St Andrea ( Eger , Hungary )

Gyorgy Lorincz, tasting his Kadarka

Egerszalok , 3rd week of september . On my way back to Budapest , I spend a day or two in and near Eger , a great city which gave its name to one of Hungary's wine region, the Eger wine region, better known for its Egri Bikaver ( Eger's Bull's Blood ) . I spent the night in a campsite in Feldebro near there , and visited the St Andrea winery the following morning .
I had heard about the estate while attending the Borfalu wine fair in Budapest . Somebody told me : " you should visit the place, the guy there works well and makes many different small cuvees " . Back in the hostel, I had made some research on the internet and found out his phone number, called, and as the man spoke english, I could explain my interest for a visit in the next 10 days , which he welcomed .
The winery lies at the south exit of Egerszalok , a village east of Eger . New facility . As I was looking at the premises , Gyorgy Lorincz arrived and we soon went together in his van to see several of his vineyard plots . He is about 40, soft-spoken and seems an easy-going person . He provides me with lots of information about his vineyard and style of work as we drive to the hills . I try to take notes of his explanations, wich is not very easy when the van shakes on the bumpy tracks . I feel he appreciates my interest in looking at the different plots and varieties and he excuses himself when having to answer calls on his cell . The first plot is on the hills near the road to Verpelet . Small plot of Chardonnay ( 0,3 hectare ) . The climat's name is Kovaszo . The rows are not very close to each other and he says he will maybe plant another row in between . 1 kg of grapes per vine in these Chardonnay rows . In his winery , he makes both blends from different plots and separate small cuvees . He says he began to make wine commercially in 1999 . The new winery was built in 2002 , and staff is 4 people including himself , plus a student from the Budapest University who makes research and experiments in the winemaking process . He shows me then a recently planted (2 years) Kekfrankos plot . Kekfrankos ( Blaufrankisch ) is a Hungarikum (indigenous hungarian grape variety) wich got its name from the Naopleon's soldiers : when in Hungary for one of Napoleon's wars , they loved this red wine made from this variety and frequently asked the locals for it . They had to pay with the blue bills ( french army's special issued money ) for it . 9 shoots per vine, and 4-5 clusters . Further , a few Pinot Noir rows , 2 years old too . He kneels down to look at the grapes . He says he will soon take samples to have the Ph checked . This will decide of the harvest's start . 1 or 2 weeks from now , probably . He says the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay we just saw have been planted immediately after grafting . This was unusual and a bit risky, but it worked, and now he has already grapes on these vines, when elsewhere with the traditional delay, the vines are'nt productive yet . The total surface of his estate is 18,5 hectare, plus 4 hectare worked with associates .

Checking the pinot NoirThe Pinot Noir here is the clone 777 . He plows between the rows but says he is not sure he will keep doing it later when the vines will be older . He checks the P.N. grapes again and says there is a little too much of botrytis, with the rainy year they had here . On this regard , this clone is more fragile than others .

Further, we look at a few Cabernet rows with which he makes rosé . He is thinking twice about keeping this Cabernet and may graft Pinot Noir on it some day . About the soil in general in his vineyards : quite heavy soil with some sort of clay in different layers, some ryolite and also some tuff .

