Boutique Wines in Hungary

I like wine and I love good wine. As I have always lived far from anywhere that could be considered a serious wine producing region, I never clapped eyes on an actual vineyard until I was almost 40 years old. When I get the chance to actually visit a vineyard and talk to the producers I try to be cool and worldly but in reality I still feel like Charlie Bucket and I’ve just walked through the gates of the Wonka factory. I try to manage my wide eyed enthusiasm, but after ten minutes of wine tasting anybody worth their salt as a salesperson can spot me as the novice.

After a holiday near Bordeaux, The Man of the Place and I became insufferable wine experts. Hey, we had visited three chateaux!! One can tell when a wine producing area has been entered, they don’t bother with fences. A fence takes up valuable space that could hold another entire row of precious vines. The vines quite often come right up to the road. Wine regions are also the cleanest places I’ve ever seen. There is never ever a single weed.

My dear friends who have much more experience and knowledge of the wines of the Tokaj region planned out an entire day of wine tasting. This included finding somebody to drive us there so that we could all be full participants in the wine tasting activities!

For those who don’t know, Hungary is home to no less than 22 different wine producing regions (according to Wikipedia) when I visited the House of Hungarian Wines last year, they said there were 14 separate regions. To be sure, the wine regions and the vineyards themselves do not match the scale or volume of production found in Bordeaux, Stellenbosch or Napa Valley but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in quality and old world charm.

Hungary makes gorgeous, drinkable wines and two are quite famous. Egri Bikavér or Bull’s Blood a dark red wine with a colourful past from the Eger region and Tokaj or Tokay (pronounced TOKE-eye) the King of Wines and the Wine of Kings from the Tokaj region which is made from grapes that have botrytis or noble rot.

The conditions in the Tokaj region in the foothills of the Zemplén mountains are perfect with its volcanic soil and the long Indian summers for the formation of botrytis on the late harvest Formint grapes.

As I was familiar with Tokaj wine and wanted to know more about it, I implored my friends to fix it for me to visit during my brief stay. I must say that I didn’t have to twist any arms. They were keen to go there as well and arranged and booked three wine tasting sessions on a full and glorious day in May.

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. It was warm without being oppressive and I saw storks for the first time. The small picturesque towns and villages still hold nesting sites for these large birds. Like in the children’s stories and fairy tales the storks have nests on chimneys. Less poetically, they also have nests on street light posts and power line poles. I had never seen them before and my indulgent pals stopped the car more than once so I could take photos.

The first place we went for wine tasting was out of this world. We were met by Istvan Balasso a small wine producer in the centre of town and we followed him to one of the cutest, tidiest little houses near the edge of town. Naturally, this house had its resident stork, tending her eggs while the male stork soared around looking for frogs and fish.

We followed our host to a large room at the back of the house that had been turned over to the serious business of wine tasting. The house had thick stone walls that had a fresh coat of white paint, high ceilings with polished beams.

He told us that we would taste five of his wines, two dry wines and three sweet wines. He then got the wines out of the cooler and started uncorking ….

His vineyard is run by just him and his wife. The runs are small – he produces up to 700 bottles of any one kind of wine. Even fewer bottles of the sweet wines are made. If you follow the link to the website, you will read that the first year he was in production; the vines were attacked by hungry starlings. Up until now, starlings were one of my favourite birds of all time. They make spectacular displays on winter evenings as the sun sets. Now that I know they are grape stealing thieves, I like them a little less.

Istvan Balassa could very well be the very embodiment of everything a boutique wine producer should be. A dynamic young winemaker who uses traditional Hungarian wine varieties to make small batches of gorgeous wine and has a web site! As we worked through the fruits of his labour, I knew we were being traded up by an expert. By the time we got to the last bottle, the Zéta Mézes Mály I was caught. The 2006 production of this particular wine was sold out and he had the 2007 almost ready to go but hadn’t put the labels on it yet. I had consumed a couple of glasses of delicious wine, the charming wine maker was tanned and ever so slightly gorgeous and I felt I could not leave the country without a couple of cases of this wine. But there were two factors that kept me from doing that. 1. I had taken a Ryanair flight from Prestwick to Budapest and could not take any of the wine on board. The other factor was the price. We have to get a new water tank here at the house and The Man of the Place wouldn’t be over pleased if I dropped a couple of hundred pounds on wine while I’m away on a holiday. I bought two label-less bottles (See? I showed restraint!). They will be with me in July when my friends visit.

Aside from the bottle of 5 puttonyos Tokaji Aszú wine that Tesco carries (God bless them for that!!) I am astounded that these delicious wines are not available in Scotland. There isn’t a single wine merchant in Scotland that carries Hungarian wines. I’ve checked!

Little toad hiding from the storks in the cellar.

Back to Budapest!

