English Wine, Part II: Chapel Down

French oak casks are used at Chapel Down

My recent trip to the U.K. of course included a trip to the wine country in County Kent, about a half-hour train ride southeast of London. In my last post, I talked about my visit to the Gusbourne, a lovely artisan producer of mostly vintage sparkling wine made in the traditional, or Champagne, method. My only other stop was to England's leading wine producer, about 15 minutes drive from Gusbourne, called Chapel Down.

Located in Small Hythe,Tenterden, the winery is a thriving estate, sporting an 80-seat restaurant (the Swan), a wine and fine food store (we purchased delicious locally made cheese), numerous employees who are available for thorough guided tours (guide Hazel was terrific), and a vine-leasing program that allows wine-lovers to enjoy custom-labelled wines.

Hazel was a magnificent tour guide and highly skilled taster

It's obvious that Chapel Down is a cheerleader for wine production in the U.K., which is on the rise. There are now 450 producers scattered throughout the country, and  two-thirds of all production is now traditional-method sparkling. In addition to sparkling, for which it is mostly known, Chapel Down also produces still red and white wine, a line of "Curious" beers, cider, and spirits, including gin and brandy.

Like Gusbourne, Chapel Down is situated in the part of England that has the geology and the climate suitable for producing world-class sparkling wines. The same chalky "Kimmeridgian"soils that nurture the vines in the Champagne and Burgundy regions of France are present in Kent and Sussex counties. This same soil can be seen in the White Cliffs of Dover on the southern coast of England,  just 35 miles away from Chapel Down. This marine sediment-based soil is good for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, the triumverate of grapes that go into Champagne and English sparkling.

Dormant Bacchus vines on a lovely winter day

Chapel Down's version of a classic Champagne-style blend is called "Three Graces," which displays aromas of ripe apple, red berries, and brioche, and is priced around 29 pounds ($40 U.S.).

We tasted eight wines at the Wine Sanctuary, a standalone building with gorgeous views

Chapel Down also has a range of still wines from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, as well as Bacchus, a German crossing of Riesling x Sylvaner and the the third most-planted wine grape in the U.K., plus Schonburger (aromatic, Muscat-like white), Siegerrebe (intensely aromatic relative of Gewurztraminer), Madeleine Angevine (light, fruity, Muscat-like white), Rondo (red hybrid for blending), and, Albarino (white native to the northern "green" part of Spain). An interesting blend that we tasted was a 2015 Chardonnay-Albarino that tasted of green apple and fresh apricot with flinty notes, which would be a perfect seafood pairing.

Chapel Down is the English wine label that might be most recognized in both the U.K. and U.S. markets. Within the U.K., its wines are available in leading bars and restaurants -- Gordon Ramsay's and Jamie Oliver's as well the Royal Opera House and London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, for example -- and in supermarkets, and they are rapidly expanding outside the country. A search on www.winesearcher.com shows 21 different sources in NY state and California.

Melanie Webber and Terry Nozick, the WSET Diploma graduates visit Chapel Down

"English Wine" vs. "British Wine" 

Although these two terms sound similar, they are not! (And oops! I made the mistake of using the term British Wine in my last post ... sorry!)

English (or Welsh) wine is made from fresh grapes grown in vineyards in England (or Wales) and is produced in wineries in the U.K. Both Chapel Down and Gusbourne, the subjects of this and the last post, produce English wines.

British Wine is a whole different animal. I think the British term "plonk" could be used when referring to it! It's made in Britain using imported grapes or grape concentrate and sold at low retail prices. The EU does not recognize "British Wines" as true wine, as they are not the product of fermented freshly crushed grapes.

So look for the words "England" or "English" on a label to be sure you are getting a true English wine.

And the next time you visit the U.K., consider a trip out to the glorious wine country. You will be glad you did.

Until next time,

Cheers!

