The World's Most UNDERRATED Wine Comes From Hungary | The Wine Show

Just don't forget which one was the first one. What makes ferment so exciting is a dry variety. Really interesting aromatics that I truly don't find anywhere else in the world of wine. Sometimes I'll have five or six glasses in front of me. The more glasses, the better. Terroir can determine very deeply what happened during the winemaking procession. So it's the best way to show the secret below the surface. Some grapes are really delicious. Some grapes are really interesting. But very few grapes can do both. Welcome to The Wine Show. I'm Master Sommelier Jonathan Echolz and we're exploring the world of wine one grape at a time. In this episode, we're headed to the legendary winemaking region of Tokaj over in Hungary. We're going to dive into its ancient grape variety of ferment. A grape known for sweet wines for over a thousand years. But today, we're looking at the present and future of the grape variety. Still and sparkling wines. We're going to start our journey over at Szauska, head to Balassa, dive into the Bodzrog River, and after that, some classic Hungarian meals. Come along for the journey. Cheers! Today's journey is all about exploring the modern styles of ferment in the region. We're going to start off here at Szauska Winery, meeting Adam to talk about Pezgo, or sparkling wine, which is one of the most popular styles in the region over the past couple of years. Hey Adam, how's it going? Hey Jonathan, nice to meet you. Great to meet you as well. Thanks for having us. Thanks for coming here. Let me show you the production. Ferment as a grape variety has been an identified grape for over 500 years. I think it's so rare in the world of wine where you see people continuously innovate. With ferment starting as a sweet wine grape variety, you know, 30 years ago becoming a dry wine variety, why is it so amazing as a sparkling wine variety? For sparkling wine, a very important thing is the acid. Ferment normally has higher acid because we pick in the grapes earlier, very mineral and very neutral. So it doesn't get any fruity or floral notes to the wine. It's the terroir of the region, right? Tokaj is very well known for this volcanic soil, but there were volcanoes that were underwater. There's a little bit of chalk and limestone here, which is a legendary soil type for sparkling wine. That's what we are looking for. So here around the winery, it's like white chalky base soil, and then same as in champagne, so it leads us to make actually sparkling wine. So with Pezgo and sparkling wine, before we get to the bubbles, there are a few different steps. As we're seeing over here, we're going to first make the base wine, ferment the base wine, then once that's ready, you're going to possibly mix in some reserve wine. And that's what we're going to go taste right now. And what's really important about reserve wine? So very important that every single sparkling wine house has their own style. We do it like a very, very minimal way. So we don't use oak, we don't go through the metal active fermentation, but we use a lot of reserve wines, which keeps us the quality and the quantity each year. So it's very, very important. If we have, you know, a bad vintage, it doesn't really get influenced to the non-vintage sparkling wine because we have some reserve wine that we can keep the same style as we had the last years and last years. So let's check our reserve wine. It's a 2013 Solera. Oh, cool. So it's the same wine that actually we just bottled last year, you know? The word you use there, Solera, right? It comes from the Spanish tradition of kind of having a consistency of barrels where you're just going to empty out the oldest wine, fill it with the youngest wine, and consistently have aged wine that adds weight and texture to what you have. So really cool technique there. Cheers. Kermit has a lot of focus and neutrality. And as I'm talking, I'm like... Yeah, it's like... And that just shows the ripping acidity, which is perfect for sparkling wine because as you age on the lees and kind of take out some of that aggressiveness and soften it out, it takes really well to all those, like, When people go to taste in cellars and try young wine or wine that isn't ready yet, people are like, oh, sometimes this isn't delicious. You have to have this forward-thinking perspective. So when you are tasting wine in a cellar, what are you looking for in a wine that is age-worthy? So we're normally looking for very clean, very clear, ripened acid, which means like citrusy notes, floral notes, long finish, like minerality notes, you know, which just comes from the soil. So we're going to go head out to the vineyard and see what grapes go into this in the first place, right? Let's do that, yeah. So when you're going to make sparkling wine, what do you have to do in the vineyard to make really delicious juice? Yeah, so the first thing when we're planting the grapes, we have to do high density, which means it's like 10,000 wines, grapes per hectare, which is a very high density, a huge canopy, you can see. The cool climate means the grapes could ripen for a long time, but we pick the grapes earlier because of the higher acid, you know, low pH, higher acid. We hope it's going to be good for sparkling wine. That really high density planting that forces all these plants to compete with each other. One of the things winemakers always talk about is making sure vines are stressed because the more stressed a vine is, the more it wants to make really good fruit. For a bird to come and eat that fruit and take it away. This vineyard is teeming with life, so you're making some really special ferment that's going to go into that cellar and eventually