People spoke about the huge investment close to Little Balaton (Kis Balaton) not far from the spa centres of Hévíz and Zalakaros. An almost 100 ha big terrority, an almost single and non divided plot of land, planted with almost entirely red grapes. And this in the middle of the Zala wine region which is infamous for it’s reds not only because small local producers (more of home wine making then anything) use non vinifera varieties such as Othello and Noah but also reds are less traditional and probably not favoured by the cooler climate. On the other side finding good terroir has not yet been a huge subject just by a handful of producer who deliver consistent quality. I had to see this enterprise for myself…

From Zala to Sweden and back again

István Császár or better known as Stefan Cezar (Császar meaning Cesar in Hungarian) a Hungarian born entrepreneur, business man, wine merchant successful on the Swedish market and never forgot his home started a new project back in 2000 just at the outskirts of the Kis Balaton. The plantings were done from the year 2000 onwards and the building was finished in 2006. The whole story goes back to the sparkling wine factory located in Pécs which was purchased at the very beginning and Stefan thought beside sparkling wine it would be good to have some still wines as well.

In the black shirt Stefan Cezar

First there was the problem to find a single vineyard plot which is big enough and not very much divided at all. The old co-ops had several smaller vineyard plots but due to the later mechanization it was important to find something which is alone standing, then finally something came up just on a small hill side (180 m sea level) next to the village of Nagyrada. Today 68 ha’s planted together with mainly red varieties and a separate plot of 18 ha which is owned by some business partners. Randomly, there are very little white grapes as well such as Irsai Oliver.

In the background the mighty Badacsony and the Balaton(s)

The red varieties are led by a very international picture: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and Malbec amongst them. The selection is a bit strange and let me explain a bit later the reasons but it was Stefans wish to be focusing on international varieties as they would sell (as varietals) better on international markets.

Finding a market and doing business with supermarkets

The majority of their wines are sold on the international market, mainly Sweden of course. In Hungary you barely find their wines on the supermarket shelves. The reason being that it is costly, you have to pay a fee to get listed, per product up to 7000 EUR or even more. And what are the supermarkets going to do to push your product? They’re keener to work with restaurants and the gastronomy in general. Stefan was pointing out that in the wine business as in any other business trust is very important. We also need cooperation between each other and work together to achieve the targets. Károly Nink his sales manager continued being average is never good, you need something which drives you from inside to perform well. If you have no customers ask yourself why, what can you do to change this? If you have to count the sleepiest wine regions based not only actual wine but also tourism you would end up mentioning this region (count Zala) as well. Considering the fact that some of the most unique and best spas, wellness, thermal waters from Hungary are in this area, such as Hévíz with the unique lake, you would think a healthy body needs a healthy soul as well. Wine gastronomy is an inevitable part of this but it is yet not realized in practice. While the Cezar winery does get a good amount of people who come to buy wine at the winery directly as they’re open all year round. But there is a lot work to be done also on their side, yet they surely lead the region in entrepreneurship. I found the Cezar winery has so many ideas and they’re trying to push them through with high speed they sometimes miss the details. For instance a great visitor centre could be build up with a tasting room (combo with wine club, etc.) , just take examples around the world. Great idea is to use the left over of the grape, like pips are produced to fine grain and some bread is produced out of it. Tasted a bit strange but I’m probably not used to it, yet surely interesting and valuable by-product beside grape oil and beauty products.

Barrel room

The vineyard

Lajos is the vineyard manager, he was explaining that must degree is fairly important it should be around 20 KMW no mater which grape and vintage it is. But because they work with so many red grapes, phenolic ripeness comes straight second after sugar ripeness. They encounter the usual difficulties of mildew and botrytis amongst them, yet choose to work in integrated pest management in combination with products of the Bayer company. They selected 1 ha of Cabernet Sauvignon with in the big vineyard plot which they work rather organic. This mean harmony between nature and natural products, weed control is done by hand and a so called ISONET product (wine trap device) is used against moth to cause sexual confusion.

Lajos pointed out at sometimes it is not important to make the grapes resistant against bacterial problems, to strengthen their immune system ALGINUR is used, its not chemical nor is it toxic.

Birds can (starling) occasionally a problem, “sound” protection is fairly effective against them. Against wild animals as some forests run close to the vineyard you can only use fences. Average yields comes to 6-7 tonnes / ha and row spacing is at 2,6 X 0,9 m while on the slightly steeper sides on the hill it’s around 2 x 0,9 m. Single Guyot and a lot is done by the machines from harvest to pruning. What I found a bit scary is the very late harvest. Due to the climate conditions it becomes increasingly difficult especially for late ripening varieties (and effectively all their reds are such) to get it right. My theory was proved by the fact of very late harvest. Lajos pointed out they even picked some grapes on the 10^th November for still, dry red wine. To protect grapes from rot they occasionally use from BASF a product which is called Boscalid provided protection for 28 days against botrytis and downy mildew. The harvest date is set by visual analysis and by sample. A so called Exotex helps as well.

From flying wine maker to staying wine maker

Fermentation temperatures never exceed 25 °C, the maceration happens around 15-18 °C pumping over is done mechanically Malbec spends 8-10 days on skin while Pinot Noir 14-15 days protected from oxygen. Must should be clear and 40-50 mg/l SO2 is added, pectionolytic enzyme to breakdown gelatinous pectin’s is used. Lajos pointed out the varietal character is more important as  the origin, in their case of course. Stefan hired a flying wine maker from Chile, he first worked only virtually on a need to need basis, but enjoyed the work and I assume fell in love with Hungary too, that he is staying now for good.

Beside the varietal importance the wines are categorized by quality levels such as: Selection, Grand Selection and Reserva in the higher ranges.

For the very simple wines they like to use the bag in box technology. As Károly mentioned –-quite rightly- this could be used more often also in restaurants and pubs as the wine remains much fresher and retains the primeur fruit aromas better as in big opened bottles and plastic cans of 5 litres for instance. The next big project is to build the bottling facility at the winery as they transport the wines down to Pécs (2 hours drive) to the sparkling wine bottling facility, this should be separated as well.

A lot of work still has to be done, but if you consider the young age of the winery (and it’s vines as well) it is quite an achievement. I shall not forget to publish some tasting notes as well (to be added soon, hopefully). I very much look forward to the development and projects of the winery as this all can be promising despite the rather strange varietal selection.

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