History and Culture

A tasting of Eastern European wines might not provoke an instant ‘yes!’ from all wine lovers, but we’ve enjoyed many interesting bottles from that part of the world and we booked straightaway.

The evening, run by local wine merchant, Corks of Cotham (also of North Street and Cargo), started with Balla Geza’s Clarus Brut, a fresh, aromatic traditional method fizz from Romania (£26) made mainly from a variety I’ve never tasted before, Mustoasa de Maderat, which, apparently has been grown in the region since pre-Roman times.  Two still dry whites followed; the first, Holdvolgy’s Vision (£20), a wine that my wife and I loved when we visited the producer’s extensive cellars, thought to be the largest in Hungary, a couple of months ago.  With its ripe apricots and peaches and a hint of honey on the finish, this wine brought back happy memories, but the drinking pleasure was almost topped by the 2^nd white, Nomad’s Feteasca Regala from Romania (£15).  Fresh and citrussy with lovely ripe pears on both nose and palate, this had plenty of character and might be an interesting match with mildly spicy Thai dishes.

A trio of reds followed.  The first, the one representative of Bulgaria at the tasting, was  Logodaj’s Melnik 55 (that’s the grape variety, not to be confused with Melnik, which is related!) (£16).  Quite light-bodied, almost in the style of a good Beaujolais, this was easy drinking with attractive blackberry fruit, a wine for lightly chilling, perhaps.  The purple rim of Balla Geza’s Feteasca Neagra (£17), from the same producer as the opening fizz, suggested that this was a wine that might improve with a little time.  On tasting, there were hints of black pepper and juicy ripe plums, reminding me a little of a nice Rhône Syrah.

The final red, Bojt’s Kekfrankos from Hungary (£19), was the weightiest of the 3 and, with its intense black fruits, definitely a food wine.  This led to a discussion with our neighbours at the tasting, with a spicy Moroccan lamb with apricots and a beef casserole with cranberries on our menus!

Eastern European wines really deserve to be better known and this tasting, ably led by Razvan, a Romanian native married to a Hungarian, gave a deep and personal insight into the countries and how their culture, history and location has had a major impact on the wines they produce.

Hungary – Part 2

I blogged last time about the first part of our recent wine tour to Hungary.  From Eger, we moved on to visit Tokaj, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2002 in recognition of the unique wine traditions of the area.  The region is famous for its luscious sweet wines made from a blend of the native grape varieties Furmint and Hárslevelű but the producers we visited were keen to show us a range of their dry whites, too.  Made from the same varieties, for me, the few unoaked examples we tasted generally worked better than the oaked bottles.  Oremus’ ‘Mandolas’ (mainly Furmint) showed real depth and complexity while Barta’s Hárslevelű had a lovely floral freshness.

But the main reason for a wine visit to Tokaj is to enjoy the sweet wines.  As in Sauternes, the key to most of these is the effect of botrytised grapes.  Botrytis, aka noble rot, is a fungus which attacks the ripe grapes which then shrivel and dry out.  This concentrates the sugar to the point where the yeast struggles to do its work, leaving a naturally sweet wine with modest alcohol levels.

The basic level of traditional sweet Tokaji is ‘Szamorodni’.  This uses a mixture of botrytised and non-botrytised berries to give delicious wines with flavours of marmalade and honey.  Strangely, the locals serve this with some red meat dishes – a combination that I struggled to come to terms with.  A step up from this and the wines are labelled ‘Aszú’.  These are definitely dessert wines and use botrytised berries, individually picked grape by grape, then pressed into a sticky paste which is added to already fermenting wine.  The result is aged in oak barrels for at least 2 years before bottling.  Although no longer needed under Hungarian law, you may see the words ‘4 puttonyos’ or ‘6 puttonyos’ on the label – the higher the number, the sweeter the wine.  And the taste?  Wonderfully rich with flavours of oranges and honey; obviously very sweet but with enough balancing acidity to ensure that the wine isn’t cloying. 

As close to liquid nectar as you will find and a lovely ending to a fascinating trip. We travelled with Good Wine Tours (www.goodwinetours.com).

(For the eagle-eyed amongst you, the 2 different spellings are intentional: Tokaj is the place, Tokaji is the wine). 

A Taste of Hungary

Bull’s Blood – most wine drinkers of ‘a certain age’ will remember it well!  Looking back, it was probably one of my first encounters with red wine; fortunately, the experience didn’t put me off wine for ever!  For those too young to know the name, Bull’s Blood was a rough, wickedly alcoholic concoction from Hungary, guaranteed to leave you with a bad headache the following morning. But it’s time to forget past experiences as the wine, now re-branded using its Hungarian name, Egri Bikaver, has changed out of all recognition as my wife and I can confirm.  We’ve just returned from a fascinating wine tour to Hungary including a trip to the region of production where we visited 2 of the top producers, Gál Tibor, founded by the legendary late Tibor Gál, and St Andrea.

In both, we enjoyed generous tastings but, before we got to their reds, we were introduced to a very attractive white, Egri Csillag (“Egg-ree Chill-ack”), that I had never met before.  A blend of local grapes, Furmint and Hárslevelű, this is a characterful dry white with flavours of dried apricot and honey.

And then it was on to the reds.  Bikaver, today, is made from a blend of grapes, based on the local Kékfrankos variety (aka Blaufrankisch), matured in old oak barrels and stored in vast cellars dug out of the volcanic soil under the small town of Eger.  It was impossible to pick out one stand-out wine as all we tasted were beautifully harmonious with lovely black fruit and cinnamon spice flavours and great length.  These are certainly food wines and would match well with lamb or beef.  Many, though drinking well now, would also keep for, perhaps, another decade or more.

The next day, the trip, arranged by Good Wine Tours Ltd (www.goodwinetours.com) moved on to the famous Tokaj region with its fabulous sweet wines (and much else!).  But that’s a blog in itself, so more about that next time.

Wine with Stroganoff

As a descendant of someone who was forced to leave Tsarist Russia as a refugee at the start of the 20^th century, I really should be boycotting any dish with connections to that era.  But Stroganoff is just too tasty to miss.  Its precise origin is a little in dispute; the name may be linked to a Russian general and diplomat Pavel Stroganov, who, while visiting France, enjoyed the dish at a banquet in his honour, although a recipe for a similar dish appeared in a cookery book published in St Petersburg, Russia, some time before that.  A further possibility is that Charles Brière, a French chef living in Russia at the time, simply borrowed the Stroganoff name for the dish that earned him fame after winning the grand prize at a culinary competition.  Whichever is true, it’s a dish we like to cook – either in its original form using strips of beef or, to make a lighter version, strips of turkey breast work really well.

The key element of the recipe is that the sauce contains paprika, Worcester (or Tabasco) sauce and soured cream to give a mellow but spicy flavour – one that’s not as difficult to match with wine as you might suspect.

For the turkey version, we chose a full-bodied dry white from the Tokaj region of Hungary, better known for its luscious dessert wines: Pajzos Furmint (Wine Society, £9.25).   The local furmint grape is gently aromatic on the nose but rich and spicy on the palate with lovely peach and pear flavours and an attractive crisp, fresh finish.  It paired perfectly with the sauce as well as being a delicious aperitif accompanied by a few olives.  And, at less than a tenner, it’s hard to think of a better bargain.

Finally, on a different subject, you may want to look beyond bargains if you’re planning a celebration next weekend, but, given the occasion, what could be more appropriate than a glass of English (or Welsh) sparkling wine?