Aug 23 '10
The last few weeks have not gone well for Visegrádi mineral water following a report in consumer magazine Interpress that the water contains high amounts of fluoride, which would make it dangerous to children under the age of seven, origo.hu reports. Retailers then proceeded to remove the bottles from their shelves, while Visegrádi maintained that the fluoride levels in their bottled water are at the borderline, and thus do not need to carry a warning level. Visegrádi is not alone, however, as an MTI report via Népszava stated that Interpress found that French hypermarket chain Auchan's store-brand bottled water contained double the recommended amount of arsenic.
Aug 18 '10
While Hungarian wines continue to reestablish themselves, Hungary has never really been known as a beer brewer's paradise, and with practically all of the Hungarian beer market owned by multinationals, it doesn't exactly look promising. For this reason we were especially pleased to receive a tip from Evan Rail about plans for a Craft Beer Festival to be held in Budapest next month. After getting in touch with Dániel Bart, one of the organizers, who is also behind beer blog Folyékony Kenyér, we found out that the aim of the festival is to counter the misconception in Hungary that small brewers make substandard beer while also highlighting that yes, Hungary does produce some tasty brews, you're just unlikely to find them on tap at your local kocsma.
Aug 04 '10
Due to the erratic weather over the previous months, this year’s wine production is predicted to be 15 to 20 percent lower than usual, stop.hu reports. The start of the grape harvest season will also be delayed into the second half of August, and may take longer than usual. Hungary has over 70,000 hectares of vineyards and annually produces 350 million liters of wine, although experts predict that only 300 million liters will be produced this year. Bummer.
Jul 29 '10
In addition to the annual wine festival in the Buda castle district, they might soon be able to launch a vine festival, according to a story in tabloid Blikk. The city plans on planting vines on a 0.7 hectare slope on the western side of the district soon (current and future appearance to the left), with Ft 14 million (€49,000) set aside for maintenance over the next four years. Although traditionally Kadarka was grown in the region, Kékfrankos will be grown as it is not as sensitive to what are probably all the pollutants in the local air, Iván András Bojár, a member of the Budapest council told the tabloid. According to the plans, the vineyard will even be open to the public, which given how other open areas have fared, might not be the best idea.
Jul 27 '10
Several readers have sent us links to this big travel feature in the New York Times about excursions in Hungary's Tokaj wine region. And for good reason - it's sweet! Check it out.
Jul 21 '10
For many foreigners - and probably no small number of locals - "Egervin" was the first brand they ever saw on a bottle of Hungarian wine. Now the successor to the once-leading Eger winemaker and distributor - which went bust a while back - is for sale, for what appears to be a seriously marked-down price.
Jul 15 '10
While the government has changed laws pertaining to some drinks, that isn't the case everywhere. Despite a ready market and demand for it, don't expect to find bottled fröccs at a store near you anytime soon, index.hu reports. The culprit, according to some, is the excise tax on the product, which can range from Ft 94 to Ft 221 (€0.34 to €0.79) per bottle, Bálint Varga of the Varga Pincészet told the portal. No similar tax exists for bottles of pure wine. To circumvent this tax, the Szent Anna Borház tried to sell the product in two separate bottles sold together, but demand for this "loophole product" was non-existent. Péter Pólus of Királyital Kft. said he spoke with former EU tax commissioner and current Socialist MP László Kovács, who apparently agreed with Pólus, but nothing came of their meeting.
Jul 14 '10
The size of Hungary's vineyards has shrunk, mno.hu reports via MTI. In 2009, there were 83,555 hectares used as vineyards, a 9% drop when compared to 2001, data from the Central Statistics Office revealed. Of these vineyards, 76,436 hectares were in wine-growing regions, a drop of 2.8% from 2001, while vineyards in non-wine-growing regions plummeted 44.3% from 12,769 hectares to 7,188. The report added that while white wine vineyards still account for two thirds of the total, red wine grapes were increasingly popular.
