Biodynamic methods give Hungarian winemakers a natural advantage

Hungary's Terroir Club, a recently established venture that sells wines from some of the most reputed winemakers and vineyards, can be found in a most unlikely location on an industrial estate in out-of-the-way Óbuda, Hungary. Unlikely, that is, until we discover that the nearby hills were once covered in vines, and the Bor Akadémia and Wine and Spirit Education Trust school is right next door.

Famed French winemaker Nicolas Joly, a strong proponent of the biodynamic school of winemaking and one of the Terroir Club's select band, was in Budapest recently spreading his message of trusting the powers of nature to make better wines. Joly doesn't even like to call himself a winemaker, rather an assistant of nature.

"I'm a great believer in destiny," states the philosophical Frenchman. "We are moved one way or another without understanding why."

Biodynamicism

His winemaking technique is based on the premise that the less you interfere with nature the more the wine will taste of the terroir, i.e. the soil, slope, climate, and so on, from which it comes. However, the technique doesn't consist of lying back and praying that malignant fungi and bugs choose not to feast on your vines, but rather in fighting diseases using completely natural methods. Nettles, for example, are good for combating disease. Treatments should also be applied on specific days according to moon cycles when the risk is at its greatest.

If care is taken in the vineyard, less has to be done in the cellar, explains Joly. He decides when it's time to pick by monitoring the color of the leaves and tasting the grapes, usually waiting until the leaves yellow rather than relying on refractometers or similar devices to measure the sugar content. However, the effects of global warming have seen him picking a bit earlier, to his chagrin.

More sellable

Joly has been a practitioner of biodynamic winemaking for many years, and the practice is finally becoming popular. "Most winemakers have found that their wine is better," he asserts, adding that "winemakers don't have to embrace the philosophy, but wines that are more original are ultimately more sellable."

The proof is in the pudding, and Joly's Savennieres Les Vieux Clos 2004 does indeed exude flavors of the turf by virtue of its intense minerality. It's got the oily richness which Chenin Blanc can have when it's not mass-produced, and costs HUF5,880 (zł.90.5) a bottle at the Terroir Club. Wine Spectator, an industry critic which ranks wines, was similarly impressed, awarding the vintage 90 points. One thing to note when evaluating them, however, is that biodynamic wines tend to be best when they've been open for a while, and decanting is definitely a good idea.

But then again, not all winemakers are blessed with such outstanding vineyards (Joly has his very own Appellation Controlée: Coulée de Serrant in the Loire) and have to add yeasts that can enhance the flavors. However, like most agricultural products, you can usually tell if something isn't entirely natural.

Joly's message is salient for many Hungarian winemakers who themselves are blessed with outstanding natural conditions rather than huge vineyards, and can learn from his approach.

Fermenting interest

András Kató, who runs Terroir Club, doesn't have a problem with mass-produced wines though, and  admits that they can taste great. "There will always be demand for wines that cost a few euro, but terroir wines are not meant for supermarket shelves and it's important that the consumer recognizes that these wines are different," he says.

The same goes for biodynamic terroir wines, and he noted that the Tokaj region's Királyudvár Estate, which the Terroir Club distributes, is to go biodynamic from this fall. Other Hungarian winemakers expected to make the change include Szent Andrea in the Eger region, Vylyan in the Villány region, as well as Pendits in Tokaj and Weninger in Sopron.

Joly is expected to encourage them and other committed winemakers to join in a wider European biodynamic initiative known as Demeter, which Kátó feels could help Hungarian wines enter the wider world.

Tokaj is undoubtedly Hungary's finest terroir - a wine region in which the elements of soils, slopes, rivers and climate combine to create some unique conditions and wines. However, much of the rest of Hungary is blessed with mineral soils aplenty and perfect vineyard sites. Sadly, no matter how good Hungary's wines might be or could get, if no one gets to know about them, winemakers might as well produce bulk wine to be carted away in gallon-sized plastic containers.

Robert Smyth

This is an edited version of a story which originally appeared in the Budapest Business Journal