Hidden Treasures in a Land of “Bor” and “Pince”: A Journey Through Hungary’s Wines
Wines rooted in resilience, rich in character, and quietly waiting to be discovered.
Jan de Weerd - Spoken Wines
This will hide itself!
Hidden Treasures in a Land of “Bor” and “Pince”: A Journey Through Hungary’s Wines
Wines rooted in resilience, rich in character, and quietly waiting to be discovered.
I had a chance to spend a long weekend in the wine regions of Hungary. One of the very few countries around the world where wine consumption per capita is still increasing. No wonder because there are very nice wines for very affordable prices. Guided by my friend Laszlo, we uncover beautiful wines—from the volcanic soils of Balaton to the limestone hills of Villány, and finally to a cellar in Budapest where we picked up the missing pieces.
What I found was a wine culture both scarred and shaped by history, quietly confident in its future, and full of surprising flavors that tell a story you can’t hear anywhere else.
Balaton: Three Producers, One Family, and a Lake of Wine
Lake Balaton, Europe’s largest freshwater lake, is the shimmering backdrop for a patchwork of vineyards. Here, limestone and iron-rich clay give life to vibrant, structured wines. But it was not the soil alone that drew me in—it was the families.
We spent an afternoon with the Kiss family, where Csaba Kiss and his cousins work under the simple yet powerful motto: three producers, one family. Each makes wines under his own label, but together they carry the story forward. Their sparkling Rhein Riesling became our table constant, fresh and bright, the taste of summer in a glass. Explore their story and wines right here.
Dinner that evening was with the Dobosi family at their resort overlooking the lake. Fantastic food, wine and company—what does one want more in life? Their flagship Bordeaux blend, Philippe de Chalendar, struck me with elegance and depth. This Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon blend shaped into something both French in inspiration and uniquely Hungarian in expression. I carried bottles home, knowing they might never reach shelves beyond these hills.
Exploring wines in Hungary, you cannot get around Olaszrizling—the white grape that is neither Italian, nor Riesling as the world knows it. Lean, citrus-driven, sometimes austere, always true to its soil. Balaton growers even judge one another’s wines to ensure the variety keeps its regional soul intact. In a glass of Olaszrizling, I tasted Hungary’s insistence on identity.
Small family wineries and vineyards overlooking lake Balaton on rich clay, limestone soils producing structured, vibrant wines.
Villány: From Legacy to Modern Ambition
Further south lies Villány, where in our visit we shifted from small family cellars to large international wineries. Here, history and modern ambition stand side by side.
At Gere, one of Hungary’s pioneering post-communist estates, the wines were generous, rich, and opulent—some almost as bold as an Australian Shiraz, yet distinctly grounded in Hungarian soil. Their single-varietal Merlot, with its depth and endless finish, I had to get for my wife. She loves a bold, expressive red wine you have to 'drink with fork and knife.'
By contrast, Sauska presented another face of Villány. A newer estate with global expertise and a meticulous eye on terroir, their wines spoke in a different voice: refined, balanced, Bordeaux-like but not Bordeaux. Their Cuvee 7, a red blend of remarkable poise, simply demanded to come home with me—even if it meant reshuffling luggage yet again.
Vilány, a region that holds both traditon and transformation to Hungary's next chapter. Here old wine cellars dug into the hill side.
The Wines We Missed but Couldn’t Ignore
Not every journey can reach every vineyard, but sometimes discovery comes in the tasting room of a wine store. In Budapest, at the leading wine merchant Bortársaság, we filled in the missing pieces of the map.
There was Bulls Blood (Egri Bikavér), Hungary’s legendary red blend—once made in secrecy, now celebrated again. Two glasses, one from cool Eger in the north, one from the warmer Szekszárd to the south, showed how terroir bends but doesn’t break a tradition. Both paired seamlessly with the iconic goulash soup.
And then came Hungary’s crown jewel: Tokaji Aszú. Sweet wines made from hand-picked botrytized Furmint berries, sometimes so precious they are pressed only by gravity’s own weight. Tasting Tokaji is tasting centuries of resilience—a wine that once graced royal courts and today still commands awe (and sometimes thousands of dollars a bottle). Even a small sip left me convinced: Tokaji is not just a dessert wine, it is a story in liquid form.
IBalaton’s family tables, Villány’s grand estates, Budapest’s cellars—they all spoke with one voice: this is Hungary, and this is our wine.