Jun 09 '10
With the right to distill our own Hungarian hooch part of Prime Minister Orbán's economic plan announced yesterday according to hirszerzo.hu, Fidesz have fulfilled a campaign promise announced months earlier. Consequently, we'll raise our shot glasses in celebration, keeping in mind that while some people are willing to go to the detail you can seen in the schematic above (from here), the homemade still at the top is one of the better ones we've seen. Drink up!
Jun 03 '10
Hungarian wines brought in an impressive haul at the 34th annual Challenge International du Vin competition held in France last month, winning 7 gold, 17 silver and 18 bronze medals, deluxe.hu reports. Of the 42 awards received, 16 belonged to wines from the Eger region, of which 5 were won by the Demeter Pincészet, thus making Demeter and Eger the most successful among the Hungarians. Of his award winning wines, Demeter's 2009 Hanga, a mixture of 70% hárslevelű and 30% olaszrizling received the gold. Demeter revealed that the name Hanga received its name from a flower, but that it's also an old Hungarian name, which he also gave to his daughter. A full list of results is available via the competition's website, in case you want to impress any friends at your next dinner party, and feel a little dubious about the results from Szekszárd.
The International Kékfrankos Wine Competition, meeting the "international" designation through the participation of four other countries and held in Szekszárd, has "shockingly" announced that Szekszárd wines were the best, deluxe.hu reports. Even with wines competing from Burgeland (Austria), Vojvodina, Slovakia and Transylvania, and with competition coming from other wine-growing regions in Hungary, wines from Szekszárd beat out most non-local entrants, with the Takler Pince's 2006 kékfrankos reserve winning the top prize.
May 21 '10
Shoots from the world's oldest grapevine were ceremoniously planted this week in Tihany, near Lake Balaton, deluxe.hu reports. The Guiness-certified vines originated from the Slovenian city of Maribor which gave it as a gift and the vines belong to the 400-year-old Stara Trta, which means "Old Grape." The planting of the vines will be part of a ceremony presided over by the mayors of Tihany and Maribor and the Slovenian ambassador. The original plant, which grows in Maribor's old Lent quarter, has continually produced wine-quality grapes for the previous 400 years, and each year the city gifts a shoot from the grapevine to another city to signify friendship and economic cooperation.
May 13 '10
This weekend the eighth annual Pincefesztivál will take place in Etyek, a small and scenic village that is the closest winegrowing center of note to Budapest. I've never been to any of the previous seven, but this year hope to, even though getting there and back will probably involve hours of hassle and humiliation.
May 06 '10
As if anything could be more dismal that yesterday's story about the hopeless commercial position of state-owned trading firm Tokaj Kereskedőház Zrt., today we've got something even worse. Late last week the Hungarian media reported on a truly strange announcement by Gál Pincészet, the namesake winery of the late Eger winemaker Tibor Gál, who tragically died some years ago in a car crash. According to Gál's son, Tibor, Jr., the firm hopes to avoid taking on bank loans or new investors by issuing up to Ft 15 million of something called borkötvény, or "wine bonds." The reports say the securities have a "face value" of Ft 100,000, which "bearers" can "redeem" for up to Ft 150,000 of wine starting in November. Gál said that some other premium winemakers will also be accepting payment via the bonds, including Tokay superstar István Szepsy, Villány luminary Attila Gere, and Gál's fellow Egri winemakers Bolyki Pincésze, Gróf Buttler, and St. Andrea.
As with all such stories like this, it's hard to know where to start. Are there limitations on the types of wines that they bonds can be traded in for? If so, are the prices and supplies of these wines being guaranteed? And would it be possible to create a special borkötvény derivative similar to a mortgage-backed security that only includes wines made from kékfrankos and is linked to the prevailing forint-kékfrank exchange rate, so we can have a little chart that tracks kékfrank-kékfrankos liquidity?