Speaking with workers on the "Pipis" Dulo (climat) planted with Pinot Gris

We drive to a Dulo ( hungarian name for a climat ) named "Pipis", along a wooded area . Successively : recently planted Viognier, then older rows of Olaszrizling, then recently planted rows of both Olaszrizling and Pinot Gris . He wants to cut down the remaining older Olaszrizling and have it grow again with a different training system, plus plant an additional row between each row . On the whole , there is a volontarist approach at St Andrea and I feel that he devotes his energy to sow the seeds for a vineyard more fitted for quality wines . A group of workers is manually digging up and combing the ground around the Pinot Gris young vines . He walks to them and chats a few minutes .
We drive to a last location with rows of Kadarka ( another Hungarikum ), Merlot, Nebbolio ( of which he planted 320 vineroots ) and Csokaszolo, which is also a Hungarikum, a very rare one . He kneels down to taste the Kadarka [ first picture, at the top of the page ] .
Back to the winery now . Pneumatic press (Bucher) for 1 ton , 1,4 ton . Whites and rosés are fermented in barrels, reds 1/2 in cask 1/2 in stainless vats . We walk into the cellar . Nice big tronconic wooden vats on the right ( hungarian oak ) . We look at the underground cellar wich was dug into the underground tuff , before the winery itself was built .
We now go upstairs to taste the wines :
__1 St Andrea Olaszrizling 2004 . Pipis Dulo . Szolati 131/17 (the exact location of the Dulo ) . White wine. He opens this bottle in front of me . Old vines (1972). Late harvest but he says lots of rain diluted the aromas of the wine in this millesime . Matured 6 months in barrels ( 1 & 2 year-old casks) because the wine was lighter this year .
__2 St Andrea Olaszrizling 2003, Pipis Dulo, Szolati 131/17 ( cadastral location) . Another year . More complexity. More minerality . Was awarded against 20 other wines in a contest . Whole clusters pressing . 80% new oak this time . 14° , does not feel like . 2003 was an atypical year . They had to add tartaric acid because the Ph was so high . He says winemakers in Hungary have to counter the image of high-yield wines from when kombinatts were making huge volumes of whites . Olaszrizling is alas associated with this wine productivity of the socialist era .
__3 St Andrea Napbor 2004, Egri cuvée. White . Blend of Chardonnay (50%) Pinot Gris (35%) and Olaszrizling (15%) . Superb aromatic nose . Fermented in barrels , then matured 6 months in cask ( 15% new oak ) . 13° . 1900 Ft (8,4 Euro) . Bottled march 2005 . In about 2 years , he will blend 6 varieties instead of 4 for this wine . 6500 bottles in 2004, 15000 in 2003, this cuvée makes the biggest single volume of the estate .
__4 St Andrea Rosé 2004 . Blend of Cabernet Franc , Kekfrankos (Blaufrankisch) and Cabernet Sauvignon . Fermented in barrels . Usually , he makes bled rosé (saignée) but in 2004 he pressed directly . The rosé wine market is growing in Hungary, where wineries make usually light rosés . In St Andrea, they make rosé wines wich are more intense and aromatic , which also age better . His 2003 rosé was elected top rosé wine among ten others in Denmark .
__5 A bottle without label : Pinot Gris 2004 . Released soon , he will begin to sell it next month . 190 bottles of only... That is a small cuvée ! Will be priced at 2500 Ft (11 Euro) . Harvested less than 1 kg of grapes per vine . 8 months in wood, 50% in 1 year old cask and 50% in new cask . Nice light greenish color . Discreet nose . Good acidity . He says this is the 2nd millesime of this cuvée . The 2003 was so beautiful when he tasted it that he decided to plant more Pinot Gris [ see picture of the young vines where he spoke to the workers ]. He adds that even with the more difficult 2004 millesime he thinks he can make a great wine .
__6 No label . St Andrea Egri Bikaver 2003 . Red . Egri Bikaver means "Bull's Blood from Eger" . The story about the origin of the name says that during the wars against the occupying turkish forces ( and after many defeats ), hungarian soldiers prepared themselves for a battle with drinking lots of this wine , and when the turks saw their excitement and their beards wich had turn red with the wine , they were terrified and thought they had drunk bull's blood . The battle was one of the first to reverse the turkish invasion and that's why this wine is emblematic for hungarians . Not on the market yet . Will be presented next year . Dark colour . Tasteful and chewy . This wine just coats the mouth . Great wine . Merlot (38%) Kekfrankos (39%) Cabernet Franc (13%) Cabernet Sauvignon (10%) . He wants to reduce the C.S. share . His Kadarka and Kek Medoc are too young to be included in the blend . He says he does not want a Bikaver that would be too tannic . He plans also to include in the future some Pinot Noir and Syrah . 14 000 bottles . Alas I can't have a bottle yet , will have to wait next year (if I can find it in France) . About the winemaking techniques , he says there is no fining or filtering usually at St Andrea ( only exceptionally ) . For Pinot Noir , there is just some filtering 2 weeks before bottling .