My Graduation, and English Wines, Part 1

Double-decker buses, pubs, royalty, theatre, Downton Abbey -- these are the things most of us associate with the British Isles, but how many would think about English wine? Not many, I'm sure, but this island off the northwest coast of Europe, which falls just north of the 50th parallel -- long considered the northern boundary for successfully ripening wine grapes -- is a rising star in the wine world, producing both red and white still wine and increasingly sparkling wine.

Receiving my WSET Diploma from Steven Spurrier

I visited the U.K. in January 2018 to attend my WSET Diploma graduation at Guildhall, London. The ceremony was emotional and affirming for me and my fellow graduates, having studied countless hours and blind-tasted hundreds of wines in order to pass our final exam last June. But we did not taste one English wine in all those years of studying!

So, while in the UK, my fellow traveler and Diploma recipient Melanie and I, and my husband, took advantage of the opportunity to experience a couple of wineries in County Kent, which we reached via a half-hour fast-train ride out of St. Pancras station, London. Sitting just south and southeast of London, Kent and Sussex counties now boast approximately 450 wineries, and the number is growing. Production among all producers is 4.5-5 million bottles per year.

Both counties sit on soil that is not that different from the soils in the Champagne and Burgundy regions of France. This chalky soil with clay and sand subsoils is suitable for growing the same grapes as in Champagne and Burgundy -- Chardonnay (the most planted grape in the UK), Pinot Noir (second most planted), and Pinot Meunier (fourth) -- as well as many hybrids like Bacchus (third), Seyval Blanc (fifth) and Rondo (seventh). The UK climate is rather cool but grape ripening has been coaxed along the last few summers by warmer-than-usual temperatures which are attributed to global climate change. As an added safety, vineyards in the U.K. are planted on south-facing slopes to make the most of the warming sun during the day.

Two-thirds of the U.K.'s annual production is now sparkling wine produced in the traditional, or bottle-fermented method, as in Champagne.

The two wineries we visited are the small Gusbourne estate and the larger and more widely known Chapel Down. Following is a little more about Gusbourne; my follow-on post will focus on Chapel Down.

Gusbourne Estate: Artisan-Made Vintage Sparkling Wines 

Gusbourne's current coat of arms

As an estate, Gusbourne, in Appledore, Kent, dates back to 1410, when John de Goosbourne purchased it, hence the geese on the original coat of arms (see below). The estate (we would call it a farm) grew apples, turnips, mace, and other crops. Upon Goosbourne's death, Philip Chute, a wealthy man with high social standing in the era of King Henry VIII, purchased the estate and had the coat of arms augmented with the "Lion of England" in recognition of his service to the crown in the Siege of Boulogne.

Goosbourne's coat of arms

Current owner Andrew Weeber hails from South Africa. He  purchased the estate in 2003, and planted the first wine grapes in 2004. He had a clear vision to create world-class English sparkling wine, and his first attempt, Gusbourne Sparkling Brut Reserve 2006, debuted in 2010 to critical acclaim.

The current Gusbourne Estate has about 90 acres of vines in Kent and another 50 in Sussex. All grapes used for winemaking at Gusbourne are estate-grown. The three classic Champagne grapes are grown, and there's a 50-50 split between Champagne and Burgundian clones. The latter produce lower-yielding, but flavorful grapes, per the winery. Vineyard acreage is 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, and 10% Pinot Meunier.

Gusbourne's vineyards are situated in Kent, which is the second driest place in the U.K., and there are a series of microclimates within the vineyard sites. A really unique landscape feature is an ancient burial mound that sits amidst vineyards adjacent to the winery building, which is a simple, industrial-looking, and very clean and modern facility. The soils are chalky topsoil with clay and sand about 10 meters down, which is particularly good for the Burgundian clones.

An ancient burial mound sits in vineyard land of Gusbourne Estate

Our wardrobe gives an idea of how cold U.K. vineyards can get in the middle of January.

Fellow WSET Diploma graduate Melanie Webber and I enjoying wines at The Nest at Gusbourne

Dan, our excellent and knowledgeable tour and tasting guide at Gusbourne

The winery operations are quite modern and well-equipped with the latest technology, including a gyropalette that can rotate hundreds of bottles of sparkling wine by machine, to bring the yeast into the neck of the bottle for eventually disgorgement (see photo below).

