2024 Kékfrankos

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.”