become fantastic sparkling wine. Here we are checking in on the sparkling wines you guys make here at Saska. Want to walk us through what we're about to taste? So we're going to taste the Brut. This is our basic, non-vintage sparkling wine. We're going to taste the vintage ferment, which is 2018, and we're going to have a special guest here. He's a Brut Nature, and we're just going to release it in September. That's one of the fun things about tasting at wineries, is you get to enjoy something that we call a Shiner Bottle, with no label on it, so it's always a surprise what's inside. This is kind of very approachable, very enjoyable, and like sparkling wine I just want to pair with life. This next bottling here really shows the essence of the region of Tokay, and the smokiness of the volcanic soil, and the tension of the chalk deposits you have here. And this really fun, high-toned herbal note that I get in ferment. But then lastly here, you get the fruit of ferment. I get a lot of orchard fruit, a little bit of stone fruit as well, like Meyer lemon, that's super cool. Alongside that, and just the tension of Brut Nature, and how grippy and focused it is, is a really special combination with this variety. Maybe here, I would eat something with it. Because it would be harsh, you know, go well with the food. But here, it's good alone. It's been amazing to check out the wonderful facilities here at Saska, see the sparkling wine harvest go down, explore these really special, soulful vineyard sites, and most importantly, see how these wines behave in the glass. As you say here in Hungary, Egi sige da. Egi sige, thank you very much. We're going to break down these really special old vine ferment vines. So three major parts to a vine. First and foremost, what's below us. Here we have meters and meters of roots into this wonderful volcanic soil that's going to bring all of the nutrients here to this trunk. What's really cool about this, it's a thicker trunk, showcasing that it's an old vine. Vines are just like trees, where the older they get, the thicker they get. As it works its way up into the arms here, we have what we call a fruiting cane. We're going to have two important things. The leaves and the fruit itself. The leaves are going to do two things. Taking all that sunshine and bring all the power to the plant, but at the same time, shade the grapes from the sun to make sure they stay nice and even and ripe throughout the whole growing season. So I hope you enjoy a tour in a vineyard sometime soon. Cheers. Here we are in the town of Mad in the heart of Tokaj. What's really exciting about this place, is this is where the whole movement of dry Tokaj began 25 years ago. Right now we're driving through the vineyard site of St. Tomas, one of the most sought after vineyards of dry Tokaj in the whole world. Here on St. Tomas, it is the legendary dry ferment site in the region. So how did kind of dry ferment come to be in the first place in a region that's so famous for sweet wines? Yeah, this is a very complex question, because normally we'd like to reach the highest quality level. In this case, we prepare sweet wine, but of course, the dry wines around the world are very, very famous. It was the question approximately 30 years ago in the 90s. Some winemakers started to change the viticulture system. How can we create very high quality dry wines? We had some very good vintages, and the result was a very, very interesting, very complex, very mineralic and unique dry wine, which was the dry ferment. We developed year by year the technology, the thinking line, the ferment and the Tokaj terroir. It's very, very interesting. So we can create high quality and very unique wines. Over 90% of the world's ferment is planted here in Tokaj. So for somebody who's never experienced ferment before, what are some of the flavors you think of with the grape variety? It's very interesting because the ferment doesn't have special smell and taste. And this is the reason why we can use the very complex terroir system, because the terroir can determine very deeply what happens during the winemaking and what you feel in the glass and what you feel in your mouth. So it's the best grape variety to show the secret below the surface. Drinking this wine, I almost feel like a duck. I'm vibing on the lake, I'm hanging out, I'm relaxing. This is such a refreshing style of ferment. I have this tantalizing acidity on my palate, and I'm ready for a bite of bright and fresh food. In the case of the terroir-selected wine, we have five different quality levels. And we will taste the first, the Gyulaço, the second, the Becek, and the top, the St. Tomas. And you will understand the quality steps, and you will understand the real difference between the terroirs. So this first one over here, the Gyulaçlo. It means rabbit hunter. The name arrived because in these terroirs include a lot of rabbits, so it was the reason. The nose of this is so thought-provoking. It brings me into a lot of these eastern green things, like a lot of shiso leaves and fenugreek and green tea. It's just nice to sit and meditate on and enjoy. Excited to really dive into this next single vineyard wine as well. The vintage is 23, 100% of ferment, and the terroir is the Becek. I think what's so cool about this is the texture. It almost feels like a half-pipe when you're skateboarding. That brightness sticks to the ends of the palate, but in the middle there's just like, boom, here's this laser beam of melons and orchard fruit. Really excited to jump into basically the top dry wine vineyard in the whole region. Yes, the vintage 22 and Saint Tomas. And you will feel in the first minutes the peach. I think what's really fun about a wine of this level of quality