During our last visit in 2023, it became clear to Frigyes that the flagship grapes of the estate should be Furmint and Kékfrankos. The Kadarka, Olaszrizling, Tramini, Muzsla Cuvée, Pinot Noir and Juhfark aren’t going away, but in terms of a hierarchy from village to cru to grand cru, Furmint and Kékfrankos is the aim. And as he moves into more maceration, zero filtering, and longer elevage, he’s being extra careful not to have these elements obscure place. Tons of lees, but not too many solids. A fine line. As such, this Furmint is not made according to the Hamburger method, but is instead direct basket pressed into Tokaji oak barrels and fermented and aged on the less for 8 months. Bottled unfiltered with a little SO2. A warmish vintage, but given their farming and latitude, this is a wonderfully fleshed out and alive vintage.

When we first started working with Frigyes, there was heavy experimentation and more SKUs than we could possibly tackle all at once. Starting around 2019, he started to isolate a small .7 hectare parcel called “Faricka” in addition to another larger area he named “Muzsla.” Over the next few years this evolved into essentially a three-tier system much like he had experienced working harvests in Burgundy. Muzsla is the village level characterized by volcanic and limestone soils planted to a variety of grapes in a variety of expositions. The next tier is “Béla” which is the Cru level focused on clay and loess soils in ideal expositions (ripeness at low pH). The Grand Cru is “Faricka” which is the best exposition, best clones, and a volcanic base with a high concentration of limestone along with a heavy usage of Stockinger barrels. Frigyes is also very aware that too much maceration can mask terroir. So while most of the Muzsla and Béla wines have some sort of Hamburger method or short maceration, the Faricka is pure whole cluster direct press. Followed by 13 months on the lees with no racking in new Stockinger oak. This Furmint and its sibling the Faricka Kékfrankos represent the best of what he does with the two most important grapes in the region.

Despite an increased focus on Furmint and Kékfrankos, even Frigyes admitted that the 2022 Hárslevelű stole the show. It’s rare that it jumps a full degree higher in alcohol and retains remarkable aromatics and freshness. Also direct pressed and fermented and aged in Zempléni oak (Tokaj), it doesn't read skin contact at all even though there’s color and richness. The volcanic clay riddled with limestone carries the acidity and really makes this a right grape, right place, and right time. Hárslevelű was the first wine we ever imported from Bott Frigyes, and we are very happy to finally have it back again.

Every other Juhfark in our portfolio is from the Basalt crumble soils of Somló and the similarly volcanic Northern shore of Lake Balaton in Hungary. They’ve either had lengthy élevage with botrytis, or were pure free run made fresh. This is a whole other side of Juhfark. The wine spent one week in the hamburger method (open vat fermented in three layers: foot trodden, whole clusters, and destemmed), and then aged 10 months on the lees in 500L Hungarian oak. With little to no botrytis, this is more on the tea spectrum than fruit, zero oxidative notes, and more creamy in lieu of tannic grip. While not a skin contact wine in the general sense, if served chilled, let this one come up to cellar temperature.

I want everyone to sit on the Bott family’s deck overlooking the Danube River and drink wines like this. Made by the 3 layered “Hamburger method.,” this is basically 10-15% foot trodden, 50% whole cluster, and the rest is destemmed. Kept in these layers, everything is macerated for about 10 days in open vats. Gently pressed, it completes fermentation and ages in neutral oak barrels for 8 months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, this is unmistakably Gewürztraminer dominant, but in a juicy, smooth, acid driven and hyper mineral fashion from the Olaszrizling as well. As the name of the wine implies, it’s not meant to be double decanted by a fire reading Nietzsche, it’s meant to be a crowd-pleasing wine that happens to check all of the right boxes.

