21 August 2024 / Borbála Kalmár
It's the middle of summer, so the other day, out of curiosity, I popped into a popular wine shop to see what was on display in the middle, i.e. which wine sells best at this time of year. I was expecting Proseccos and sparkling wines, to see if I could disprove the claim of a popular wine bar in Budapest that people mostly order spritzer in summer. The seasonal offers shelf, however, seemed to be dominated by another category: rosés were lined up like soldiers, including big-name French wines and Hungarian rosés. I was surprised as I stood at the table, as the rosé craze of the past few years seemed to have abated a bit in Hungary - although it has been said for some time that Provençal rosé could also carve out its small slice of the pie here too. This idea was once dismissed by the nay-sayers who said that there was no way that our bright tutti frutti, strawberry-scented wines would be dethroned by their almost translucent and generally more sophisticated, mineral, world-famous big brother from the French Riviera. So, where does the truth lie? Maybe somewhere in the middle.
What makes a wine premium?
Imitating the Provençal rosé style with versions made from local grape varieties is like a winemaker trying to make a big Bordeaux-style red wine from Kadarka, says internationally renowned rosé expert Elizabeth Gabay, when asked where Hungarian rosé stands today compared to the global benchmark of Provençal wines. She adds: instead of imitating the characteristics of Grenache, the basis of most French rosés, which is not planted here, it would be better to concentrate on the advantages of Kékfrankos here in Hungary. With the right length of skin maceration, the basis of rosé production, Kékfrankos is great at delivering the fruity character typical to this wine category. Dániel Ercsey recently spoke to experienced sommelier Péter Tüű about the variety, and he also pointed out in the interview that Kékfrankos also makes a great base for rosé.
(Not only red wine can be made from Italian sangiovese
Photo: Pláne Badacsony)
To make the perfect rosé, Elizabeth believes that it is best to avoid using cultured yeast, which gives wines too much of a uniform flavour, whereas spontaneous fermentation can yield a more exciting result. The third and extremely important cornerstone of premium rosé production is that, like the French, it is worth taking a fresh look at this wine category in Hungary: instead of making simple summer wine, let's move it to the top shelf! Some positive examples come to mind immediately: she mentions the Vincellér Wine Estate in Sopron as well as St Donat, St Andrea, Dúzsi Tamás and Sauska as producers from whom she has had the pleasure of tasting premium rosés.
The end of an era?
Michelin-starred sommelier Imre Rácz confirms the legitimacy of the latter producer, saying that two Hungarian rosés have had a stable place on Spago's wine list for years, one of them being Sauska. When I ask why, he says it's because the winery, recent winner of a platinum medal for a dry wine at Decanter, always strives for a more refined style, miles away from any strawberry notes.
The Sebestyén Winery in Szekszárd is now in its third vintage of their Szél rosé, the result of years of experimentation. Not only is the pricing premium, but the winemaking is also different to usual: the wine is refined and silky thanks to long lees ageing, while the grapes used are the varieties usually found in the winery’s premium Bikavér - 50% Kékfrankos, 50% other varieties. The idea for the "Provence" style rosé came from Csilla Sebestyén, who has been using her foreign experience in Hungary for a decade, and with this she stirred up the previously calm waters surrounding rosés, which is why the wine was given the name Szél, meaning Wind. Csilla says she really wanted to add a rosé to the portfolio that would not only be good for spritzer, but also with food. And these are not empty words, as when I caught up with her on the phone, she was on her way to dinner and was taking this wine with her.
(Several years of experimentation preceded the preparation of Szél, which finally turned out the way Csilla and Csaba Sebestyén had envisioned it, showing a Mediterranean rather than strawberry flavour)
You are given a lot of advice as a wine consumer actively trying to find your way, not all of which may stand the test of time, as my personal anecdote below illustrates. In my case, one of these tips was to always choose rosé from the most recent vintage. I don't think I'm the only one to have heard this, because when I worked in the wine shop of a renowned winery, I had countless visitors who came in September looking a rosé from that year, and would only taste the previous vintage when I showed them that the grapes were still hanging on the vines. It probably goes without saying that rosés could then only be sold at a discount in January, as the label said they were already in their second year of life, and in consumers’ minds this meant that the wine had got "left on the shelf". However, especially for premium rosés, it could simply be the new vintage.
Tamás Dúzsi (Dúzsi Winery) has made Hungarian wine history primarily with his rosés, as he has triumphed over the French several times at world competitions, which would have been enough to prove that he makes fantastic rosés. However, he has gone beyond that, and in addition to the fresh, in this case 2023 vintage, you can also find older vintage wines: the current range available at the cellar goes back to 2017. The premium quality of the latter wine is already evident in its price, as the wine made from Cabernet Franc for the winery's 25th anniversary comes with a high price tag. And the winemaking philosophy in this case is that a rosé can have the complexity of a red wine.
(Even the bottle itself suggests seriousness the 2017 rosé is not a stuck batch, Tamás Dúzsi wants to show that a rosé can be as complex as a red wine)
Summer, Lake Balaton, rosé: beyond the spritzer season
The panoramic view from the St Donat Ecological Wine Estate encompasses the entire length of Lake Balaton. It's a place worth hiking up to even if the mercury is well above 30°C: the view will make up for the climb. In addition to a range of wines that highlights the geological diversity of their vineyards, they also make rosé wines from Kékfrankos and Cabernet Sauvignon - the same grapes as the winery's top reds. Estate manager Tamás Kovács, who also designed the label, says that the premium pricing of their rosé makes it difficult to break into the national gastronomy market, so what they make is sold almost entirely at the cellar door. Yet another reason to climb the Csopak hillside.
The Bella Róza rosé from Figula Winery, not far from St. Donat, is also a must in this category: made from Cabernet Franc with spontaneous fermentation, long fine lees contact and barrel ageing, the wine was well ahead of today's trends, making its debut with the 2016 vintage. Thanks to its long ageing, the current vintage is 2022.
(St. Donat's organic rosé is made from the same concentrated raw ingredients as the red wines)
Of course, premium rosés are not only bottled as still wine. Csaba Török (2HA Vineyard and Winery), for example, has been experimenting with Sangiovese, which is intertwined with his name in Hungary, resulting in a traditional method rosé sparkling wine produced in house that is now part of the winery's permanent range. These bubbles have quickly become a consumer favourite, so although for a slightly different reason than at St Donat, it is also available exclusively from the cellar, apart from a few restaurants in the area, such as Pláne Badacsony.
As you can see from the above, the range of rosés in Hungary is becoming increasingly varied, so it is definitely worth looking beyond the usual labels from time to time and trying what a premium rosé has to offer. Whether this is just an initial spreading of wings or the herald of a rosy future, we can't yet say. Yet the fact is that rosé can benefit from lees contact and long oak ageing from time to time.
