24 October 2023 / Edit Szabó
Tokaj-Oremus is 30 years’ old. The Tolcsva-based winery was founded in 1993 by the Spanish Álvarez family and is its second winery after the world-famous Vega Sicilia. Tokaj-Oremus was headed by András Bacsó until his retirement, when he was succeeded in 2021 by a cosmopolitan professional, Róbert Kindl. We asked the estate manager about his journey so far and his plans for the future.
More than two years have passed since your appointment. Are you used to Tokaj and life here?
It wasn’t difficult. Tokaj is one of the world’s most beautiful and unique places, and not just because it is the birthplace of legends. András Bacsó is a household name among winemakers, and continuing what he started, developed and honed over decades is not simply a task, but an honour. When I took up my position, the COVID-19 pandemic was raging, but despite this, or perhaps because of it, the transition was quick and almost seamless. I don’t believe in authoritarian leadership. I prefer to ask for others’ opinions and try to do my due diligence on each issue, so that I can weigh up the options before making a decision. I appreciate the dedication of my colleagues and rely heavily on them to prepare the ground for deciding any directions.
Róbert Kindl
You are not a Tokaj native, you grew up in Budapest. What was your path before you arrived at Tokaj-Oremus?
My parents moved to Budapest from the countryside. Both came from farming families, but my parents were in the international transport business, which probably led to my interest in foreign trade and economics. When I was at college, I wanted to brush up my English a bit, so I went to Australia and ended up getting my first degree at the Kent Institute of Technology and Business College.
Is this where you got more familiar with wine?
No, that was in England, where I went to study international relations at the University of London. The tuition fees were high, and I needed the money, so I looked for a job and began working in a shop owned by a famous English wine merchant family that had been in business for hundreds of years. We sold premium still and sparkling wines. Before that, I hadn’t paid much attention to what made one drink better than another, but here I saw how beautiful the wines were. It was a fascinating world and I wanted to know more and more about it.
The Tokaj-Oremus estate in Tolcsva
Where did you start learning about wine?
When I returned to Budapest for a short stay in 2005, the first thing I did was enrol at the István Soós Vocational School of Wine. I gained my wine technician qualification while also working in a prestigious wine shop. I’m a managerial person, the kind of person who can get really deep into something. Even then, I felt that if you want to understand the motivations of consumers in the wine business, you have to understand everything from winemaking to trade, from logistics to marketing, and you can only learn this through practice. And these insights gave me a lot more opportunities to have a better chance of entering the job market.
Where did your journey take you after that?
I went to New Zealand, where I first worked at a small winery and then was offered a management position at a winery called Goldie. I was thrown in at the deep end, but I was a good swimmer, so I was given more and more tasks and opportunities. I learnt everything that was possible at that level and moved on after six years, but only because I was driven by a thirst for knowledge. I enrolled on a postgraduate course at the University of Auckland, where I graduated in 2013 with a degree in oenological sciences, but now as a contract technician at the Delegate Estate in Hawke’s Bay. Meanwhile, I still kept in contact with Hungary and also spent a short internship at Tokaj-Oremus. That’s when I met András Bacsó and several of the winery’s staff, but the relationship didn’t continue at that time.
The ageing cellar of the estate centre
You spent a total of nine years in New Zealand. During the last period, you were the production manager at Unison Winery and then worked as a viticultural and winemaking consultant with Detlef Michaelsen. You and your wife moved back to Hungary in 2015. Were there any new challenges?
The newly formed Grand Tokaj offered me the position of Business Development Manager, but the reorganisations in the life of the company significantly reduced the room for manoeuvre, so I left by mutual agreement. I found my next challenge in the Balaton Highlands, in a start-up winery in Pécsely. I enjoyed the job and the opportunities it gave me, and I might still be working there today if it hadn’t been for the Tempos Vega Sicilia head-hunters finding me. Things moved rapidly from then on, and in January 2021, I started working at Tokaj-Oremus.
You received a serious legacy. Were you worried?
No, because besides his legacy, I also received a lot of help from András Bacsó, the winery staff and the managers of the Tempos Vega Sicilia group, with whom we have a very close relationship. Tokaj-Oremus is a 100-hectare estate, producing 200,000 bottles of wine each year, 80-85% of which find their way onto foreign markets. Increasing the quantity has never been a goal, it is more important to keep improving quality and to ensure that the winery’s wines remain among the best in the world. We currently export to 140 countries and are becoming increasingly well known in both the international and the domestic market.
What do you see as the strength of Tokaj-Oremus?
It’s important that we work as a close-knit team, almost like a family, and that the owners rely on the staff for the long term. They create opportunities for them to gain knowledge and experience from other famous wine regions, but they expect high-quality work in return. Everyone here works with faith, purpose and results. WE focus on people, development and efficiency.
The winery does not only take great care of the wines but also of its viticulture. It’s now almost a decade and a half since the winery’s staff discovered the mother vines of some very old varieties of Furmint in the Petrács vineyard, vines perhaps from before or just after the phylloxera period. The selection experiments started immediately. Where are you now with this?
We are making very good progress and have so far planted ten Furmint clones in different vineyards on the estate, which are excellent for dry wine. Already half the base grapes for the winery’s estate Furmint, Mandolás, are harvested from old varieties of Furmint, and it seems that these clones could also be exciting for Aszú making in the future.
The Petrács and Mandolás Furmint (photo: Bence Szabó)
How is sustainability and nature conservation implemented on the estate?
Sustainability is very important to us, so we have a solar farm that provides 30% of the energy needed to run the winery. Our winery is gravity fed and our ageing cellar has a wonderful natural climate, so no air conditioning is necessary. We strive for natural solutions in everything we do. We farm some of our vineyards according to organic and biodynamic principles, we plough with horses and avoid systemic plant protection.
What is the goal?
We live and work so that our next wine will always be the best. The winery’s unconcealed wish is to have its noble Tokaj Aszú wines on the wish list of collectors worldwide, just like the great wines of Vega Sicilia. And this can only be achieved if the wines are unique, of perfect quality and with great ageing potential and stature.
What is your personal goal and motivation as the head of Tokaj-Oremus?
I’ve been to many beautiful places in the world, some of which are particularly dear to me, but Tokaj is different. I work in the wine region that produces the world’s greatest sweet wine. I started in this country and came back here to put all my knowledge at the service of an internationally renowned winery. I expect a lot from it, but I know that Oremus also expects a lot from me. I will try to live up to it.
Vines in the Petrács vineyard (photo: Borsmenta)