This is the most dark fruited and botrytis free Kadarka in the portfolio. Still late ripening and thin skinned, but half was left whole cluster on the skins for nearly a month. There’s no dominant or immediate enzymatic/carbonic quality despite the weight and color leading you to think so. The skin contact leeches out the spice and tea. It’s easy to see how a Kadarka like this would be a required blending component in Bikavér (Bull’s Blood). One half was fermented as whole bunches on the skins but the other half was destemmed. Both fermented separately for 3-4 weeks in open vats. Both lots were then combined in 500L oak barrels and aged 9 months on the lees. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. If there were a scented candle for Central European reds, Kadarka like this would be the North Star.

During our last visit in 2023, it became clear to Frigyes that the flagship grapes of the estate should be Furmint and Kékfrankos. The Kadarka, Olaszrizling, Tramini, Muzsla Cuvée, Pinot Noir and Juhfark aren’t going away, but in terms of a hierarchy from village to cru to grand cru, Furmint and Kékfrankos is the aim. And as he moves into more maceration, zero filtering, and longer elevage, he’s being extra careful not to have these elements obscure place. The village level (Muzsla) is mostly from the volcanic/limestone and younger vines, the Cru (Béla) is from richer clay and loess, and the grand cru (Faricka) is from volcanic/limestone and the oldest vines. Their farming yields small and thicker skinned berries and are therefore the Béla is processed with the Hamburger method (foot trodden high juice + whole cluster + hand destemmed) for 2 weeks to ease up on the tannins inherent in the grape. It’s then barreled down aged in Hungarian oak for 10 months and bottled unfined and unfiltered with a small amount of SO2 only at bottling. AS Frigyes puts it is, “The main message from our region.”

When we first started working with Frigyes, there was heavy experimentation and more SKUs than we could possibly tackle all at once. Starting around 2019, he started to isolate a small .7 hectare parcel called “Faricka” in addition to another larger area he named “Muzsla.” Over the next few years this evolved into essentially a three-tier system much like he had experienced working harvests in Burgundy. Muzsla is the village level characterized by volcanic and limestone soils planted to a variety of grapes in a variety of expositions. The next tier is “Béla” which is the Cru level focused on clay and loess soils in ideal expositions (ripeness at low pH). The Grand Cru is “Faricka” which is the best exposition, best clones, and a volcanic base with a high concentration of limestone along with a heavy usage of Stockinger barrels. This Kékfrankos clone has smaller berries and loose bunches, so it has a longer ripening time with a greater ratio of skins to must. Add to that, he went 70% whole cluster with three weeks of maceration followed by a year in 500L Stockinger barrels. This is a tug of war between extreme concentration and levity that tastes great now, but will be a treat to revisit in the years to come.

This is the premium estate white blend. Muzsla is the name of the hill where the vineyards look down onto the Danube and 2019 is only the second vintage. It’s only the second vintage because the family needed time to evolve from the zero skin contact filtered wines that defined their earlier years and the unfiltered and more macerated wines they’ve been making in recent years. Early on Frigyes considered the more reductive lineup as “terroir” driven wines and his more macerated and oxidative lineup as more of the “soul” of the property. The Muzsla bridges this divide. Like the vast majority of their wines, this is made using the Hamburger method: three layers of foot trodden, whole cluster and whole berry fermented in open vats. The Muzsla spent 6 days in this hamburger method followed by 18 months in neutral oak barrels on the lees. Only racked once before bottling, then bottled unfiltered with a small (25ppm) addition of SO2. There’s weight, texture and freshness from the whole clusters, more chiseled acid driven elements from the whole berries, and given the aging time, it all comes together seamlessly. Some sips feel like a skin contact wine, some like stainless steel reductive winemaking, but the color, texture and aromatics give this wine a firm Goldilocks status in the Bott Frigyes lineup.

This is the premium estate white blend. Muzsla is the name of the hill where the vineyards look down onto the Danube. It’s only the third vintage. Early on Frigyes considered his more reductively made lineup as “terroir” driven wines and his more macerated and oxidative lineup as more of the “soul” of the property. The Muzsla was the first to bridge this divide. Like the vast majority of their wines, this is made using the Hamburger method: three layers of foot trodden, whole cluster and whole berry fermented in open vats. The 2020 spend one week in this hamburger method followed by 10 months in neutral oak barrels on the lees. Only racked once before bottling, then bottled unfiltered with a small addition of SO2. There’s weight, texture and freshness from the whole clusters, more chiseled acid driven elements from the whole berries, and it all comes together seamlessly. Some sips feel like a skin contact wine, some like stainless steel reductive winemaking, but the color, texture and aromatics give this wine a firm Goldilocks status in the Bott Frigyes lineup.

