It's time for Hungarian wines

10:01am Friday 31st August 2007

I know I'm lazy sometimes but with every course I ever undertook there always seemed to be one part of the programme that just seemed like far too much work. Better to make sure you knew all the other stuff really, really well and pray like mad that the area of dread didn't come up in a key question.

When it came to my wine courses, Hungary was a blindspot. The first major hurdle was the language. I'm a linguist but still, when faced with words and terms such as évjárat (vintage), min_ségi bor (quality wine), száraz bor (dry wine) and borvidék (wine region), I'm hoping you can understand why I had such problems. The 22 Hungarian winemaking regions didn't exactly have snappy sounding names either: Ászár-Neszmély, Balatonfüred-Csopak and Pannonhalma-Sokoróalja to name but a few.

The challenges for Hungarian winemakers go beyond the language though. It is not quite 20 years since the collapse of communism and it has been a tumultuous decade or two. Initially, local demand dropped and export markets such as Russia seemed to vanish overnight.

Problems such as these have been compounded by the fragmented state that the wine industry finds itself in. There has been (understandable) reticence to forming alliances with neighbouring wineries as the desire to stay unique' and independent' in the post-communist era shows little sign of diminishing.

Attempts have been made to create a cohesive marketing and there was talk of a wine marketing organisation. This was to have been funded with previously gathered revenue from wine excise duty but for one reason or another access to the funds has been hindered by administrative and legislative errors.

All of which has made the path to the UK for Hungarian winemakers somewhat challenging. There is no question that the bigger, more established wineries have had the greatest success and names such as Chapel Hill and Hilltop wines are not uncommon on the high street. (Yes, English these names may sound but the wines are indeed Hungarian!) Flying winemakers, a term used for the increasing number of winemakers from around the world who travel to foreign wineries to offer the benefit of their expertise, are commonly found in Hungary and they have had an undeniable impact on the increased quality of wines being sold here.

Many in the trade also acknowledge the country's success at producing good-quality white wines from famous varieties such as pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc. An estate such as Nagyrede is a good example.

Situated some 60 miles from the capital Budapest on the slopes of the Matra mountains, the winery is focused on making modern, fresh wines that they know will appeal. Clearly, the investment is paying off, achieving the accolade of Best Winery in Hungary at the Wine Awards in Budapest four years ago.

What next, though? Small steps are being taken to show what Hungary can do with its own home-grown varieties such as furmint (the qualities of which I have referred to in previous articles in this paper) and hárslevel. Tastings took place in London in the spring to help increase awareness and will hopefully help bring more wines from Hungary into our local merchants.

What's key is that the quality continues to improve and show their worth on the international stage. There's plenty of time for Hungary to show us more of herself in her wines.

For the time being, it's good news that the wines are enjoyable and well-made, encouraging us to drink more of them and see the profits ploughed back into a country which has undeniable potential. There's the very successful pinot grigio from Nagyrede included in this week's Oxford Times Wine Club offering and much more besides.

Given the weather, I have got to say that this case has got all options covered; there's refreshing whites for the days when the sun makes an appearance and if it appears that the onset of autumn really has begun, there's some warming cabernet sauvignon too.

Click here for The Oxford Times wine club offers.

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