö/Neusiedler lake) with lots of very good reviews in magazines. I remember someone even called this might be the first Michelin star receiving restaurant in Hungary. Very big words, I had to see it for myself.

Vilmos Kreil the head of the Hungarian Bocus d´Or Academy, organized my reservation and he asked me also to taste some of his wine and drop a feedback to him on my thoughts. I already pointed out that the basic Kékfrankos was my favourite as far I can remember, despite the others had more depth and length yet I found a simplicity and joy in this one with great balance.

Follow the signs from Sopron towards the Fertö lake, the town Fertörákos and the restaurant will be situated on the main road left hand side when you arriving from Sopron (Fö u. 78). Reservation should be made in advance.

Cosy place with just a few parking options in front of the restaurant yet the main street offers plenty of space. Space inside and outside alike, inside is more like a family home converted into a restaurant with lots of old pictures and a warm, inviting atmosphere. As I found out later the furniture and literally everything was build by the owner himself, József Horváth.

The menu, very easy to follow with suggestions of wine by the glass underneath. You don’t see this very often in Hungary, where most of the times the wines are either only available as a whole bottle, the house wine doesn’t come from the close region (e.g. in Siófok which is at the Balaton the wine might come from Sopron, 300 km away) and even worse the wine tend to be total crap, literally undrinkable too.

József has only his own wine on the list, hence you can be certain in its quality and every wine is available as a glass as well. Suits you needs totally. Back to the menu for a moment, divided into starters, soups, main courses, desserts (including cheese). Two different menus (different price category) are already made, picked for you and available with a wine or without. Simple, but great. Everything is sourced by the chef itself, József was just telling me that he had success with fishing and will prepare soon some great fish dish. He had always a few minutes time to talk about the restaurant and the winery. His family started off with making wine, hence it was inevitable that he joined and continued on this path. Very old vines some of them 80 years and older are placed on limestone and slate soil exposed to south only, as he was explaining to me. I shall see it next time for myself as he invited me to the winery and vineyard when I´m next time in the area and its not so busy in the restaurant.

Beside that he was just preparing for a tasting off Budapest, in Gödöllö, no wonder he was on top speed all day. But I guess he is always like that, full of passion and excitement and real enthusiasm when it comes to things he likes. And he definitely likes good food and wine. He tells me the reason that he did not like cooking was because how they made it back in Hungary, the old mediocre cuisine which needs more then just a lift, a big wake up call…

After he discovered there are other ways to cook and create food, he dived deep into it and you can see this on the table, the result is indeed worth to try, Zsolt agreed with me and he loves to criticize. Well done. József tells me there is no aspiration for Michelin star just to make good food, and he does this indeed. Certainly to get a star there would be much more to be done, and I don’t talk about the food itself which is really great but you would simply need more staff to handle situation outside the kitchen area smooth as you do it inside.

He was on fire when we talked about his wines and indeed if you not prepared he will over take you with his excitement, leave you on the hard shoulder for good. As it was a rather informal tasting I did not make notes on the wines just remembered things and wish to summarize them. The Irsai Oliver is a cross between Pozsonyi fehér and Csaba Gyöngye, simple pleasant dry wine can (occasionally also wines with a bit of residual sugar might be nice) be made out of if with a floral, light perfume like character, rather low in acidity. József, I would say did everything right with it, he was only complaining that he had to run it through deep filtration to avoid crystallization as he gets a lot of complaints from customers, they thing there is something wrong with the wine when they see floating particles in the bottle or glass. I do understand the concern but it´s without reason as you loose more through heavy filtration and tartaric crystals are harmless. The wine reminded me strongly of elderflower blossoms just to mention he does a lot of natural, home made cordials too (e.g. elderflower, strawberry…). The earlier mentioned Kékfrankos belongs definitely to the best in Hungary, as with the harmony elegance and good oak use it’s a well balanced wine with good finish and fabulous fruit character (red fruits with some spice and ripe herbal notes). Maté Cuvée be named after his son, is a blend of mainly Kékfrankos, some Zweigelt, Pinot Noir and Merlot.

He was very proud of his wines, and he has all the right to do so, my only objection is: why do you want to compare yourself with Domaine de la Romanée – Conti? Pointless, saying my wines can (or will) beat them in a blind tasting. It’s the most famous Pinot Noir one of the best (tasted only La Tache 1982 until this point) and one of the most expensive wines in the world. DRC wines sell for roughly 200 times more then the Ráspi wines and known throughout the world. As I do like to ask for average yield and such things he told me I should be an economist, true I got my first degree in economics but still he makes on his 20 ha vineyard a wine with all the vines, certainly one might bear one cluster the other 5, yet the wine will have an average of these when it comes in bottle to the customer. He knows exactly what he does, with love and almost obsession, having quality and his ideas in the head yet it´s sometimes also a gut feeling as well. The last wine, was the Leányka a sweet wine (made with the aszú technology) with some botrytis but something yet disturbing the picture of harmony. It was the acidity and the alcohol which was unbalanced, 17% alc. and the acidity could not keep up with the alcohol or the seemingly not too high residual sugar (did not get specific numbers). His reds basically flawless and fantastic but the sweet wine an attempt, -similar to mine to get to the restaurant so many times before I finally made it- failing to reach the idea of success. Sure he didn´t use any yeast (wild yeast fermented out completely and leaving 17% alc.!!!) and no SO2 or filtration to stop fermentation which I reckon very much should have been done.

Overall a József Horváth is a host who deserves a lot of attention, mastering the difficult task to be a successful winemaker, chef and owner of a very good restaurant. Specially in Hungary where things tend to be even more difficult sometimes. Why? József could fill books on this when you ask him, but his food and wine is against all odds a great combination what local cuisine should be, made with hearth and passion!

Tasted wines:

Irsai Olivér 2008
Kékfrankos 2006
Kékfrankos Selection 2006
Máté Cuvée 2005 (?)
Zweigelt 2006
Leányka 2006

Address: Ráspi Restaurant & Vinarium
Fertörákos (off Sopron) Fö u. 78.
www.raspi.hu
Tel.: (99) 355-146

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