“It was a rainy night. It was the myth of a rainy night.”
Jack Kerouac
After the warm weather yesterday a change has come in.
It is wet and windy and the temperature has dropped to 5C.
Which is perfect for sleeping in.
Rachelle is up early, which means I am up early.
It is too wet to walk, so we grab a taxi to Zërgë Coffeeshop.
We decided to mix things up a little and order the same as we did the day before.
“Whatever you do, they’re doing, and none of you is responsible.”
Chuck Palahniuk
We pack our bags and check out. A taxi to the airport to pick up the whip.
I love the freedom a car brings. While trains are great, you sometimes need your transport to get to the smallest of villages.
The process is smooth, it seems like the antiquated nonsense of the international license is a thing of the past.
I enjoy driving, different cars, in different places.
The drivers here are patient and courteous. A refreshing change from the impatient tailgating idiots of the UAE.
“The rhythmic arc of the wipers on the glass lulled him and he coasted out onto the bridge, into the city shrouded in rain and silence, the cars passing him slowly, their headlamps wan, watery lights in sorrowful progression.”
Cormac McCarthy
We are heading to the village of Eger in the North East of Hungary. The region is famous for its wines, it lies on the same longitude as Burgundy and enjoys a similar climate. While most vineyards are on the volcanic soils surrounding Eger, one vineyard, located on the side of a hill at 670m, has limestone soil through some geological miracle.
Kovács Nimród Winery has access to these vineyards and we have a tasting organised.
Eight wines, four white, four red. Three of the wines from the limestone-rich Nagy Eged Hill.
The whites –
2023 Kovács Nimród Winery Chardonnay (Eger, Hungary)
Unoaked. Light and bright with high acidity. Clean, pure fruit. Everything you want from a cool climate Chardonnay.
2022 Kovács Nimród Winery ‘DIXIE’ (Eger, Hungary)
Made from 55% Chardonnay and 45% Pinot Gris from the Nyilasmár and Nagyfai vineyards. The Chardonnay sees a few months new French oak and there is some malo fermentation. Complex and fruit-driven, with the Pinot Gris adding brightness and acidity. Harmonious and balanced.
2021 Kovács Nimród Winery Battonage Chardonnay (Eger, Hungary)
100% Chardonnay from the Nyilasmár and Nagyfai vineyards, this wine gets the full Burgundy treatment. Barrel fermented for five months, lees stirring and malolactic fermentation. 12 months in French and Hungarian oak, 40% new.
This wine, on paper, is everything I don’t like about Chardonnay, yet somehow the fruit defies the heavy handling in the winery.
Fruit-forward, complex, and rich with a textured creamy mouthfeel, this wine is delicious. Balance and power. Outstanding.
2020 Kovács Nimród Winery Nagy Eged Vineyard ‘SKY’ (Eger, Hungary)
Wine of the day.
If you are coming to Hungary, Furmint is the native grape to track down. You will find it expressed in Tokaji, but it is worth seeking out as a dry table table wine.
100% Furmint from the sought-after Nagy Eged Hill vineyard, this wine is complex, elegant, and unlike anything I have tried before. The mouthfeel is a contradiction, sharp, clear acidic fruit, yet somehow viscous and oily. The nose is apricots and flowers and there is beautiful orange peel on the palate.
Fermented in oak barrels, then half is aged in 500-liter, predominantly Hungarian oak (10% French), while the other half is fermented and aged in 225-liter Hungarian oak for 10 months. 40% new oak.
The reds –
2021 Kovács Nimród Winery 777 Pinot Noir (Eger, Hungary)
The 777 refers to the Pinot clone. One of the big issues with Australian Pinot is the poor choice of clones. The country is full of cool climate Pinot clones meant for Champagne, and the quality of Pinot reflects the clones.
Pure fruit with the oak playing a support role. Aged in 66% French and 33% Hungarian oak, of which 25% is new, this is a wine of reasonable complexity and shows plenty of class. A good example of why Eger and Burgundy share so much seasonal similarity.
2018 Kovács Nimród Winery ‘JAZZ’ (Eger, Hungary)
This wine is referred to as ‘Bulls Blood’. A blend of 45% Kékfrankos, 44% Syrah, 6% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Combine this with 17 months in 45% French, 27% American and 27% Hungarian barriques, where 27% of the barrels were new.
While the wine was perfectly fine drinking, it did seem to have a bit of an identity crisis.
2017 Kovács Nimród Winery Nagy Eged Vineyard ‘GRAND BLEU’ (Eger, Hungary)
This is a powerful, fruit-driven wine made from 100% Kékfrankos grown on the Nagy Eged Hill vineyard.
This vineyard is remarkable in the fruit it delivers. Black cherries, tobacco, and nutmeg on the nose. The palate is full, and balanced, and carries its fruit with length and structure. A great wine with serious aging potential.
Aged for over two years in mostly French oak, of which 60% are new, the wines fruit-driven profile carried the heavy oak with ease.
2016 Kovács Nimród Winery Nagy Eged Vineyard ‘NJK’ (Eger, Hungary)
Also from the Nagy Eged Hill vineyard and the flagship wine from the estate, this wine is 63% Kékfrankos and 37% Syrah.
An impressive wine that sat in the shadow of the Grand Bleu. Had we tried this before, it would have looked much better.
Plum, raspberries, and graphite dominate the nose. The palate is balanced and restrained. This is a very good wine that didn’t quite measure up to the wine tasted before it.
Wine taste builds the appetite.
We head to Macock Bistro for lunch.
Shell orders the Pirított nyúlpecsenye májropogóssal, vadaskrémmártással, burgonyafánkkal (rabbit with game sauce) and I order the Malaccsülök kemencében sült burgonyával, salotta hagymával, húsos szalonnával, uborka relish (slow cooked pork knuckle).
Both were delicious, as was the Túrógombóc tejfölhabbal, málna szósszal (cottage cheese dumplings)
It’s time to find our place to stay the night.
We have a place in a tiny village named Szomolya.
It is quiet and conducive to sleep.
We do not need dinner.
Bed.
“sleep is the most innocent creature there is and a sleepless man
Franz Kafka
the most guilty.”
I doubt there will be coffee here tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow we head for Slovakia.
Very entertaining – enjoyed reading with a Rutherglen Red. Wonderful photos – love the first black and white capture ( very André Kertesz )!
Thank you.
There was an André Kertész book of photography in the lobby of the Dorothea where we stayed in Budapest.
Lucky, because until I flipped through it, I had no idea who he was.