I screw up sometimes.
This bottle arrived at some point in the misty past, mysteriously got shelved with the Greeks, then overlooked for a couple of years. Unlike its diligently catalogued brethren, it was naked: no paperwork, no tech sheet, no importer details, no pricing.
Online searches proved unfruitful. Wine-Searcher lists no availability in the U.S., although it does show an average bottle price of $5 in its native Hungary. The winery’s website is offered exclusively in Hungarian, and although I was tempted to run it through Google Translate, the bottle’s back label copy makes a concise argument against machine translation: Characterful, mineral, men-like characters show up with delicate acids and fruity aromas. Great choice to seafood, to a cut from the joint or take it on its own.
It was a bottle untethered, seemingly without provenance, and, as a 2012 Chardonnay, aging fast.
It was wonderful. Melon-scented and lemony, it evinced that classic green-lactic-citrus perfume Chardonnay does so well. The palate, though, was rich and ambitious, delivering a savory-succulent burst of yellow fruits along with a substantial grounding of nuts and honey. It was a wine with both weight and amplitude: fruit, acid, earth, herbs, minerals, tang.
It needs big food. Try rich cream and butter sauces, roasted light meats and poultry, grilled crustaceans or rich fish, or aged cheeses. That is, if you can find another bottle.
13.5% abv (sample)