Gusbourne's gyropalette rotates hundreds of bottles at a time

Gusbourne produces between 100,00 and 200,000 bottles per year, depending on vintage, of which 95% is sparkling. English weather can be very wet, as was 2012, so producers are often at the mercy of the seasons, but this is true of most Old World wine regions.

Gusbourne's flagship  Blanc de Blanc

The day we were visiting, the winds were sweeping across the fields, but it was a beautiful landscape, with neatly groomed and well tended vines, and the coastline visible about six miles away. (Keep in mind that you are rarely more than 70 miles away from any coastline in the U.K.) This portion of the English coast was under water until about 800 hundred years ago, but the sea receded over time.

Gusbourne's flagship product is its Blanc de Blanc sparkling (photo left), which is aged 36 months on the lees and then another three months on cork after disgorgement. The wine is lovely, with notes of green apple, cirtus and white fruit, mineral notes, and buttered toast from lees aging, and the crisp acidity that is the hallmark of English sparkling. This wine retails in the U.S. at around $65 (45 pounds).

In addition to vintage sparkling, Gusbourne also produces still wines, including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which are light-bodied and very tasty.


For more information on Gusbourne and its wines, visit www.Gusbourne.com.

For availability of Gusbourne wines locally, check www.winesearcher.com.

For more information on the English wine industry, visit www.englishwineproducers.co.uk/.

And to learn more about the WSET program, visit www.wsetglobal.com.


Until next time,

Cheers!

Fetzer-Bonterra Gets an A for Being a B Corp

The end stacks at the grocery store don't usually appeal to me, whether they be stocked with cookies, canned vegetables, or alcoholic beverages. I snub my nose at such mass-produced and overly processed food items, assuming they are chock full of "fake" ingredients that are not good for the human body and too much packaging to be good for the environment.

Fetzer-Bonterra's organic/biodynamic vines, in the rain.

But it pays sometimes to know more about the products on these displays, as I learned at the 2017 Wine Blogger's Conference last November. I participated in a discovery session at Fetzer-Bonterra winery at their two locations in Mendocino County, California, and learned that it is possible to produce 2.6 million bottles of wine per year and have it be completely based on a sustainable, biodynamic, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible model.

I also learned that Fetzer-Bonterra is a B Corp, something I had never heard of. B Corp is a certification (run by the non-profit B Corp) and is a global movement among for-profit companies that are using their business as a 'force for good' by embracing rigorous standards of social and environment performance, accountability, and transparency. A way to think of it is B Corp is to business as Fair Trade certification is to coffee production.

The B Corp movement is growing. There are currently 2,334 companies that have the status of Certified B Corporations in 50+ countries scattered among 130 different industries, per the B Corporation Web site.

Look for this logo on products

The process to become a B Corp requires a company to complete a rigorous questionnaire regarding the company's Corporate Social Responsibility, and they must re-certify every two years. Products certified as B Corp bear the non-profit's logo (see left).

Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc in the vineyard

Fetzer Sundial Chardonnay is one of the products often seen in grocery stores across America. Priced under $10, this iconic wine has been on the market for 25 years. While not my choice in style or taste profile, there's no denying that the wine has mass appeal, and knowing what I know now of Fetzer's commitment to B Corp practices, I have a new-found respect for the wine and winemaker Bob Blue, who has been with Fetzer for 30 years. Blue and his team produce a range of wines, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir for reds, and Gewurtztraminer, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Moscato for whites, and the uniquely Californian blush wine called "White Zinfandel," which took the market by storm 30 years ago.

Bonterra, Fetzer's other brand, is where it gets interesting for me. Named "American Winery of the Year" in 2016 by Wine Enthusiast magazine (read the story), Bonterra crafts varietal wines from 100% certified organic vineyards in Mendocino, California.

