Every year we go away just before Christmas to do a bit of shopping and of course eating and drinking are normally involved somewhere along the line; this year we went to Budapest in Hungary. It snowed a little while we were there and the temperature was low, -5 C or less a lot of the evenings and I don't think it rose above 0C for all of the 5 days.
We ate a lot of hearty meals where a lot was paired with gnocchi, dumplings, pasta or potatoes and we indulged in mainly red wines. The first was a 2007 heavy hitter at 14.5% from Szekszardi and was a blend of grapes, or a 'Cuvee' as the waiter kept correcting me and was a Bikaver. The Takler Reserve had been matured in oak for 18 months with 30% of it being first use, ie. new oak and the remainder second and third use barrels, the oak will probably have been Hungarian Oak.
On the nose it was perfumed and elegant, packed with red fruits, this continued through to the palate, but WOW was it a heavy hitting wine, everything was big, the oak flavours, the alcohol, the extraction. Very New World in style, but maybe a little heavy handed, where the belief was ' more is better ' ?
It had fresh acidity in its favour which helped lighten the whole wine, and although we started it without food, it was easier to drink with! But I will say we did not finish the bottle...... First time in a while that we have not, this speaks for itself.
We ate at a lovely Restaurant called Cyrano's near Vorosmarty Square near some Christmas market stalls.
Great food, lovely atmosphere and the wine was fine. Score 83
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