I must admit that before moving to Hungary, I had never heard of or even tasted any of the local 'grape juice', and I do not consider myself to be ignorant about the stuff. Before then, I had tasted a fair share of quality wines from all major wine growing regions of the world. It was in 2003 that I discovered the best kept secret here, Hungarian wine.I still remember with a smile my first Hungarian wine experience, just like the memory of my first kiss, a bit awkward, pleasant and memorable. A friend of mine was visiting me from Vienna, and we decided to go out for dinner.
I had arrived in Budapest just a couple of days before and not knowing much about the city, we decided to go to a typical touristic restaurant off Vaci utca. We ordered our fish meal and not really looking at the wine menu decided to order a bottle of white of white - a Tokaji, not knowing that it is a dessert wine. Since then I have learned a lot about Hungarian wines.
The same week we went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by an expat friend, Faustos. This time we went with a wine recommended by the waiter, and I remember it so well, a bottle of Nemeth Pince-venesfoldi Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 from Matyas Szoke Cellar, and needless to say I was hooked!
Since then I have made it a mission to find out more about Hungarian wines and have tasted dozens of bottles, and I must say that I have discovered a jewel. I try to attend all possible major wine tasting events, and meet as many people who are interested in wine. And here, let me introduce you to a friend Marianna Posfai, the new Wine Lady of Budapest
Marianna is fanatic about Hungarian wines and wants to promote it to outsiders. She is launching a new business to do Hungarian wine region tours. What I knew before, and she confirmed that while one can take many wine tours in Hungary, there are no regularly scheduled daily tours to the wine regions.
You can take a tour if you are with a group or have signed up for a scheduled trip in advance. She informed me that she is starting same day wine tours as of May 15, 2009 to six different wine regions in Hungary with visits to four different cellars on each trip. I can’t wait for the tours to start so that I can go to them all!
She is also starting a wine club to showcase unknown boutique wineries, where she will be hosting “virtual wine tours” at the Columbus boat to showcase different wine regions. For more information about the tours and the tastings, visit her website at www.winetime.hu
By Stu Mash
10.05.2009