I have just settled back home after spending a lovely three days in what is fast becoming a favourite place for me, Hungary! Last year was the first time I had ever been there and this year on my second visit, I found my love of the place deepening.

As I was there for only a short period of time, we were very busy! When I was invited back to visit my dear friends I said that there were three things I hoped would happen. I wanted to:
1. Visit Tokaj region of Hungary where the excellent Tokaj wine is made.
2. Return to the Szechenyi Baths in Budapest
3. Have some traditional goulash as we had seen being made over an open fire in a cauldron suspended by a tripod frame.

My dear friends managed to help me get all three of those things squeezed into the brief stay!

On the way from the airport to where we were staying there was a stop for cake! I love these guys! They have their priorities in the right place!We ate these lovely cakes outside in the shade on a perfect, warm spring day.
To add to the celebrations, when we got there a rare and beautiful bottle of Tokaj wine was opened (bottle number 192 of a mere 700 bottles that were produced that year from that particular producer) and sipped in the garden. We walked around picking cherries off the a tree, nibbling on some peas and listening to crickets and woodpeckers. You can see the acacia blossoms were starting to fall. They littered the place like confetti. The air was still perfumed with their sweet perfume.
From left to right, Chameleon, The Hungarian, Jo and Me! This picture was taken Sunday evening. We had again gone to the excellent Szephalom Vendeglo - always worth a visit too see what is being served up. In addition to the regular menu, this restaurant dedicates a section of the menu to what is in season so that the chef can take advantage of the best of what Hungary has available that month. Raspberry Fanta? It certainly isn't available HERE!


Next time - Tokaj, One of the most famous wine producing regions in Hungary.

The Joy of Spring!

Last weekend was absolutely glorious. The Man of The Place and I got a great deal accomplished as we took advantage of the fine weather. I got some things planted in the garden and some hanging baskets filled. Rugs were taken up and either beaten, washed or both. It was so nice to have the doors open and fresh air circulating through the house. I managed to get all the beds stripped and the sheets. I think line dried sheets are one of my favourite things of all time!
female Orange Tip - Photo by Dean at mostlymacro

I did manage to get a bit done in the vegetable garden. It was wonderful to hear the cows crunching on grass just on the other side of the hedge from me (just a few feet away) as I worked. The orange tip butterfly that only flies at this time of the years flitted by and there were a few bumble bees buzzing by. This is all happens while the swallows chatter happily on the power line overhead and the curlews down by the burn call to each other.male Orange Tip - photo by Dean of mostlymacro

The apple tree is in blossom again. Let's pray for good, frost free weather for the little apple blossoms. I only had six apples in total from the two apple trees last year.

This weekend is has more typical Scottish weather. It is overcast with occasional sprinkles that keep me indoors. I have much cleaner floors when the weather is not good. I'm not as distracted by nicer, outdoor jobs and the carpets and kitchen lino get attention.

I'm off to Budapest again tomorrow morning. I'll write and tell you guys all about it when I return!

Loch Long

I was at it again! While The Man of the Place and our boy were in Sunderland watching the team get beaten again, I was already 20 meters under the sea with the Dumfries Sub Aqua Club in Loch Long.

The weather forecast wasn't that fabulous yesterday, but we don't let things like bad weather put us off. We are getting wet anyway!

As with a lot of day trips, it was an early start. We met up in Dumfries in the car park (parking lot) behind the swimming pool at 7:30. As Dumfries is about 45 minutes away from where we live, I was out even earlier!

Here are some of us as we organise the air tanks and see who is going to drive and who will share a lift up north.

The drive up to Glasgow is one that I do all the time, so I wasn't paying much attention to the scenery. Once past the airport though, it starts to get interesting. The further north one gets, the prettier Scotland becomes!

I think Loch Long is stunning! There were a few gannets in the sky to greet us. There were also a couple of oystercatchers on the shore of the ever receding shore line. The tide was just beginning to ebb when we arrived. If you do a search on Loch Long, you will see that from time to time a visiting humpback whale will come up to investigate this deep loch. This is the car park just above our planned point of entry. You can see up the loch from this viewpoint. The day was mostly dry and clear but we could see the occasional shower coming toward us from a long way off so we had plenty of time to get things under cover. Thankfully the showers were always short. Setting up the gear.This was where we went in, just north of this pier. Aside from Roger, whose neck seal split after his first dive, we all had two dives each. I am still struggling to adjust my bouyancy with a drysuit. It is a big more complicated than using a wet suit. That'll just take some practice. The water was about 8C or just over 46 F. The visibility was good at about 10 meters on both dives.

