ÁLDÁS COOL CLIMATE EGRI BIKAVÉR

• Vintage: 2016
• Origin: Eger, Hungary
• Taste Guide: Medium-full bodied. Plum, blackberry and oak are most prominent on the palate with hints of dark-cherry, bitter chocolate and bramble flavours. Cedar and bay leaf note on the long dry finish.
  
• Food pairing:
• 75cl - 14% - Natural Cork Opening

A delicious blend of eight (yes eight) varieties including kékfrankos (a.k.a. blaufränkisch) and pinot noir is a brilliant expression of the traditional 'bulls blood' style.

The Romans cultivated vines in Pannonia from the second century AD and despite a period of Ottoman Muslim rule in parts of Hungary during the 16th and 17th centuries and the dead hand of state control in the second half of the 20th Hungary has adapted well to the demands of a modern free market, and particularly an export driven one. Since the fall of communism in the late 1980s the Hungarian wine industry has garnered foreign and local investment and adopted modern technological and viticultural practises to improve the quality of the wines.
The principal wine growing regions sit between 45o and 50o latitude, similar to Burgundy to the west. The continental climate of landlocked Hungary is one of extremely cold winters and long, hot summers followed by prolonged, usually sunny autumns. Lake Balaton, Europe’s largest lake, provides a moderating effect on winter and summer temperatures, as does the Tisza River that glides past the Tokaji region.

“Eger is one of Hungary’s most famous wine regions, noted for its hearty red ‘Bull’s Blood’ wines, and winemakers Lõrincz György and Lõrincz György Jr. believe that there are many exciting possibilities yet from this historic area.

St Andrea have lifted this name to a completely new level, by creating a higher grade Egri Bikaver quite unlike the cheap Bull’s Blood still on the mass market. Theirs is half kékfrankos with merlot and pinot noir and just a smidge of kadarka and cabernet franc.

They work in a thoroughly modern winery but have faith in tried and true traditional methods too, trusting their unique terroirs and their careful tending of the vineyards to supply them with high-quality fruit.

The estate covers four different locations and nine distinct plots, most of which feature soils that are essentially volcanic ash compacted over millennia at various depths across the sites”.