We met up with Greg, the ultimate Tokaj expert, on Day 2 and we were whisked off on another wine adventure! Our first visit of the day was Demeter Zoltan, a winemaker that is met with very high regard in the Tokaj region.
You basically get invited to their backyard for the tasting. Their yard is gorgeous! The photo doesn’t do it justice, I was just trying to get a shot of the stork on their chimney.
Here’s a better shot of the stork, who lives here 6 months out of the year. He obviously agrees that the yard is gorgeous!
The winemakers wife showed us around the facility. She is a also a winemaker in her own right.
This sparking wine had a very unique closure…not using cork, easy to open, and resealable. I’ve never seen it before, but it makes sense! The sparkling had the added benefit of being pretty damn good!
Group photo time!
We then made our way to Erzsebet Pince, where we met with owner Hajni Pracser , where she took us into her 18th century cellar system.
These cellars were once used by the Russian Tsar’s “Tokaj Wine Purchasing Commission”, ensuring the Tsar got only the best of Tokaj! It is the wine of Kings after all!
Today they only hold the wines of Erzsebet, although I’m unsure why they put these labels on already, since they are clearly being destroyed by the moisture and mold in the cellar. Not that I’d mind!
The 2010 Aszu “6 puttonyos” was the clear winner of the tasting!
Hajni’s husband is Wine Master and Master Sommelier Ronn Wiegand, who is quite famous in the Napa region for his wine knowledge and blending capabilities. We chatted with him for 30-40 minutes, and his recollection of wine facts is remarkable! Sorry for the blurry photo Ronn…you must have been moving when I took the one and only shot…or you’re an alien, and cameras aren’t allowed to capture your face accurately. Being an alien would explain your uncanny wine capabilities!
After lunch we moved onto our last winery of the day, “Abraham”, tasting with the owner/winemaker Peter Robert, who turned out to be quite the character.
While his “garage” cellar seemed disorderly and chaotic, the wines he poured showed no sign of that whatsoever. Really good stuff!
As a matter of fact, his best wine, which he referred to as “my precious”, with full Gollum emphasis, was the best Furmint I tasted in Tokaj. He prices it at $120/bottle, simply because he doesn’t want anybody to buy it, as he wants “my precious” all to himself. He only made 200 bottles afterall. So yes, we didn’t buy any…the wine is safe with Gollum! Loved the closure on the wine bottle, which he uses for all of his wines. After opening a “corked” bottle tonight, I can appreciate the bottles that don’t use corks!
If I’m ever around a cat, they are attracted to me like white on rice, but for whatever reason this guy only had love for Kim. Smart cat! Yes, he fell asleep in about two minutes.
On our 3rd and last day in Tokaj, we hit one last winery, Oremus. This winery is owned by the wealthy Spanish family that owns the famous “Vega Sicilia” winery in Spain. Ok, they aren’t famous to me, but my friend Tom indicated they were famous, and he knows more about wine than I do!
The roof of the winery has an impressive view over the surrounding area.
A view of vineyards is always beautiful to me! Our guide Greg advised that back in the years before Communism the vineyards would grow up to the tops of the hills, but the advent of keeping costs down and production up meant they couldn’t harvest grapes cheaply on steep inclines, so many of the older vineyards were lost. They are now covered with trees and other vegetation. Just another reason to point out that Communism sucks!!
Inside the winery they had some historical items. Greg is holding an actual “puttonyos”, the wooden receptacles that would hold the boytritis infected grapes to make the Aszu wines!
Oremus has a huge amount of wine sitting in storage, waiting for when they are ready to be released. Most of these wines end up being exported outside of Hungary…a lot of it to Spain!
The below photo gives an idea of the scale of this room filled with wine!
They have their brand everywhere in the storage area, in case you forget where you are. The yellow is not my camera….it’s their lighting system….kind of odd if you ask me.
The Oremus wine cellars are very extensive….some of the longest tunnels in Tokaj!
These old bottles from 1975 have mold growing on top of the cork, where micro amounts of wine are seeping out of the bottle. It looks like miniature nuclear bombs going off!
Kim’s birth year is represented quite a bit in the cellars….must have been a very good year (which I heartily agree with)!
I loved the lighting in some parts of the cellar, making various stacks of wine glow in the dark!
This Late Harvest wine was the winner of the day!
One final shot of Kim with the various tulips growing at the tasting room entrance. We love those tulips!
We had told Greg that in addition to visiting various wineries, we wanted to see some historical stuff in the Tokaj region. One of the top sites to see in the region are these small cellars, known as the Hercegkut Cellars.
This UNESCO World Heritage site is also referred to as Hobbit Holes, since they seem very similar to the houses in Hobbiton, which we visited in New Zealand back before Fauci shut the world down.
These cute little cellars are definitely worth checking out!
One of them was even open and operating as a wine tasting room. We didn’t taste here, as we were on a somewhat tight schedule, but they were very kind to let us walk inside to check it out.
Our last historical spot was a visit to Boldogko Castle, just north of the Tokaj district. It’s not known exactly when the castle was first built, but it dates from before 1282…so it’s old! Like Joe Biden old!
There is a little bit of climbing to do from the parking lot, but the views make it all worthwhile.
It’s not exactly ADA approved…so if you aren’t fairly adept with walking, this might not be your thing. Yes, that is the path after you first enter the castle!
According to Greg, this particular spot is very popular with the Instagram folks. He said he’d bring people to the castle that only wanted a photo at this spot, to hell with the rest of the castle!
This is the view back from the end of the walkway. Pretty cool, I have to admit.
This spot affords an excellent view of the surrounding countryside. This castle was meant to protect the main transportation route for Tokaj wine heading to Poland, as well as goods such as spices making their way back to Tokaj.
A view of the castle on the return trip. The ruins are actually pretty impressive!
I got a decent shot of Kim, Tom and Nancy walking back towards safety. I’d call that Instagram worthy!
This model shows what the castle looked like when it was at it’s most complete.
No castle would be complete without a dungeon! I’d hate to be chained to a wall down here, as it was pretty damn cold!
The Hungarian flag is flying high upon the castle walls!
On our way back to our hotel, Kim mentioned she wanted to see this little chapel in Tarcal. Greg went out of his way to get us a nice view.
He even drove the rest of the way up the hill, as this place holds special meaning to him…he proposed to his wife here, before the chapel was completely refurbished. Nicely done Greg!
One last shot of the vineyard just below the chapel! Damn is this place gorgeous!
Coming up next, we arrive in Budapest, and explore the cities of Buda and Pest!