Winery #88: Erdős Pincét (Tokaj, Hungary)

A visit to Erdős Pincét began with a private wine tasting in their comfortable tasting room, followed by a cellar tour. Our host, Judit, is the third generation of the family involved in the wine business, and she gave us an overview of the estate's history to commence our wine experience. The family owns 7 hectares (just over 17 acres) of land within the Tokaj wine region. As discussed in our last blog post, Tokaj is the wine-producing region, and Tokaji is the name of the wine produced. The soil in the family's vineyards is a little different than the rest of Tokaj, as the higher stone content results in more mineral flavors and aromas, according to our host. They call this type of soil Mád.

The family uses three types of white grapes when producing its Tokaji wines: Furmint, Hárslevelű, and Sárga Muskotály (also known as Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains or Muscat for short). Besides our previous wine experience in Budapest, this was our first in-depth experience with wines produced from these three grapes. Making things more interesting, Judit explained that it is possible to make five different styles of wines from the grapes: Aszú, Eszencia, Late Harvest, Szamorodni, and dry wines. Our Tokaji wine blog posts will cover them all! During our private experience with Judit, we had the opportunity to taste 7 examples of these wines.

Our favorite wine from the family's lineup was the Dry Szamorodni, made entirely from the white furmint grape. To sample this wine, Judit took a glass beaker down to the cellar and pulled the wine directly from the barrel. So cool! According to our host, Szamorodni is Hungarian for "as it was born," and the family does little to intervene in the wine production. When harvesting grapes for this wine, they pick healthy grapes and those affected by the Botrytis fungus we described in our last post. Healthy Furmint grapes contribute lemon, apple, and pear aromas, while the Botrytis-affected grapes will lend more orange peel, apricots, and honey, resulting in a very complex wine.

After the fermentation process of transforming the grape sugars into alcohol, the wine spends four years in oak barrels. The family does not fill the barrels to the top, leaving 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) of headspace. The yeasts from the Botrytis grapes create a thin film on the surface of the wine, protecting the wine from turning into vinegar due to exposure to oxygen. Because of this thin layer of yeast, the wine develops unique nutty and green apple aromas, similar to sherry. Judit mentioned that this was her grandfather's favorite wine! We enjoyed the wine and its intense aromas of walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and honey that persisted well after we tasted the wine. If you seek a unique wine to try, we highly recommend giving this Tokaji Dry Szamorodni a shot, and you will be pleasantly surprised!

A fun fact about Erdős Pincét is that the winery helped set the Guinness World Record for the longest line of wine glasses, 20,500 glasses in total, measuring 1,025 meters (1.025 kilometers or 0.64 miles). The winery contributed 30 meters of glasses to the "wine snake." We told Judit that if they attempt to break their previous record, give us a call, and we'll help drink the wines after the measurement!!

See the YouTube Video of our wine experience here!

Experience Rating: 3 Stars

Brodi's Rating: 2 Paws Up

Website: https://erdospince.hu/

Pet-Friendly: Yes

Experience Vibe: Private Experience, Standing Bar Tasting, Cellar Tour

Reservations Needed: Yes