2019 Fekete Pince Hárslevelű fkt

WINEMAKER: Gábor Riesz
REGION: Somló, HU
VARIETY: Hárslevelű
VITICULTURE: Sustainable

Golden in colour with the aromas of ripe apricots, exotic fruits and a hint of chamomile. Following the short maturation in old wooden barrels, the wine has attractively sweet nutty notes. Imbued with gorgeous acid structure and gentle but present tannin which comes from the short maceration. Superb and complex apricot crumble flavours saturate and fan out across the palate, lovely!

Somló (Shoam-low) is Hungary’s smallest appellation and once an underwater volcano. Now dormant, its slopes of ancient sea sediment, hardened lava, and basalt are home to some of Hungary’s steepest, most densely planted vineyards. Driving up to Somló from Lake Balaton, it’s like seeing an island rise up from the ocean’s horizon — nothing else around survived the retreating ocean. The oldest writings mentioning the wine of Somló date back to 1093 and viticulture all the way back to the Romans.

Known as “The Grand Old Man of Somló,” Béla Fekete is a wine legend who spent five decades turning indigenous grapes from an extinct volcano into thought-provoking bottles with endless depth and aging potential. Every enchanting wine he crafted spoke to the mysticism swirling about the microscopic Hungarian appellation that is Somló, but as of the 2013 vintage, this wizened nonagenarian hung up his boots. That said, he’s hardly left: To this day, you’ll still find him monitoring harvest and guiding his successors in the cellar, all while living in a cottage surrounded by his former 3.5 hectares of vines. Gábor Riesz and his family are the current owners, taking over the winery from ‘Uncle Béla’ in 2014 and continue the legacy of his exceptional wines.