On the rainy day of WBC's visit to Bonterra (and the rain was very welcome just a couple weeks after the Sonoma fires) we were treated to a glass of Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc while strolling through the wet vineyards where it is grown. The aromatic wine, priced around $13 and also available in many grocery stores, offers notes of citrus, minerals, and fresh-cut grass, with bracing, crisp acidity. I could easily make this my house white.

Bonterra vineyard manager Joe Brinkley

The rolling acres of Fetzer-Bonterra are nestled in the hillsides west of the 101 Freeway in Mendocino. The facility is generally not open to the public, but groups such as the Wine Bloggers Conference are accommodated in the winery's original rustic barn and rambling gardens. The property is stunningly beautiful, but not in a manicured Wine Trail way. It's raw and wild, tenderly cared for by a environmentally conscious crew, led by vineyard manager Joseph Brinkley (pictured left). Through the use of cover crops (4-6 plant species) and farm animals (sheep are kept among the vines until bud break), he believes that the fertility of the land is attainable from within the farm, not from outside the farm.

Brinkley treated our group to an interactive demonstration in biodynamic farming. With gloved hands, we scooped cow manure into cow horns, which were to be buried in a shallow ditch later by the Bonterra team. These horns ferment the cow dung under ground in the cold months of November through February, and are then used to create a solution that is spread over the vineyard acreage several times throughout the year.

This mixture is the basis for soil fertility in biodymic farming, and helps renew degraded soil by bringing all aspects of the vineyard into balance -- the animals, the plants, and the farmers work together holistically to grow the vines without pesticides and GMOs, and artificial chemicals.

Cow horns are filled with manure and buried 

This biodynamic approach to agriculture is based on the original spiritual insights and practical suggestions of Dr. Rudolf Steiner of Austria. Since the 1920s, farmers and researchers have collaborated to develop the methods in a variety of climates, and ecological economic environments.

Fetzer-Bonterra -- organic, biodynamic, socially responsible, and a Certified B Corp. Good to know.

Learn more at the following Web sites:

B Corp -- https://www.bcorporation.net/

Biodynamics --https://www.biodynamics.com/

Fetzer -- http://www.fetzer.com/

Bonterra -- http://www.bonterra.com/



Until Next time, Cheers!

Penfolds Offers Free Re-Corking for Older-Vintage Wines

Penfolds pulls out all stops (and corks) at their recorking clinics.

Those of us savvy enough to have begun collecting valuable wines early in our lives -- versus me, who just wishes I had -- can see significant returns on their investments. The bottle purchased at release for, say $100, can sell at auction for 10 times that amount 10 to 15 years later. One customer I met at my wine retail job told me that he cashed in some of his 1970s and 1980s investments and put his two children through elite colleges on the profits. I was envious. 

.

Current Senior Red Wine Maker Steve Lienert
took clinic participants through a tasting of
the latest vintage from Penfolds.

Most investors in high-end wine will go to great lengths to protect their investments. Temperature and humidity control are important, as is a stable, movement-free environment. The health of the wine and the corks are keys to their ageability. 

The world of high-end, aged wine is also high risk. In addition to the influences of such things as market fluctuations and critic scores, many wines change hands often among collectors, and there is often no guarantee that the wines have been handled properly. Additionally, corks can naturally deteriorate with age, causing leakage and the influx of oxygen, which is generally the enemy of wine.

In an effort to ease the minds of their customers, and to offset the destruction that a faulty cork can have on ageable wine, Penfolds of Australia has for the last 25 years been hosting free re-corking clinics to extend the life of some extremely valuable wines. And because the clinics are run by Penfolds winemakers they provide face-to-face time among the winemakers and collectors, which is extremely valuable to both.

Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago marks the fill
level on a bottle of Penfolds.

I attended a Penfolds Re-Corking Clinic recently at the Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles to see what this was all about. Customers with cases of older Penfolds and Penfolds Grange, or just a single bottle, were treated to a demonstration hosted by long-term Penfolds employees, most of whom are winemakers. Their expertise is undisputed. 

Peter Gago, Penfolds chief winemaker and our host for the presentation, explained how customers often have a strong emotional attachment to their wines, as they represent memories, people, places, or anything that is important to them, whether it be a single bottle passed down through the family or a whole cellar bought solely for investment purposes.