We dived a popular dive on Loch Long called The A Frames. Named for some concrete structures that are down at about 20 meters (low tide). There were so many things to see in Loch Long. In addition to the hundreds of common star fish there were some brittle stars. I was surprised at how quickly the brittle stars moved. I thought they'd be slow like all other starfish. I disturbed a few queen scallops and they clapped away from me like living castanets.

There were plenty of mussles down there. It is no wonder there are starfish!

One of the things I was delighted with were the jellyfish. There were two varieties on offer today. Moon Jellyfish, and the Comb Jellyfish.


Comb jellies are not true jellyfish, but for the sake of the story, let them be jellyfish for a bit. If direct sunlight hits them OR if you shine your dive torch underneath you will see rippling lines of irridescent colour. They are absolutely beautiful and as delicate as they are beautiful. It is so easy to inadvertantly rip them apart with the turbulence of a fin kick.
At the end of the day's diving we met just up the road at The Green Kettle for mugs of tea and coffee and get our dive logs updated. The proprietors were so kind and accommodating. They put two tables together so that the eight of us could all sit together. The smells coming from the kitchen were wonderful. If we had finished our dives earlier and weren't in such a hurry to get home to our families, I think we would have stayed and ordered the Shepard's Pie and crusty bread that was on special.

Reformed Gardener?

Sometimes in the spring, especially when we've had a really lovely day and that lovely day happens on the weekend, I will go out into the garden and do some jobs. My activity outside in the garden bordered on industrious!

Today was one of those days.

I started planting up the hanging baskets . . . .I got the rest of the potatoes into the ground . . . .and I planted out some cabbage plants (they are frost hardy).
I can also plant out the sweet peas and sow the regular peas as they are really frost hardy. If I have any more rain-free time this weekend, I'll get to it.

I still have loads of things to do . . . but it if the weather holds, I may have to re-name the blog.
The Man of the Place was organising the tins, plastic containers and glass for recycling. Julio, the ever helpful cat was ensuring that things get done properly.

Siskins

I've had the birdfeeder for a while now. I always try to put a variety of bird foods on it as my garden is visited by a wide variety of birds. I have a peanut feeder, sunflower hearts, suet balls, niger seed and on the table surface itself, I dump a little mound of ordinary songbird mix.

Sometimes I will add in a few old raisins and currants to the songbird mix. I found these dried and possibly ancient fruits in the kitchen and were well past their use-by date. Instead of throwing them out, I give them to the birds.

In the past couple of weeks, the goldfinches have finally noticed the niger seed. It was put there especially for finches and I was beginning to think that the seed I got was faulty. Either that our our birds are fussier than I thought. The other morning there were six goldfinches at the bird feeding station. In addition to those stunning little creatures, there were four birds (all of the same species) that I didn't recognise. When the field guide was in my hands, I discovered the birds that were visiting were siskins. I'd never seen these before.
There is one little siskin on the top of the little roof, one siskin on the table itself and two clinging to the peanut feeder. There are two goldfinches eating the niger seed.

Since the siskins showed up, I see them every day. The goldfinches are an every day visitor as well. It is so great! They are jewels!

Troon and Lady Isle

Today was my first dive in open UK water. The lovely Clyde was the spot. Our dive club planned a day diving off Troon in Ayrshire. More specifically, Lady Isle just outside Troon Harbour.
We all met up and set off from Dumfries at about 7.30. The club RIB (rigid inflatable boat) and another small private boat were pressed into service and towed up north to Troon.

A couple of hours later we were in our diving gear and launching the boats into water that was a still as a mirror. The sun was shining down from a cloudless sky and there wasn't a breath of wind. Just about as perfect as diving conditions could possibly get! Eddie and Phil getting their stuff on. As for myself, I used the very posh toilet and shower facilities provided at Troon Harbour to get ready. Here is Phil - set to go and feeling quite intrepid!Davey and Alex in the club boat. I took a few photos of the Eider ducks that seem to litter the harbour. I love their noble faces.
After a few safety checks and poses (see above photo of Paul) for the camera we were out of the harbour and out onto the glass-like water.It was hard to believe we were on the Irish Sea. The guys in the dive club all agreed that there were usually only four days a year when the weather and diving conditions are this perfect and those days usually happen in the middle of the week.Getting kitted up.Sandwiches are important!

Every dive trip has at least one or two little mishaps. Today's trip was no exception. First to go was the neck seal on Chris's dry suit. This kept our skipper out of the water and helping everybody else. It also mean that I had to find a different dive buddy.
This is Lady Isle. As it is a bird sanctuary, we nasty humans are not allowed to set foot on it. It is also home to a colony of seals.

The first dive was excellent. I have no other northern dives to compare it to, but I had a great time! In addition to the calm conditions, the visibility was fantastic. We could see the bottom of the sea quite easily from our anchor site (45 feet) and the water temperature was about 6 C. My dive buddy Paul and I saw loads of crabs (three different varieties) some langoustines, a solitary nudibranch, three different kinds of starfish and loads of other interesting beasties.
Here is a photo of what I look like after a dive. It's enough to frighten fish!