is the intention of the winemaking and the intensity of it. It's kind of like the really cool person in a party that's kind of hanging out in the corner of the room and doesn't want to be too loud, but the second you start talking to them, they're the most interesting person in the room. Or start dancing and you see it, ah. You get this expanse of like orchard fruit skins and citrus zest and then it turns really salty and beachy. If I was going to distill this region down to two things, it's the perfect kind of confluence of interesting and delicious. The texture of volcanic soil, but then the chisel of sedimentary soil, which I think is so unique to a wine like this. And the soul of the winemaker, so it's two different components. And definitely a lot of soul from this winemaker. Yeah, because we have a lot of opportunities, so the decision is the hardest thing in the case of the Tokaj winemaking. Cheers! Here we are with the bodrug and the titsa meat to create the true terroir of Tokaj. And I think the best part about this is after our long canoe ride on the way, we have some fish waiting for us at the end. Of course, because below the surface we have some big secrets, big fish, and we will taste it. Looking forward to it. Let's do it. How do you say let's go in Hungarian? Gerünk. So after all the hard work in the kayak, where are we now? We are in a special restaurant near the river, you see. We taste some Hungarian specialty, for example, the Hungarian fruit. If you would like to drink some wine, but you don't need too powerful wine, you need the fruit. In the States, we don't really drink wine like this, kind of the mix of sparkling water and a touch of wine. I know this is very popular all throughout Europe, and I think it's super fun to have the opportunity to drink wine, but in a fun and refreshing way. It's session wine. You can have a couple of these, and it's not even a full glass of wine yet. Cheers! So this is quite a hearty meal after a long day on the river. Want to walk me through what's in front of us? Fish very fresh and arrived from the river. We have kesek, we have harcsa, we have süllő. We have very, very tasty cucumber and very tasty potatoes. You don't have a fork or something. You have to use your hand to eat. The quality of the fishes and all the meals is very high, so very special. I think we start with the süllő. So what's it seasoned with? Is it kind of a cornmeal almost? It's cornmeal and fat. The freshness and flakiness of the fish, but that weight of the fat and the corn is just super fun, and the bright zippy, spritzy element. So what should fish number two be for us? I recommend the catfish. Perfect! This is the catfish. Catfish. Oh, perfect. What's really cool is seeing the array of flavors from the fish here. Here you have kind of a crunchier style of fish, this more weighty and fleshy, and here it's almost more earthy and herbal. A type of fish which doesn't include bones, the neighbors of the sharks. Very near of the swamp, of the bottom of the river, so it's a completely different taste, like for example the süllő or for example the catfish. It was so mind-blowing to take a canoe ride down the river to see how the bodrog and pizza really make this such a special winemaking region, and most importantly to have such a special fish fry in a 35-year-old restaurant that is just a bastion of the community. I hope you understand what means Tokaj, the most complicated wine genre in the world, and what means the tradition of the food like this. After an action-packed day, here I'm going to meet up with Niki and Esther from Wines if Hungry, and dive into some outstanding pairings with the still and sparkling wines of Tsarka. One of my favorite things is to have multiple wines in front of you at the same time. I feel like some people might find it intimidating to have like three glasses, four glasses. Sometimes I'll have five or six glasses in front of me. But I feel like each wine brings up the nuance of the wine next to it, and it's so cool to compare and contrast. The more glasses, the better. I just like love breaking all the old rules of pairing. Like right now we have hypothetically red meat in front of us, right? We have pork, and here we have three outstanding white wines. And I think one of the things people don't nearly think a lot about is why white wine is so fun with red meat, how it kind of like cuts through the fat and adds a lot of more like lifted aromatic notes, and how people like zest citrus or use different things to make kind of meat seem brighter. The wine's going to do that for us. So this is traditional Hungarian lecsó, which is similar to ratatouille, but like the Hungarian version. It's very lovely in the summer because of the seasonal vegetables. Tomatoes, the paprikas, they grow them in the garden here. Confited pork, roasted. In Mongol it's a fat, so it's crispy at the same time. Gives a special flavor to it. So which wine should we start with? What do you recommend? I think I might start with wine one here. Sometimes when a dish is really complex and really layered, you just want to kind of have something simple to clean up the palate after it. Today was so electric and exciting, seeing a region that's been making wine since the year 300. Looking forward to the future. Sparkling wine, dry wine, single village wine, single vineyard wine. All things that only really popped up over the past 25 years. And I'm really looking forward to see how these wines age, how more and more producers get excited, and most importantly, how the whole world gets excited. So with that, a cheers to ferment and looking forward to drinking more of it. To more adventures! Cheers! Salomon, the official sneaker for a sommelier for all terroirs.