Everyone is treated the same at these clinics, he says, regardless of how many bottles they bring. Some collectors with huge collections may walk away with just a few of their bottles needing to be re-corked and some walk away finding out their long-treasured bottle is not even worth saving with re-corking. 

The basic procedure of a Penfolds Re-corking clinic is as follows: 

Collectors' wines are checked in, and must be at least 15 years old. Collectors are asked about the provenance of their wine and how they have stored it. The collectors are assigned a time for their re-corking assessment by the Penfolds experts.

Next, wine bottles are visually and physically assessed, which involves reviewing the front and back labels, the capsule and cork, and ullage, or fill level. 

An older cork is removed with a special
 two-pronged Ah-So corkpull.

Capsules and corks are removed using either a long-barreled standard table model corkscrew or, for more crumbly, moist, older corks, the German Monopole Ah-So two-prong opener, which works by sliding two prongs down either side of the cork (see picture to right) to safely remove the cork in one piece.

One ounce of wine is then poured, and the remaining wine is immediately gassed and the bottle is closed with a temporary cork.

Wines are then assessed via nose and palate. If a wine is not deemed good, it receives a white dot on the bottle and is recorked immediately and returned to the customer. This can be a tense moment for the owner, emotions sometimes run high, says Gago.

If the wine is deemed good, it is topped off with a couple ounces of Penfolds' most recent vintage, fitted with a temporary cork, and moved on to the re-corking station. Here, another Penfolds expert removes some wine to bring the bottle back to its original fill level, adds more gas to the wine, and places a new Penfolds cork into the re-corking machine. This official Penfolds cork displays the company name -- either Penfolds or Penfolds Grange -- as well as an inscription indicating when it was re-corked. 

The re-corking machine -- of which there are two in the United States -- is a mobile device that the Penfolds team ships to clinic locations. Unlike bottling lines at wineries, where corks are inserted in a continuous cycle, it corks bottles one at a time, so more care is taken with the bottles and corks. 

Penfolds red wine maker Andrew Baldwin adds a
new foil capsule to a freshly recorked bottle.

Once the corks are inserted, the bottles are re-capsuled and then wrapped in tissue paper. In addition to making the bottles look nice, the tissue also reveals if any wine has spilled out during the process.

All information regarding the bottles coming to the clinic is meticulously noted and stored in the Cloud, providing records of provenance and authenticity. Each bottle receives a sticker on the back stating all the relevant information concerning it's recorking.

No bottle can be re-corked more than once through the Penfolds re-corking system. Gago says that the re-corked bottles' lives are extended and are therefore even more valuable. Which is a good thing, since some older Penfolds are among the highest-priced wines in the world. London's Telegraph has reported that Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1951 is Australia's most expensive wine, valued at $38,420.

Now that would have helped with my kids' college tuition!

Until next time, 

Cheers!

Learn more about Penfolds re-corking clinics.

Penfolds' latest wines were available for tasting after the re-corking clinic.

Four Brix: Craft Winery in Ventura

When one thinks of American wine, one is usually thinking of California Wine, as the Golden State produces approximately 95% of all wine in the country, from such well-known areas as Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles, and, increasingly, Santa Barbara County. Ventura, both the county and the town, is not a name that often pops up on our wine radar, but it does have a nascent boutique wine industry, and one that is worth looking into.

Four Brix' beautiful tasting room
 belies the industrial park setting.

The Los Angeles Wine Writers group recently visited Four Brix Winery in the City of Ventura, located 65 miles north of LA. This small (2,000 cases total) boutique winery claims to be the first registered winery in Ventura County. Other Ventura County wineries that you might recognize are Ojai Vineyards and the cult-status Sine Qua Non (you are extremely lucky if you can even get a visit to the latter winery, or even get on their allotment list).

