Unlike many of our peers, we don't ever ever solicit freebies from restaurants in exchange for column inches, but we do accept the odd invitation as long as there is plenty of booze involved to liven up the conversation. So when I got a call from József Szentesi, the reclusive winemaker behind the Maligán Wine Restaurant inviting us to drink through his private stash in his own cellar in the Budaörs (!!) hills , it was a no brainer. After all, we had heard through the friend that introduced us (thanks Mark) that Szentesi doesn't let just anyone sample his wines. This is mostly because his six-hectare plot is an experiment in viticulture that doesn't yield enough wine for his own restaurant wine lists, let alone the shelves of Auchan or Tesco in the valley below. And how often do you get to taste the fine wines from the hills overlooking Lake Velence, the swampy body of water halfway between Budapest and Balaton?

We shared this unique experience with two journo/wino couples and a wine magazine editor, as well as Szentesi himself, who held forth on topics such as his attempts to start a circus (he refused to explain how he came into the possession of two lions), his appearance in a Communist-era book entitled "The Grocery Maffia" for "illegally" buying and selling plums in bulk, and many other diverse topics. His wines needed some explanation, too. The Velence terroir produces not only highly acidic, but also highly drinkable wines, and Szentesi grows a wealth of different wines. And by a wealth we mean a lot - he promised to limit the tasting to just forty wines in the course of what turned out to be a very long and hazy evening. Those wines included some fascinating and obscure varieties - of which we remember the Zengő, Csóka, Ezerjó (also known as Tausendgut) and Bajor (which, surprisingly, has nothing to do with Germany) - all of which were indigenous to Hungary before the phylloxera forced a switch to the hardier global varietals we are more familiar with today.

I probably shouldn't have been surprised that all the wines - red and white - were great bordering on exceptional, but it is hard not to be when you consider that not only do they come from one of the few parts of Hungary not known for its wines, but also that some are grown from the last surviving saplings of ancient varieties that no one knows very much about growing. Only the bonbon cherry/banana-flavored Zengő (soaked in its own skin to make it think it was a red) split the seasoned drinkers down the middle - but Szentesi had warned with a wry grin that was perfectly normal.

And amidst all the madness and experimentation, there were some conventional wines too, such as a 2007 Pino Noir which showed great promise - Szentesi joked that the French would have to wait ten years for a wine this good and a further 15 for it to mature fully. Since Hungary has only been growing "real" wine again for the last 15 years or so, who can tell what the future might hold...

That's all speculation, of course, but there's no doubt József Szentesi is someone we will be sucking up to, so don't be surprised to read some gushing PR pieces about the Maligán in the very near future. Thanks Józsi!