Best of Budapest & Hungary

Mother Nature seems to be unaware of the pandemic: spring has arrived. With spring, comes the urge to have healthy and fresh ingredients on our plates. This might be a little more difficult these days, but we encourage you to have as many seasonal vegetables and fruits as possible. Once you have managed to get the ingredients, it is the easiest thing to cook a risotto (with asparagus, for instance) and make salads which are, of course, the perfect match with light, aromatic whites.

Lithe, dry wines made from aromatic grape varieties are hugely popular all over the world. Just think of Sauvignon Blanc or the various Muscats. Hungary is particularly well endowed with aromatic varieties thanks to numerous breeding projects carried out in the 20th century. As the old saying goes, “variety is the spice of life”, so why not give these crossings a try this spring.

Over the years Irsai Olivér has gained many fans in Hungary and its popularity among winemakers and customers is on the rise even beyond our borders. The variety was bred by Pál Kocsis in 1930 at the Kecskemét Research Institute by crossing two lesser known grapes Csabagyöngye (which translates to Pearl of Csaba) and Pozsonyi Fehér. It’s an interesting turn of events that three decades later it was Irsai Olivér that was crossed with Roter Traminer to create another successful Hungarian variety: Cserszegi Fűszeres.

What is the secret of their appeal?

“I truly love aromatic grapes. Their fragrance is so intense that when you smell them you immediately get a strong first impression. Then, when you taste the wine, you may gradually discover more flavors and aromas as it ‘opens’ in your glass. It is best drunk young and fresh," says Kurt Taschner, the renowned Sopron winemaker. “To appreciate an Irsai wine doesn’t have to be an expert. If one enjoys such wines, she or he will soon grasp the differences between Muscats, Irsais and Traminers. The thing I like about these varieties is that they immediately engage the taster and make the tasting experience vivid.”

Taschner Borház is one of the major proponents of Irsai Olivér. For many years it was a recurring news item in the Hungarian press that it was Taschner winery who released the first wine of the vintage, a wine made from Irsai. And though this wine is still an important item in their range, the winery has recently introduced an Irsai-based blend called Zöld Olivér (i.e. ’Green Oliver’). “I must admit that this wine was brought to life out of necessity. Some years ago, when our plantings of Irsai were less extensive than today, I noticed that the wine was selling out at an alarming rate. I was scared that we would run out of stocks too soon and then we couldn’t offer anything in the lithe and fragrant wine segment, so I decided to make a blend. The resulting wine, Zöld Olivér became a runaway success and now it’s a stable favorite in our repertoire. In 2019 Irsai was blended with Grüner Veltliner and Zenit. I would recommend this wine to people who find wines made solely from aromatic varieties too intense for their liking. Zöld Olivér is less fragrant, and has a bit more body, livelier acidity but basically it’s still a wine characterized by a refreshing, spring-like style.”

It’s best to order wine online, directly from your favorite cellars – this is a great way to support them and help them stay alive in these troubled times.