A trip to Four Brix is like a breath of sunshine ... in a West Ventura industrial park. But don't let that deter you. Yes, the location is reminiscent of "wine ghetto" areas in Lompoc and on Rt. 46 in Paso Robles. But like these places, once you step inside the beautifully appointed tasting room, it doesn't really matter that you are not out in the vineyard. Four Brix' tasting room offers wine, food, and the handiwork of local artists in a warm, plush, and friendly setting. It also sports a sizeable barrel and tank room behind glass doors in the back.

Four Brix is the passion project of three couples, who met at a Rotary home-wine-making club about 10 years ago. They realized they had in common a love of  varietal blends from four countries, namely France, Italy, Spain, and California, hence the "Four" in their name, which is paired with the word "Brix," the measure of wine's sweetness. Four Brix' first official vintage was in 2008. The very first wine they decided to make, "Scosso," is named for the riderless horse in the Palio de Siena horse race -- an event they attended while in Italy.

On our visit, co-owner Karen Stewart treated us to a generous tasting. Most bottles are priced between $24 and $40 (exact pricing can be found on their Web site).

I especially liked the Four Brix white wines, which included:

Cani Amante Riesling

2013 "Smitten" Viognier: Grapes are sourced from the Chumash-owned Camp 4 vineyard in Paso Robles. This wine has notes of melons and peaches, and is crisp and clean, thanks to its 100% stainless steel aging.

2013 "Desirous" Grenache Blanc: This crisp white is aged for 5 months in American oak (most of Four Brix' barrel-aged wines go into French oak), and is delicious, with fruit and minerality.

2014 Cani Amante Riesling: Crisp, fruit-forward, and lovely.

Red wines poured for us included:

2011 "Temptress": This is a Spanish red blend of mostly Tempranillo with Grenache and Mourvedre.

2011 Petit Sirah: This inky black 100% Petit Sirah, from grapes grown in the Gold Hawk Vineyard in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma, is lush with notes of blueberries.

2012 Meritage: This is a French blend of Merlot from the "Rest and Be Thankful" vineyard in Paso Robles, plus Cab Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Burbank vineyard in Paso.

Scosso is the first wine
 Four Brix decided to make.

2013 "Scosso": This is a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, and is made from grapes grown in Paso Robles Vineyards.

2013 Cane Amante Block 4: From Cani Amante Vineyard in Ojai, the grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. This wine received 90 points from Wine Spectactor.

An Italian blend of Barbera, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, and Montepulciano is being bottled in June.

Rounding out our tasting was a special surprise, the "Porteau" port-style dessert wine made from 100% grenache. This light red, Banyuls-style sweet wine was paired with Pecorino Romano cheese, and was a beautiful way to finish our tasting. It's sweet, but not too sweet, just the way I like it.

Four Brix offers flatbread pizzas in their tasting room, and flights of wine are offered at $12 (the fee is waived with a 2-bottle purchase). Karen Stewart, the only one of the 6 owners who works full time at the winery, runs the tasting room, and Karen's husband Gary is the winemaker.

Visit Four Brix Thursdays through Sundays -- their hours are available on their Web site, www.fourbrixwine.com. The winery also hosts special events and will soon be expanding into another 4,000 square feet of warehouse space. Their wine club, known as "Brix Heads" boasts 500 members.

Until next time,
Cheers!

Women of Wine Series, Part 3: Judit Bodo of Hungary

Vineyards on the Tokaj Hill have varied soils from ancient volcanic eruptions.

After our visit with Heidi Schrock this summer in Rust, Austria, my husband and I made the five-hour drive to eastern Hungary to visit the town of Tokaj, home to the aptly named Tokaji sweet wine, which has been made for centuries in this quiet, unassuming corner of Eastern Europe. Schrock telephoned a winemaker friend in Tokaj before we left, resulting in a warm invitation to her winery, which we promptly accepted.

