Vida Winery

Szeleshát

30/11/09

Szeleshát Szölöbirtok, Szekszárd

We tasted these wines with Steven Spurrier together. Overall a good selection of every day drinking wine and a bit more serious ones as well. I was surprised when Steven mentioned he has some wines from Szekszárd (one of my favourite red wine regions in Hungary, if not my favourite) which he wants to taste. It was a great pleasure to do this flight with him and I´m pleased that the wines were interesting as well. Thought, would love to had a very good Kadarka as well, as this makes Szekszárd unique for me…see my notes below.

Rosé Kékfrankos 2008
Lovely salmon colour, fresh on the nose, red fruit strawberry, raspberry, crisp on the palate, refreshing on the finish line, how a rosé should be.

K2, Kékfrankos 2007
The best barrels got selected and bottled under this name, medium ruby colour with a light red fruit character, simple but drinks nicely. Touch of oak lifts the wine in combination of some herbal character.

Pinot Noir 2007
Medium ruby colour, with a refreshing cherry, bramble note on the nose. Fresh acidity on the palate, red fruit in the background with some plum, round wine, medium finish.

Merlot 2007
Fairly deep ruby colour, black fruit and red fruit on the nose. Tannins a bit hard, maybe even coarse (over extracted or under ripe fruit?) slightly green, the alcohol certainly feels warm as well.

Három Fiú 2007(Three Sons)
Blend of Merlot, Kékfrankos and Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep colour, the nose quite well led by Cabernet, black fruit notes of cassis, bramble, not too much oak on the palate, round and soft but with weight, good depth, drinks well.

Oroszlán 2007 (Lion)
Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Kékfrankos, Merlot and Pinot Noir (?). Steven agreed as well that if there is any Pinot it’s usually not very useful to add into a blend. Cabernet and Pinot doesn’t work as you destroying the elegance and effortless of the Pinot with a heavyweight Cabernet. Nevertheless, Cabernet and Kékfrankos are dominating here anyhow, deep colour combination of red and black fruit, plenty of oak, good density and texture, promising wine.

17/07/09
Vida Winery

Vida Kadarka 2006
Medium ruby colour, pretty spice on the nose with a hint of farmyard character. Brett as some would call it, in a tiny amount but looks good on it, adds to the complexity.
Ripe fruit, bramble with a capsicum, pine, I call rather medium acidity on it with even lighter tannins of course, yet balanced, barnyard is fading on the palate and cherry takes over touch of mint, complex and medium finish with good vibration. Péter says it would rather match well with traditional fish soup and mallard. I certainly agree with him. Fantastic match.

Kékfrankos 2006
Ruby colour, peppery cherry notes with a hint of chocolate, like a cherry bon-bon. Good acidity plum, blueberry and cherry on the palate very soft touch of oak, just to back up the picture, soft tannins, ripe, very approachable with a vibrant finish.

Cabernet Franc 2007
Deep ruby colour an idea of black fruit on the nose but rather lean when it comes to showing it. Juicy on the palate, ripe fruit, balanced hint of chocolate, good medium tannins, fine acidity, soft on the palate, simple fruit on the palate but it does have a lightly bitter, greenish edge on the finish line. (see my notes on the La Vida Franc, regarding Cabernet Franc in general)

Vida Cuvée 2003
Blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Kékfrankos and Kadarka
Medium ruby colour, peppery soft, bacon/meat, berry fruit with spice attached. But there are notes of floralness as well, attractive layers, charming with its effortless complexity. Good combination of everything, delightful wine with good fruit and spice composition, lovely acidity to it.

La Vida Kékfrankos 2006
Rich and full on the nose, cherry juicy, fabulous complexity blackberry, black cherry hint of mint and eucalyptus with a soft surface. The extract numbers around: 30-40 g/l. One part in new oak aged, soft yet ripe tannins, great acidity, juicy black and cherry fruit with eucalyptus notes, complex. Good density and very charming wine with good finesse.

Barrel samples

La Vida Kékfrankos 2007
Deep colour, youngish nose with black and red fruit alike. Cherry, raspberry with a floral perfume on the nose. On the palate showing strength and density, cherry, floral side of geranium, supple, tempting wine- Fabulous acidity, with great fruit combination, gorgeous concentration, great stuff-very promising.

La Vida Cabernet Franc 2007
Some vegetal and herbal nose, hint of black olive and liquorice notes and cassis combination. Tannin side popping out, vanilla and spicy notes of the medium+ toasted oak barrel, nevertheless the base fruit is good, ripe but again ending with a slight bitter finish. Peter sees a real advantage on Franc (prefers it over Cabernet Sauvignon) while I do not disagree but I found Merlot and Kékfrankos much better in all instances. I do miss the precision and layers of the Franc.

La Vida Merlot 2007
Coming from the Bakta „Szekeshát“ Deep colour, rich notes of floral, violets and fruit, perfume, cherry, black olive with a precision of ripeness and full style, deep senses. Complex, well done!

“Special barrel” 9 part Merlot 1 part Zweigelt, 2007
Rich and dense from the beginning, floral red fruit whiff of spice. Fruitcake, plum with the floral notes and chocolate. Dense on the palate, good deep fruit, very tempting berry fruit underlined with a slight herbal touch (Zweigelt?!).

Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Lofty, juicy red/black fruit combination, pure. Chunky, crisp, superb fruit base. Peter says MLF has not gone to complete yet and he would detect a note of animality, I agree rather with the pure concentration of fruit which is defined, a clean cut. Work in progress here, very promising.

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