13 August 2024 / Szabó Edit / Photos : Lang Nándor
I've been following the Hungarian wine scene for a long time, I know the wineries and follow the careers of young talents, but I first heard about you when you took over Steigler Winery in early 2019. Where did you appear from?
I set off from Sopron and returned to Sopron, but in between I spent almost two decades abroad.
Did you gather experience in foreign wineries?
That's not what I set out to do, but that's what I ended up doing. It's true that I'm from Sopron, but my family never had anything to do with grapes or wine, so I never developed any attachment to them. I spoke good German, I'd been a driver and a waiter when I needed to be, but I couldn't really find the right place for me, and when it turned out that I could go and work in Austria for a company dealing with vine grafting, I didn't give it too much thought. I was 25 years old, I wanted to earn money, and they paid well there.
What was your job?
We didn't make wine, we just worked with vine grafting, but quite seriously, so I can safely say that my career as a viticulturist and winemaker started at the roots. We planted 800,000 grafted plants by hand. My next trip took me to a Swiss-founded winery in California called Cuvaison, where I soaked up knowledge over two vintages. There I was lucky enough to see the other end of the process, because I spent all my time in the cellar.
So you didn't even have a classic, classroom-based training as viticulturist and winemaker, you learned everything on the job?
Not quite. When I came home from Napa Valley in 2005, I enrolled in the Viticulture and Winemaking course at the Gyöngyös College, and meanwhile worked at the Weninger Winery. I was with them at the time when they switched from conventional farming to organic. It was very exciting.
Did you stay there a long time?
I would have stayed, but the world was calling. In the Napa Valley, I met a guy from New Zealand and went to harvest with him in 2007. This world was so new, so special, that after much deliberation I said goodbye to Wenninger in 2009 and went back to New Zealand for a year. I wanted to see the whole miracle. Even a family winery in Marlborough, New Zealand's largest wine region, is huge: we worked on 300 hectares with state-of-the-art technology we didn't even know existed back home here. Moreover, the whole world smelled of Sauvignon Blanc. I loved it. When my visa expired, I wanted to continue my adventures a little closer to Hungary, so I found my new job in Gols, Austria.
For another year?
No, this time, unusually for me, it lasted six whole years. I joined the family winery, Juris, and I was already working specifically with wine there. They worked on conventional principles, but they made good wine, and I loved working with them. It was from there that Domäne Wachau lured me as cellar master in 2016. I took a deep breath and moved my family there too. It was world-famous winery, a beautiful place, 430 hectares, with huge perspective - everything was in place for me to feel good there, but after six months I hung up my hat.
Why?
Because all I did was tap away on the computer all day, and for me, winemaking is about something completely different. Another estate in Gols followed, a 45-hectare family winery, Anita & Hans Nittnaus, where I had the opportunity to learn the basics of biodynamic farming. I might still be there if I hadn't met Bálint Lőrinczy in 2018. He had founded Steigler Winery in Sopron two years earlier and needed someone like me. A conscientious winemaker never lets his winery down before the harvest, so I did the decent thing and completed the harvest and when all the wine was resting in the cellar, I said goodbye to Austria. I have been the winemaker at Steigler Winery since 1 January 2019.
That was more than five years ago. Is your life of wandering over?
It may be. At the age of forty, perhaps it is time for self-fulfilment. Bálint gave me free rein, saying he had only one wish: to see excellent organic wines in the cellar. The rest is up to me. As he is the owner, we discuss and agree everything, but I enjoy his trust and he supports my ideas. It's a great feeling to work in such an environment.
How involved is he as owner in the life of the winery?
Totally. He is an excellent marketing professional, so this and sales are his thing. His family used to have vineyards in Rust, but after Trianon those lands ended up in Austria. Throughout his childhood, Bálint had heard about how different it is to drink your own wine, so when he had the chance to revive the family tradition, he didn't think twice about it.
You saw a lot and gained a lot of experience on your trips abroad. How can you use all this at Steigler Winery?
Being close to nature and the organic thinking that comes from it has become absolutely fundamental for me. I understood that at least 80% of wine quality depends on the grapes, so the grapes are the key to everything. I became familiar with Kékfrankos in Gols and Zöldveltelini in Wachau, and the vineyard and barrel selections there taught me that these two varieties are worth taking very seriously. So, in the vineyard I actively monitor the vines, but in the cellar, I follow the principle of controlled idleness, because if I have done a good job in the vineyard, the must already has everything it should have, and nature is just doing its job.
What makes the Sopron terroir special?
It has a very good climate, with constant winds due to the proximity of the Alps, the reeds of Lake Fertő acting as a buffer against the winter cold and the water reflecting the sunlight. The real magic, however, is in the mica schist soil, which is unique in the world in this form. I imagine that Sopron might once have been the coast of the Pannonian Sea. We have done exploratory drilling in our vineyards and found that under the two-metre layer of mica schist, there is coastal sand and freshwater silt. I imagined what a great palm tree lined "beach" there must have been here twenty million years ago... The mineral salinity of the mica schist lends Sopron wines their soul. Imagine a good meat consommé, it has everything it should in it, but it’s lacking salt! You spoon it up and don’t enjoy it. Then you add some salt and taste it again. The difference is like heaven and earth. That's what the mica schist does to the grapes: it brings out their flavour.
You currently work on 15 hectares. What grape varieties do you cultivate in your vineyards?
We have three main varieties: Kékfrankos, of which we have six hectares planted in three vineyards, Zöldveltelini, of which we have three hectares also in three vineyards, and Furmint, of which we have two hectares. In addition to these, we also grow Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Zweigelt and Muscat Ottonel on the estate. The last time we planted in 2022, we planted Gewurztraminer, Királyleányka and Hárslevelű. We are trying to focus on local varieties.
How did Zöldveltelini became your favourite variety?
I think I was touched by its versatility. It can make a perfect light wine for a spritzer, it can be a great base for blends, but after 8-10 months on the lees it changes so much that you can hardly recognise it. Initially, I only worked with Zöldveltelini with long tank or barrel ageing, but in 2023, I decided to show the seven faces of the variety. Pét-nat, sparkling wine, skin contact wine - we could go in the direction of orange wine here, but I'm more interested in just 5-6 days of skin contact and its beautiful green colour - late harvest, classic tank, aged on lees for 9 months and wines fermented and aged in 500-litre barrel… I have been trying to fathom out every nuance of the variety, and I was completely enchanted. Some of it is still in barrel, but most variations are ready to taste.
You said your other obsession was Kékfrankos...
Exactly! We were born in a very lucky place to be able to work with these varieties! We make Kékfrankos wines from three vineyards - Spern Steiner, Steinhaufen and Alte Reben - and will bottle these wines separately from the 2022 vintage. I am convinced that we should focus on Kékfrankos as our black variety here in Sopron. I know that everyone is looking at what the market wants, but I think of it the other way round: I like to dictate what the market wants. I hope I can convince consumers.
Your cellars are in the centre of Sopron. Do you welcome tasters there?
Of course! We have a 500-year-old poncichter cellar; it’s spectacular, romantic and beautiful, and any visitors are welcome during opening hours. And if you make a request in advance, the tasting can also include a cellar tour and cold snacks. And if you’d like to see where the grapes are grown, we are happy to organise a vineyard tour. You can look at our vines, our flowers, our buzzards and our voles, and then you’ll taste the wine we pour through very different eyes.