The front label of the 2020 Olaszrizling pretty much sums it up. It’s what I would draw if I were playing Pictionary. Heading north from Budapest you’ll pass the massive Basilica of Esztergom along the shores of the Danube. Once you pass over the Danube and enter Slovakia you’ll hit the Hron River (Garam in Hungarian, Gran in German) making its way down from the Tatra Mountains. Continuing West along the Danube you’ll soon come to the southern slopes of the Muzsla hills and then up around 250 meters you’ll see the iconic Tree in the middle of their 10 hectares of vineyards. Olaszrizling shows great fidelity to place, and this wine makes it crystal clear where you are. Volcanic clay and rich in limestone, this is 1/3 whole bunch pressed, 1/3 hamburger method (open vat fermented in three layers: foot trodden, whole clusters, and destemmed), and 1/3 whole berries in amphora. Everything was blended and then barrel aged for 8 months. This has all of the benefits of some extra maceration and whole berry fermentation with none of the pitfalls.

The front label of the Olaszrizling pretty much sums it up. It’s what I would draw if I were playing Pictionary. Heading north from Budapest you’ll pass the massive Basilica of Esztergom along the shores of the Danube. Once you pass over the Danube and enter Slovakia you’ll hit the Hron River (Garam in Hungarian, Gran in German) making its way down from the Tatra Mountains. Continuing West along the Danube you’ll soon come to the southern slopes of the Muzsla hills and then up around 250 meters you’ll see the iconic Tree in the middle of their 10 hectares of vineyards. Olaszrizling shows great fidelity to place, and this wine makes it crystal clear where you are. Volcanic clay and rich in limestone, this is 1/3 whole bunch pressed, 1/3 hamburger method (open vat fermented in three layers: foot trodden, whole clusters, and destemmed), and 1/3 whole berries in amphora. Everything was blended and then barrel aged for 8 months. This has all of the benefits of some extra maceration and whole berry fermentation with none of the pitfalls.

Much like our experiment with Losonci’s Pinot Noir, we were pleasantly surprised with this wine. As many of the Bott Frigyes wines, this was open vat fermented in three layers: foot trodden, whole clusters, and destemmed. Minimal punchdowns and no pumpovers and just under 4 weeks. Basket pressed into 500L barrels it then aged 8 months. Bottled unfiltered and unfined, this has a ton of energy and is slightly richer in weight and texture than the Kadarka.

While this is undeniably Rhine Riesling (aka Rizling Rýnsky), it’s clearly a long way from the Rhine Valley. There’s high acidity and a little kiss of residual sugar, but beyond that this is very much dictated by another place. The winemaking is extremely straightforward. Whole bunch pressed, fermented in oak and then aged for 10 months in 500L barrels. Bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfites. There’s no extended maceration despite having some great weight and texture, and there’s some sweetness on the nose, but nothing on the palate. This is like paying extra for the rough cut on top tier lumber because you want the rustic look while also getting the highest quality. For those that love Riesling this will be a fun head scratcher, and for everyone else it will be delicious on its own merits.

Every other Juhfark in our portfolio is from the Basalt crumble soils of Somló and the similarly volcanic Northern shore of Lake Balaton in Hungary. They’ve either had lengthy élevage with botrytis, or were pure free run made fresh. This is a whole other side of Juhfark. One week on the skins, little to no Botrytis, and fermented and aged 8 months in Hungarian oak. This is more on the tea spectrum than fruit, killer acidity, more creamy than tannic, and the driest wine of the entire lineup. If served chilled, let this one come up to cellar temperature.