This weekend I had a rather spontaneous, unusual and slightly challenging wine tasting. In the centre was an astonishingly surprising white wine from Hungary. The comparable partner to this one was a Chenin Blanc from Anjou and the side dishes were two classical and well aged Rieslings from Pfalz region in Germany. But first things first:
Prince Bussay Kerkaborum Vörcsöki Hárslevelü 2008, Szekszárd
The Kerakabourum is made of the autochtonous varietal Vörcsöki Hárslevelü (lucky me I only have to write it down). A varietal occasionally used for Tokaij wines. The producer is Prince Bussay from Szekszárd (with a little help of Zoltan Heimann and Lazlo Kis).
From the start I got pretty surprised by the dense and dark yellow (some reflexes were even orange) coloured. I have to admit “Mr Smart-Pants “(me) expected a rather thin and light wine. As pretty much always: I was wrong ;-). On the contrary, the juice in my glass appeared to be rather complex, broad and well adjusted. The nose was by far the most complex and impressive feature of this wine. I got scents of jasmine tea, honey, orange shells, flowers, sweet mandarins, hints of vanilla, aged red apples and sweet’ish aromas of “Currywurst”-Sauce. The sauce to an insignificant German fast food dish which isn’t worthy to translate ;-). The fruit flavours were similar to my nose impression. The mandarins might have dominated a bit. Besides that I got a hints of vanilla and oak (aged in 500 l barrels). This Hárslevelü wasn’t thin or light at all. It showed a fine balance, some slight oxidative character, nice acid proportion and a beautiful fruit driven complexity. Its price well below 10 Euros is ridiculously beautiful. A very nice surprise from Hungary! Unlike my first Hungarian wine on this blog. More of this literally unspeakable wine please!
The next wine, a mid-aged Chenin Blanc from Anjou, fitted very well to our Hungarian Miracle. A certain resemblance to aged Chenin Blanc was undeniable. Unfortunately this very Chenin Blanc was a bit beastly:
Domaine de Bablut Ordovicien 2005, Anjou
Its colour was even darker than the one from the Hárslevelü. The nose was very board, oxidative, fruitful (unfortunately quite cider’y or musty), orange’y, rather smoky and very unnerving. My impression of its taste was very much the same. Cider with cigarettes! On one hand it was rather mineral, salty, smoky and a bit board-sweet fruitful. On the other hand it was hard, violent, a bit too alcoholic (only 13,5%) and pretty oxidative (rather sherry like). After some hours I sensed slight changes, but no real improvement. The balance of this wine was the main disadvantage.
The two classics by Koehler-Rupprecht aren’t comparable to the Hárslevelü. Their style was definitely a totally different story. But a rather challenging one as well. The first was:
Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht Kallstatter Saumagen Riesling Auslese trocken 1999
(was opened one day in advance)
This one got a fantastically ambivalent character. The nose got plenty of detergent powder, stinging aggressiveness, black pepper, seaweed and plenty of smoke. So far so interesting! Apparently a pretty austere fellow I suppose. The taste was completely different. I got impressions of English Toffee, quite a lot of sweetness, slight lemon flavours, hints of smoke and plenty of (violent) power. Certainly a very interesting and complex wine, but not very enjoyable, pretty imbalanced and not really impressive in a positive manner. The second “Saumagen” was by far more enjoyable and impressive:
Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht Kallstatter Saumagen Riesling Auslese trocken 2001
I got aged lemons, vanilla-mandarin fragrances, some smoke and hints of the “beloved” detergent (which vanished after a while) I previously mentioned. The taste got some austerity as well. This time by far more balanced. I got flinty bitterness, some smoke and a hard earthy mineral character. The fruitful character appeared to be far better adjusted. In the centre I fetched beautiful creamy lemon flavours and hints of the vanilla-flowery-tangerine impressions. Very nice, complex, but challenging piece of Riesling!
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