After the first dive we thought we'd go around to the other side of Lady Isle and visit the seals. One of the club members, Alistair had a go at snorkelling with them. One seal followed him around the entire time he was in the water. I wish I had gone in as well. I don't know when the conditions will ever be as favourable again.



It was at this point we had another little set back. The engine in our boat sort of decided to have a sulk. It would rev up just fine but then cut out when put into the forward gear. This meant no second dive and it took us ages to limp back to the harbour. As the weather was perfect and we were in no danger we just enjoyed the day and the slow return journey.
Here is me posing with Chris's poor sick boat at the end of the day. I hope the boat is better soon! It is important to rinse out your gear after a dive in the sea. Salt water is corrosive!

Easter Weekend

At the bird feeder this weekend we had a beautiful pair of goldfinches and a lovely siskin. I'd not seen a siskin before. Beautiful birds - naturally they flew away before I could get a photo of them.
I had a good look at the new hen house that was delivered by tractor by the neighbours on Saturday. I swept it out and inspected what needs to be done first. (photo taken before grass was mowed)
There is more rot than I thought. I never had a good look at the nest boxes as they were wedged against the barn when I first viewed it. The floor didn't have a big hole in it either, so that will have to be replaced. You can see the sunlight streaming in through the cracks there. I'll tack lathe between each board before I paint to make it more weather tight.

Chris (the neighbour with the tractor) accidentally put a hole in the side when lifting the hen house with the tractor. Oops - another patch needed there!

I will have a bit of job here - but if I can get the work done properly, I'll have a nice hen house on my hands that will be easier to clean out than the one that I have at the moment.

We had a glorious Easter weekend. It was all blue skies and sunshine the entire time. Henry and I got loads done around the house. Some parts of our house that get neglected (dusting baseboards (skirting boards) were given attention. We also went about finding all those hidden dust bunnies. You could call it a good spring clean. It was so nice to have doors and windows open again. All the laundry was washed, dried on the line and put away. Don't you think line dried sheets smell great? They are sunshine for the nose!

I mowed the lawn, planted two rows of potatoes, trimmed the box hedges (smells of cat pee) and cleared one of our drains.
The drain below the kitchen was clogged and the water from the dishwasher was spilling out over the back paved area. I hate going to unclog that drain because, frankly it is a smelly, nasty job. I stuck my arm down the drain and found the problem immediately. A portion of the PVC pipe came off and was wedged in the larger drain pipe. Normally this doesn't cause a complete block but when it is then FILLED WITH FROG SPAWN we have a problem.
It was the most disgusting thing to feel. Eww!

I threw the frogspawn into the pond. If the eggs are still viable, they will survive much better in that environment.

I'm Still Here

It has been a number of weeks since my last post. Sorry about that. My story is that I was sucked into the work vortex and I'm sticking to that story. With the economy in turmoil, I thought it was best to get my head down and make some money and keep the guys at head office happy.
You didn't miss much anyway. The weather has been typical Scottish weather for spring (lots of rain). I did manage to tidy up the greenhouses and organize to have the garden dug over (see above). If you look carefully, you can see the rhubarb at the end of the vegetable patch, throwing out its first hopeful leaves. Rhubarb crumble later? I think so.
I have two tomato plants stuck into their grow bags in the smaller greenhouse. I am planting Scottish variety Ailsa Craig this year. Let's see if it copes with cold and low light levels. I have to replace some MORE glass in this greenhouse. The door blew off last week. I'll get it done after I finish writing this. You know how much I love re-glazing bits of the greenhouse!
We don't have to worry about low light levels TODAY. Today is gorgeous! See how dazzlingly white my towels are? Those are the ones you sent Mom. Thanks! Today there are only the fluffiest of small clouds in the sky that cause no dark spots to the day and more importantly, hold no rain! I got all the laundry out on the line and had some time in the greenhouse.In these pots and trays I've got some courgette (zucchini) pumpkin, cucumber, climbing beans, broccoli and two varieties of lettuce started. I found some old corn seed so I thought I'd see if it germinates. If it does, then I may have enough for a couple of small rows. I've also got the ever present sweet peas started as well. I soaked the seed for two days before sowing in the greenhouse to aid germination. There were some old marigold seeds lurking. I sowed those too. They deserve a chance in this year's growing season.

No sign of mice in the greenhouse YET. I have been quite good about mouse prevention in the past year. Any seed or bird food has been kept in mouse proof containers. If there is no food mice are less likely to hang out in there.

If we have a second day of nice weather, I may plant peas (they're very frost hardy) and get some potatoes in the ground. Heck, I may even mow the grass.