The Domaine is celebrating this year it´s 10 year anniversary of making (and getting it back) Clos de la Maréchale. It´s a certain celebration for me as well, since I remember the vintage fairly well, the story of the de-classification (Clos du Fourches), purity of fruit especially in the coming 2005 vintage but gracefulness of the 04´s, some of my first memories of good Burgundy as I arrived to London and became a little bit part of the wine merchant world.

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Tags: chambolle, marechale, mugnier, nuits st georges

The Rossignol Trapet domaine goes back to 1990 when the originally Trapet Domaine was divided between the family members. Today Rossignol Trapet has 13 ha mainly in Gevrey Chambertin (over 85%) and some vineyards in the Beaune district and the rest in Cote du Nuits. The new winery is in the centre of Gevrey just off the main road. With the new winery came the new approach to convert from conventional to organic and later to biodynamic vine growing and winemaking. Their wines show purity and gracefulness not necessarily lacking the depth of Gevrey but showing more finesse and elegance.

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Tags: biodynamic, gevrey chambertin, rossignol trapet

Astoria, the Val de Brun Estate was founded in 1987 by the two brothers Paolo and Giorgio Polegato in the town of Refrontolo. The aim was to create a brand which highlights the beauty of the Veneto region, particularly emphasize put on the production of sparkling wine, the Prosecco. The estate receives the majority of the grapes from their own vineyard but they also work with growers committed on the long term. They have one full time viticulturist who is closely working and supporting the contracted growers. But what strikes me most is the marketing force behind the company, pushing forward through different communication channels from sponsoring sports events through charity work and much more. It combines old traditions with modern skills, from the XIX century farm house to the modern tasting, sales facility.

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Tags: congegliano, prosecco, veneto

Tokaj seems to be a hot topic and not just for me. I have visited the region straight after my MW exams on Pentecost Sunday-Monday with the members of the International Wine Academy/ Academie Internationale du Vin (AIV) led by Róbert Cey-Bert. Now right a week later, this Monday many of the producers of the region paid a visit to Budapest, where the state owned Tokaj Trading House Company (Kereskedőház) announced, that they will team up with Claessens International, a well-known branding and marketing company in the drinks industry. The mission is to emphasize the fame and glory of the wines of Tokaji, increase the market share and recognition of the wines of the region.

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Tags: branding, marketing, tokaji, trading house

Tasting notes 8-9/06/2014

Royal Tokaji, Szepsy, Disznókö, Oremus Continue Reading »

Tags: aszú vintage chart, disznókö, oremus, royal tokaji, szepsy

Kéknyelü means blue stalk, it´s slightly hard to grow since it doesn´t self pollinate and needs another grape variety to help at flowering with pollination. Therefore its often planted with Budai Zöld which in my opinion tends to somewhat simpler in quality, especially when it comes to translate the sense of place into the bottle.

Today its virtually planted only in Badacsony around 45 ha ranking 751 world wide, according to Kym Anderson, just before Rougeon of France and right after Amigne from Switzerland.

How does Kéknyelü actually taste like? The below tasting notes (not just exclusively Kéknyelü) from the recent Badacsony tasting should give an idea. I call it a neutral variety while it´s able to express certain herbal, spice slight medicinal notes in combination with citrus fruit character. Virtually always shares good, crisp acidity with medium body and never too high alcohol. My personal view is, Kéknyelü is able to translate the soil well if yields are kept low, no over cropping is done and it´s planted at the right place. If not taken care of it can be rather boring, too simple even green and mean.

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Tags: badacsony, keknyelü

Following up my recent article on the second Wine law and wine marketing conference held at the end of February in Budapest, Hungary there are several notes which I find interesting to share. Far as I can judge the conference was well organized by Pál Rókusfalvy and dr. Bence Prónay. The location Boscolo New York Palace was worthy for the event and there was a fair amount of international speakers who I was delighted to see (and to hear) as they shared a rather interesting insight of their knowledge, wisdom and point of view.

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Tags: wine marketing

Wine marketing and within wine law is becoming ever more important in the XXI. century, it´s a vital part of the wine business. And there is a lot going on in Hungary, especially when you look at the recent changes in the wine law. Just to point out one of the reforms which the Hungarian wine business is going through, the re-establishment of the wine regions council will certainly determine the path for the Hungarian wine and even if it´s only on a national level.

Dr. Bence Prónay lawyer and Pál Rókusfalvy winemaker organizing the above conference which is packed with interesting and up to date topics, presentation and discussions led by well known national and even international personalities. If you happened to be interested under the link: http://www.aborkonferencia.hu/ there is plenty of information from how to register and the full programme can be downloaded as well.

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Tags: marketing, wine law

The Furmint February tasting it´s now in its 5th year and it seems every year more and more winemakers choose to participate in the event who producing wine from the Furmint variety. The tasting notes below (in alphabetic order) should give an indication about current releases and current wines available on the market. I could not taste all the wines because of either lack of time or because the wine wasn´t available to taste anymore (got late to the winemaker).

Dry Furmint (and off dry and sweet Furmint´s -excluding aszú-) are still looking for their identity and place. But slowly and surely there is an answer to the question. Mád and recently Tállya as well started with village wine, which should highlight the potential of the village. If we move along this line and set certain boundaries and criteria’s we are looking at a successful and approved classification approach. Can Furmint produce world class dry wines? I believe so, there are more and more examples from Balassi, Szepsy, Szent Tamás estate. Approaching winemakers/wineries like Lenkey, Royal Tokaji, Árvay just to name a few. Time will tell how dry Furmint conquers the world and if, but in Hungary it´s an important variety which I believe has all the potential to highlight the sense of place. in Hungary´s case and in wine region where Furmint is (or should be) important such as Tokaj, Somló and Balaton-highlands Furmint should be a variety which translates the goodness of the soil.

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Tags: furmint, somlo, tokaj

Stellenbosch is a fascinating region, possibly the most well known in South Africa and certainly one of the most diverse in the world. Bordeaux doesn’t need much introduction either, for many the synonymy for fine wine and some of the most sought after wines of the world are here to be found. Many things in common yet two different regions. The XXI. century holds many challenges one is certainly the environment, the soil on which we live and which we cultivated where we harvest the grapes and much more. It seems to be a no brainer that the soil is a living organism it needs to breathe, it needs to be protected…I went on two see how two of the leading properties in Stellenbosch and Bordeaux, Thelema and Dourthe respectively approach the “soil” what is there philosophy.  Continue Reading »

Tags: bordeaux, cover crops, dourthe, soil, stellenbosch, thelema