 Welcome to Hungary. With a storied history, century-old sellers, and wine grapes found nowhere else on the planet, this is the best-kept secret in the old world of wine. So last year, about this time, I was actually in Hungary. We launched the Kickstarter for what was supposed to be our fourth wine book, Discover Hungarian Wine. We've been going to Hungary the last three, four years, tasting all the wines, exploring the wine regions, and we really fell in love with the country, the wines, and the food. We really wanted to write a definitive guide to the wines of Hungary, just like our Croatian wine guidebook, Cracking Croatian Wine. This year, in 2020, we were meant to spend most of our time in Hungary, continuing to research, create content, further the progress in our hungarian wine book, but then COVID-19 happened. We actually failed in reaching our goal on Kickstarter, which was a little bit embarrassing for me because it was public out there for everyone to see. But I don't regret the experience. It was one of the most frustrating, disappointing, yet rewarding experiences. We were planning to secure some funding outside of Kickstarter, then relaunch the Kickstarter again this year. But like I said, coronavirus has kind of knocked those plans back a little bit. But I'm going to talk about some of the white wine grapes that you'll find in the country and what you can expect from them. There are about 150 grape varieties grown in Hungary. About 34 of those which are considered native varieties are indigenous. And there are a lot more indigenous white grape varieties than red. The country produces about 70% white and 30% reds, although I really do like the reds from Hungary. But this is all about hungarian white wine grapes today. First thing you've got to understand is in terms of latitude, Hungary is pretty far north as far as wine regions are concerned. That means the wines are going to have a lot more acidity. White wines in general for Hungary are high in acid, sharper, kind of more sour, and not as easy to drink for normal wine consumers. Although there are plenty of fruity, easy-going floral white wines there. The Hungarian language is really difficult. I did a whole video about how to read Hungarian wine labels. But luckily in Hungary, most of the wines are labeled by variety, which makes it easy. So let's talk about some of the white wine grapes you're going to find in the country and some kind of characteristics you're going to expect. It's kind of funny because the most planted white grape variety in Hungary is actually Bianca, which is a cross. You're not going to see Bianca wines labeled variety. This grape is usually used to make table wines. So there are two pretty popular floral, everyday, crispy white wines meant for the summer. Also two of the more difficult to pronounce. The first is Cersiky Fussevec and Arsai Oliver. Now these wines are, just think of it, kind of like, think about Muscat. Really floral. You're going to get a ton of white yellow flower flavors. Kind of these white stone fruit, you know, pear, white peach type flavors. These wines usually have pretty decent acidity, but they're not meant to be structured or not meant for barrel aging. They're often inexpensive and you can find them in supermarkets around the country. One of the most common grape varieties you're going to find in Hungary and actually the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe is this grape, Olas Riesling. And we have an example here. This is from La Poscha. This is the Fort Hege, which means four hills in the Balaton region. Olas Riesling, you know, a lot of people might know better as Italian Riesling, Velsch Riesling, Grashevina, Vlaski Riesling, Vlaski Riesling. There's tons of names that goes by. It is not a Riesling. It's not Riesling, so not to be confused with that. It's a grape all in itself. You know, these wines were usually meant to be higher quantity, make a lot of table wines. A lot of people drink these with sparkling water like Fitzer, but there are some high quality wines. For me in Hungary, Olas Riesling, when I think of it, I usually think of chestnut flavors, white pear, lemon. These are high in acidity. Although you're seeing more and more examples that are made in the barrel. Some producers are taking it a little bit more seriously. These wines have a little more structure. And in general, I think they can make very good wines when handled properly. Your best bet of it in your country, if you find a respected producer, their Olas Riesling is usually pretty good. Next, we're going to talk about two of Hungary's most famous white wine grapes. That's Furmen and Haaslevalu. These grapes are also predominantly the grapes used in Tokai. You can also have dry Tokai, and these grapes are grown throughout the country. Let's talk about Furmen first. Furmen is, you know, Furmen actually is believed maybe to have originated in the Balkans, but Hungarians have kind of adapted as their own because I think more of Furmen has grown in that country than anywhere else. High, high, high acid. It would have made it to dry wines, sick of them, almost Riesling-like. It can be in stainless steel or barrel, if you like that. Hungary has lots of volcanic soils. That's where Furmen does its best, although it's grown all over the country. This example actually from Kovac Nimrod. This is the Skynagyget Grand Cru. This is 100% Furmen in the barrel. This is actually, especially this latest vintage, 2016. I think it's an exceptional wine. It has a little bit more body. Think of it kind of in between a Riesling in terms of sharpness, acidity, lemon flavors, and also a little bit of the body of Chardonnay in this example. So it can be made into a lot of different styles. The next grape is the one I'm highest on. That's Haaslevelu. Also grown throughout the country. We have a great producer here. This is the Paizos Haaslevelu 2015 selection. Haaslevelu has a little bit less acidity than Furmen, but has more floral notes. I also think more apricot. A little bit more pronounced, where Furmen can be a little bit more neutral. Haaslevelu can be fantastic. And I think it's great when you put the two in a blend, but I think the grape also stands out by itself. Really, really lovely wine. The next category are the weird esoteric grapes. Grapes that aren't really found anywhere else. You find grapes like Yenorosha Iserio, which a grape that I like very much, high in acid. Another cool grape we have right here also from Laplacia. This is Ketnyelu from Balaton 2018. You need grapes. Wine grapes usually have male and female parts, so they can pollinate themselves. Ketnyelu is a female-only flower, so you need another variety to pollinate it. I think there's maybe 20-something hectares of this in the world. These wines can be serious, high in acid, but bigger. I think of it as kind of green apple, pear flavors with a touch of kind of limey acidity and also plenty of mineral flavors. You'll also find a number of different type of white grapes. You know, Zenit, Lianica, there's just tons of stuff. In general, I think when you find more simpler white wines, wines that are lower in price but have a few grapes, they're gonna have similar flavor profiles. They're gonna be more mineral and high acid-driven than they are fruity. You're also gonna find international white grapes. You're gonna find Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc. There's some Gruner-Veltliner actually planted in Hungary. In addition to Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio, which they call Sikix, which they call Cirque Barat. There's some actually fantastic examples to be found in Hungary. So let me know in the comments below. Do you have experience with Hungarian white wines? I'd love to hear. I think writing about the wines of Hungary, white wines and red wines, it gets me kind of excited. It's really great punning and wine hunting. It's not the easiest country to navigate because the language is difficult. There's plenty of small producers in the country. A lot of producers that maybe only sell their wines direct from the seller. So there's always stuff to hunt down and there's some real gems to be found. So I hope to be going back soon. If you make it to the country, you have to learn how to say cheers, which is Egeshegesra. So that's it for today and I will see you guys soon. Hello, thanks for watching. Hey, you made it to the end. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Click the bell so you know when new videos are out. If you like content like this, check out our Patreon page where you get some behind the scenes exclusive content. Thanks for watching. Cheers. Cheers.