Sziegel Pince - Babel, Hajós, Hungary (2022)

TASTING NOTES

Between a light red and a rosé with notes of cotton candy, cough drop, savoury and dry with a crisp finish. Halfway between straight up fun and serious structure. Fine tannins - but more than usual for a whole cluster press, way more acidity due to the earlier picks, and more aromatics as well. 

The result of 8-10 harvest passes, multiple processing methods, and all with super gentle pressing. The Kékfrankos and Zweigelt come from the cooler clay heavy Diófás vineyard while the Kadarka is from the loamy and sandy Herreberg. The first 3-4 harvest passes of the Kékfrankos and Zweigelt were all whole cluster pressed, foot trodden and then soaked for a few hours. The subsequent picks were mostly the same but the soaking time steadily increased. The late ripening Kadarka was carbonically macerated for a few days. All of the fruit (including a splash of Olaszrizling for good measure) was layered in the same large tank and eventually co-fermented until dry and bottled unfiltered

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.