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.

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.

We’ve had the Just Enjoy White over the years (there is more white planted than red), but that’s also because when you’re sitting at their house at the edge of the Danube River eating paprika laden stews, this wine rarely makes it out of the country. Just Enjoy is also a call to action in an increasingly distracted algorithmically driven world. It’s extremely easy to drink, but it’s not just a quick juicy rush to market afterthought either. Instead, it’s about 90% Kékfrankos and 10% Olaszrizling both fermented separately using the layered Hamburger method (80% destemmed + 10% whole bunches + 10% juice) for 17 days then blended. Crunchy acidity, texture from the skin contact, bright from the partial carbonic, and aromatic.

This is the grape that originally brought us to the family. It’s also the most dark-fruited, northern, and botrytis free Kadarka in the portfolio. Later ripening and thin skinned, it’s ideally suited for the Hamburger method (layer of foot trodden juice, another layer of whole cluster, and topped off with a layer of hand destemmed berries). After 3-4 weeks held in these layers, it’s pressed off to barrel for another 9 months of aging before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. No shortage of acidity this far north, the ripeness of the skins leaves a lot of spice while the partial whole berry fermentation makes the aromatics pop. Super elegant without being overly polished.

During our 2023 visit, 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 a sense of 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 smaller and thicker skinned berries year after year. To avoid being overly tannic, this wine is made with the Hamburger method (foot trodden juice + whole cluster + hand destemmed) for 2 weeks with as little movement as possible. 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 sums it up, Kékfrankos is “The main message from our region.”

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.

Muzsla is the name of the hill where the vineyards look down onto the Danube. These were also the historical vineyards of the Esztergom Basilica which now resides in Hungary (the largest Church in the country). Frigyes’s argument here is that despite these grapes being quite pungent on their own, this terroir supersedes those characteristics. This 2024 is more Riesling heavy, but it’s rarely that hard to find Sauvignon Blanc if it’s present either. The mixture of light maceration with whole clusters, plenty of juice to manage oxidation and volatility, and then some riper destemmed berries make this more like a refreshing tea than a classic white blend. Some sips feel like a skin contact wine and some hint at a reductive stainless steel like fermentation. Regardless, the Muzsla and Frigyes’s style are dominant over the grapes. The sum of all these parts give this wine a firm Goldilocks status in the Bott Frigyes lineup.

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.