__7 St Andrea Pinot Noir 2004 . He says is likes very much this variety . He visited 10 estates in Burgundy , tasted many Pinots there , and thinks that here too we have one of the best terroirs, soil and climate for Pinot Noir . For sale next month . Round and warmful wine . Generous . He says the year was difficult . Ripeness was good, with low yields . 14,3° . But they had to wait to harvest because the Ph was so low and acidity was so high . Will sell for 3000 Ft (13,2 Euro) 5600 bottles . Great wine .
__8 St Andrea Kekfrankos 2003 , Toberc (Dulo). Red . 482 bottles . Lots of fans wait for this one to be on the market . 14 months in new oak . Tastes differently from ordinary Eger Kekfrankos . Eger KF are usually more rude , have more acidity . Here he looked for both ripeness and acidity . He destemmed_others also destemmed , but they usually move too much the cap , too violently, with too much of extraction .
__9 St Andrea, Kiseged Zweigelt ( I did not write down the year but think it was 2004 ). Kiseged is the Dulo's (climat) name . Zweigelt is an austrian variety , a cross between St Laurent and Kekfrankos . Beautiful nose . Lots of complexity . Powerful wine . The soil on this climat is very poor , with tuff . He has plans for this climat : he would like to replant and graft Pinot Noir there, also with additional rows between the existing ones , to reach a density of 10 000 vines/hectare for a better competition . The bottle price will be about 4000 Ft (17,6 Euro).
__10 St Andrea Egri Merlot 2003 . For everyday consumption . Pleasant to drink . Ripeness was perfect on the Merlot in 2003 .
__11 St Andrea Cabernet Franc 2003 . More tannic . Not his favorite . 14° . There was a good concentration at the harvest . Others around harvest the Cabernet Franc sooner .
__12 St Andrea Egri Bikaver (Bull's Blood) Superior 2003 . Red . Awarded against 44 other Bikavers . Bottle was opened a few days ago , a little bit oxydized , but great . That's also a wine that fills beautifully the mouth . Great Bull's Blood . Will be priced 5800 Ft (25,5 Euro).
Time to leave , the visit was great , thank you Gyorgy .
Driving (fast) on the winding road to Kerecsend and Budapest , where I have to give the rental car back, I listen to Bartok , the hungarian classical radio station , which airs some Wagner orchestral music . The wagnerian momentum pairs beautifully with the mood and the wines I just tasted ...

St Andrea Kft
3394 Egerszalok, Jokai Ut. 28
Phone/Fax 36/ 474-018
email [email protected]
Website (in contruction) : www.standrea.hu

Comments

[Iris]

Thank you very much for this big journey around a country, I have never visited and don't know much about. I really appreciate your way of describing what you've seen, just the notes you took and very interesting photos: both informations together give me the impression that I have been there too. As a winemaker, I can deduce a lot about the ways my far away collegues work from your texts. It's a pity, that you can't transfer the taste via Internet!

Great article, thank you ! I was in Eger in 2004, and also had an opportunity to taste the wines of St Andrea, which for me were the finest in all of Egri. Interesting that Lorincz doesn't enjoy the 2003 Cab. Franc, I thought it was an elegant wine, with great balance. It's possible, however, that I had a different vintage, as I wasn't taking notes. In my experience, St. Andrea cuvees are world class wines - they will shock you with their quality if you haven't previously experienced the wines of Egri.

[Elwin]

Another great article. St. Andrea produces excellent wines. The recent Merengo, which is the superior version of the Bikaver, is an absolute joy.

[ckastelic]

On a recent trip to Budapest, I was also fortunate enough to try St Andrea Wines, the 2009 Aldas and the 2011 Hangacs and was blown away. Can anyone tell me if these wines are available at any source in the US, as I haven't found anything searching the web.