HAVING A VINE OLD TIME
Drink in the beauty of Hungary’s delicious wine regions
I’VE often been accused of talking rot – now it was someone else’s turn.
But in this case wine expert Caroline Gilby was describing the “noble rot” which helps give the sweet wines of Tokay in Hungary their distinctive flavour.
It’s a grey fungus which grows on the local furmint grapes, making them shrivel like raisins and concentrating the sugars inside them.
We were standing in the Chateau Dereszla vineyard on the slopes of one of the 500 extinct volcanoes which cover this world-famous wine region.
It’s the area’s combination of rolling hills and the mist rising from the two rivers crossing its high plateau which create the perfect climate for producing noble rot.
In the late 18th century, Hungary was the third largest wine producer in the world and Tokay was given its classification as “first class” in 1730 – 120 years before Bordeaux.
When King Louis XV of France first tasted it, he declared it “the king of wines and the wine of kings”.
Before heading to Tokay, we’d started our trip in Budapest. We stayed at the gorgeous Art Deco-style Four Seasons Gresham Palace Hotel facing the famous Chain Bridge over the river Danube.
Budapest is hugely popular with Brits for its stunning architecture, great shopping, thermal baths and buzzing nightlife.
But we spent a more sedate evening with a foodie cruise on the Danube aboard the Pannonia Gastroboat. Thousands flock to this lovely city from the UK but just a couple of hours drive away you can discover the gentler charms of some of the world’s most celebrated wine regions.
Our base in Tokay was the elegant Andrassy Rezidencia hotel, perfectly located for exploring the local wineries. The hotel (and the vineyards themselves) can lay on minibus trips so that you can give these delicious wines your full attention without worrying about the drive home (Hungary has a zero tolerance policy on drink-driving).
After our hillside tasting session, we headed for the Dereszla cellars, cut like hobbit holes into the tufa limestone in the 14th century, to see thousands of bottles laid down to age in the cool tunnels.
We also called in for a tour of the Henye Winery before heading to the headquarters of Grand Tokay and its cellars.
Sitting in a subterranean tasting room carved out of the limestone and hung with heavy cast-iron chandeliers was a very Game of Thrones way to discover the huge range of wine styles now being produced in the region.
As we set out for a wonderful evening meal (including zingy sorrel soup with pork cheek) at Gusteau in the splendidly named town of Mad, we passed through lovely elderflower orchards which produce a refreshing cordial loved by the locals.
Cycling is also popular and, after a day of tootling between villages and vineyards on hired bikes, there are plenty of thermal baths, fed by natural hot springs, where you can soak your tired muscles.
The next day, we headed to the town of Eger and a vineyard producing Hungary’s other world-famous wine: bull’s blood. We called in to meet young winemaker Janos Bolyiki, whose passion for producing top-quality wines, using Hungarian grape varieties like kadarka, was totally infectious.
So if you’re considering a short break to Budapest, why not tack on a couple of extra days to drink in the glories of these beautiful and historic wine regions.