I was really excited about this part of the trip as I had read about the wines of Eastern Hungary for years, but rarely got a chance to taste them. Tokaji wines are legendary, dating from more than 400 years ago. For centuries, Hungary was renowned for its food and wine culture and also for having the most varied native grapes in any Eastern European country. They were also the first wine area to classify growths (yes, before they did it in Bordeaux!). But that all came crashing down under the weight of the communist regime, and for decades the ancient wine cellars and vineyards of Tokaj suffered with the indifference of the communists, and time-tested standards were all but abandoned. Grape vines were ripped out of prime hillside vineyards and replanted with money-making crops such as sunflowers and corn, and cellar practices slid to sub-par levels.

But since the late 1980s and the fall of communism, winemakers in Hungary have been rising up and reclaiming their legendary past. Prime vineyard locations are once again growing such grapes as Furmint, Harslevelu, and Sargamuskotaly -- the principal varieties that make up Tokaji wine. And viticulture and vinification practices are once again, in most cases, stellar. In recognition of its past and in order to protect its future, UNESCO declared Tokaj a World Heritage Site in 2001.

Judit Bodo and Bott Wines

The entrance to Bott's winery.

Using their wedding money, winemaker Judit Bodo and her husband Joseph rented their first Tokaj vineyard -- 1 hectare -- and a cellar and produced their first vintage in 2005. Called "Bott," which is Judit's maiden name, the wines are traditional Tokaji, from indigenous varieties, and range from bone dry Furmint to super sweet Harslevelu. As of summer 2015, the couple has 5 hectares of vines scattered throughout the region and a cellar in the Tokaj Hill, which they purchased recently from a retiring winemaker. This is where we met Bodo this past July.

Bott's cellars, built into the Tokaj Hill

On this hot and muggy summer day, our tour began with a drive up to Bott's vineyards on the Tokaj Hill, guided by the friendly Judit. She had just left her three young children at home with her husband, who oversees the vineyard side of their business. She proudly showed us her vines, but was lamenting the heat and lack of water this summer. She was envious when we told her about the sudden downpour in Rust, Austria, the day before. Bodo described the soils of  the Tokaj Hill, explaining that they are varied, created from the 400+ volcanoes in the area. This is prime vineyard land.

Our visit with Bodo continued with a tour of her cellar, which was fascinating. You enter the building from a quaint and unassuming building at the base of the hill (photo above), but the cellars themselves are built into the hill, creating a cave-like atmosphere, replete with cobwebs, fungus (see white stuff in picture to left), and lovely cool air suitable for aging wines.

Bodo says she and her husband "are two steps away from our dream" of having an official tasting room. But in the meantime, the upstairs room, which offers a pleasant view of the Tokaj train station across the street, was fine for us. While we sampled her lovely wines, Bodo proudly showed us a framed New York Times article, titled Hidden in Hungary, Treasures on the Vine (July 2010), in which she appears, and brought out geologic maps and soil and stone samples to give us a lesson on Tokaj, and why the wines are so special.

Bott's wines are artisanal, obviously made with attention to detail. The winery produces just about 1,000 bottles per vintage, sometimes less, sometimes none, depending on Mother Nature. No doubt about it, this is a small operation, but you get the impression that Bott, like other small wineries in Hungary, is striving for excellence.

Winemaker Judit Bodo 

"The communists damaged everything," said Bodo, referring to the state of the wine industry during their reign. While small wineries like Bott are working to bring back the glory of Tokaj wines, Bodo says the large companies, such as Disznoko (which we visited later the same day), owned by French insurance giant AXA Millesimes, are important too, as they too focus on quality but also bring in the tourists so badly needed in this corner of Hungary. This is not a "wine trail" type of area, with open tasting rooms everywhere. You have to know where you are going, make an appointment, and be prepared to have a private, intimate tasting. My husband and I were two of the few non-Hungarians in town, and felt a certain pride in knowing we had visited a place so few Americans even know about.

I do hope that Tokaj tourism picks up, and I highly recommend it as a stop on your Central European wine travels. In the meantime, if you haven't done so, try a Tokaji sweet wine at the end of a special meal. You will love it.

Until next time, Egeszsgedre!


Some of Bott's wines are available at The Wine House (www.winehouse.com) in West Los Angeles. You can also check www.wine-searcher.com for retail outlets near you.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of my Women of Wine series.