May 05 '10
Last week our sister site realdeal.hu had an interesting story about Tokaj Kereskedőház Zrt., the state-owned trading firm that has dominated the market for Tokaji wines since communist times. On the surface the piece is very positive, being an announcement of a 10-year deal the company signed with American mega-retailer Costco under which the latter will buy a quarter-million bottles of wine a year. But if you take a slightly closer look, it's not very positive at all. Consider the following:
The first orders will be for the 2001 vintage of Tokaj 3-puttony aszu, in gift boxes… Tokaj Kereskedohaz has 2m bottles of the 3-puttony aszu from 2001 in its cellars. It will deliver another vintage to Costco when its stocks dry up.
So let's get this straight. The Kereskedőház has so much surplus wine that a big deal with one of the biggest American retailers is only big enough to get rid of one type of wine from just one vintage, over the course of eight years? Mark Twain was right: denial ain't just a river in Egypt; it's a giant lake of wine under Eastern Hungary!
Walking though District V yesterday we noticed that workers were already busy putting up booths and other accoutrements for this Weekend's Budapesti Pálinka Fesztivál. They organizers also seem to have updated the English-language intro on the website, which as usual sounds like it was written with a bottle close at hand:
For the fifth year in a row, Városháza Park will be home to a pretty darn good gastronomical festival, parading the fiery Hungaricum, pálinka, at its best. Between May 6th and 9th, venture out into the sunshine and browse the long line of stalls of the Budapest Pálinka Festival showcasing over 300 (!) types of tempting fruit brandies alongside this years newcomers, exciting pálinka-based cocktails for the more adventurous among us. All this, plus polished music performances, foodie treats and a bigger location than last year!
All we can say is, don't forget to drink some water when you get home.
Apr 26 '10
There was an interesting column about Hungarian wines in this weekend's Financial Times by legendary Master of Wine Jancis Robinson. It's interesting not only because she names a bunch of local wines she thinks are super, but because she offers an explanation for why magyar borok so rarely make a splash on foreign tables:
A typical Hungarian wine today is really quite fine - not quite as high quality across the board as Austrian wine but definitely getting there. The only trouble is that Hungarians are so proud of their viticultural heritage that they are prepared to pay high prices for their best and/or most famous wines, which tends to make them seem overpriced outside Hungary.
That something like this has been going on has been obvious to me for a long time, especially when it comes to wines made from grapes not endemic to Hungary. (Why would anyone in, say, London pay as much for a high-end Hungarian Cab as one from Bordeaux?) But it was a relief to discover that this isn't an issue/problem unique to Hungary, as Robinson says the same dynamic seems to shut up-and-coming wines from places like Israel, Turkey and even Spain from international markets.
Apr 22 '10
One of the dirtiest little secrets of the Hungarian wine world is the fact that so many amateur, semi-profession, and supposedly professional winemakers rely on added sugar. In fact, it's so common that some winemakers aren't ashamed to say so! Via consumer blog Tékozló Homár we found this listing on auction site vatera.hu for a bottle of rosé with a label saying it has enough added sugar to make it semi-sweet. We assume the whole thing is a spoof. Though like most such gags, it works because it's all so believable. Ouch.
Apr 06 '10
There are so many pálinka festivals these days in Hungary we generally don't bother doing more than adding them to our calendar of food and wine events. But the annual event held each April in the eastern town of Gyula is an exception, in part because the location is far enough away from Budapest that it takes some planning, and because there is always so much damn booze involved, including both Magyar-made pálinka and competing forms of rotgut from all over the world. According to local news portal kapos.hu, a total of 858 types of pálinka and pálinka-like distilled spirits have been submitted for a competition to be held at this year's festival, including entrants from as far away as Armenia, China and Australia.
Mar 23 '10
Looks like the ongoing saga of Béla Vincze - the "Winemaker of the Year" who was found to have improperly doctored his wines - may be coming to a close. Having had his cellar shut down for 30 days by market watchdog OBI last fall after the discovery of artificially-added glycerol in his wines (including the award-winning 2005 ones) Vincze has now been fully ostracized by his fellow vintners in Eger, who have forbidden him for using the local appellation for the next three years, while slapping him with a token fine for good measure. No word if he can still use the famous "Bull's Blood" designation without saying it's from Eger, not that it's going to help anyway, what with everyone knowing that his wines are bullshit.
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