Sziegel Pince - Kdarka Csákányos, Hajós, Hungary (2021)

TASTING NOTES

Incredibly elegant, Burgundian-style red wine from the super rare Kdarka grape. Forest floor, bright red fruit and baking spices. This is a complex, savoury wine with incredible length and, while very reminiscent of pinot noir, has a touch more structure and tannin.

ONE solitary barrel was made of this wine, sourced from a tiny, ungrafted vineyard of 800sqm. Kdarka is a finicky grape that, like pinot noir has very think skins, tight bunches and is susceptible to botrytis. However, whereas the heartbreak grape ripens early to often avoid rotting, Kdarka is quite late ripening - so achieving healthy, unwritten grapes in a fairly wet environment is rare. Add to that there is so little of the grape left in Hungary AND that it is planted on its own rootstock and you start to realize what a treasure this wine is...

Balázs Sziegl studied viticulture and wrote a pHD thesis on Kadarka and is focused on the vineyards while Petra studied winemaking and is principally in the cellar. A young couple, new baby, and juggling a winery just founded in 2012 they are located about 3 hours south and just east of the Danube River is the village Hajós (southern Hungary near the border with Slovenia). 

Their sandy soil vineyard was once noted as a “grand cru” by the top families in the region.