Photos: Sue Tolson MW & Daniel Ercsey
It’s been a month now since Gábor Ádám invited me up to the hill, his hill, to spend an evening listening to the increasingly close bellowing of rutting stags, to watch the setting sun make one last appearance through a narrow gap beneath the grey blanket of clouds, painting the silhouette of neighbouring Csobánc Hill orange, and to raise a glass or two – alongside his own wines – of Kozlović’s Santa Lucia Malvazija and Aleksandrović’s Prokupac.
Baudelaire starts thundering through my head, particularly Semper eadem:
“Whence,” ask you, “is this heavy sadness shed, / Rising like ocean round the bare black stone?” / When the heart’s crop has once been harvested / Life is a burden! ’Tis of all men known. (Translated by John Collings Squire)
So while Gábor wanted to reflect on the golden flavescence disease affecting Badacsony as well, and the terrible drought, I simply slipped into a melancholic mood. Fortunately, my travelling companion, Sue Tolson MW, successfully dispelled it, so by the time we arrived, there wasn’t a trace of my gloom left. Thankfully, Gábor must have noticed, too, and what followed was a much more cheerful conversation and, naturally, a tasting. (The state of affairs is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that I simply drank the welcome sparkling wine without taking a single note…)
Rosé 2025 (80% Cabernet Franc, 20% Kékfrankos) I 87 points
Medium salmon colour. A hint of biscuit on the nose, alongside plum, blackberry and mulberry, with green herbs in the background. Medium-bodied, with rounded acidity but a little vibrancy, lovely fruit and a ripe character. Long, slightly sweet, fruity finish. Round, long and voluptuous.
Olaszrizling 2025 (tank-fermented) I 86 points
Medium lemon colour. Restrained nose, with a slight almond bitterness, green apple and a touch of modelling clay. Medium-bodied on the palate, with rounded acidity, white-fleshed fruit, a hint of mandarin and green apple. Medium finish.
Olaszrizling Estate Wine 2025 (50% tank) I 88 points
Medium lemon colour. Ripe white-fleshed fruit and Mediterranean citrus, with a touch of pineapple and orange. Medium-bodied, with rounded yet undulating acidity and an elegant structure. Fruit and spice on the palate, citrus and white pepper. Medium-plus finish.
Bács-hegy Single Vineyard Olaszrizling 2025 (100% barrel) I 91 points
Medium lemon colour. Sweet spices, cloves, sweet white fruit, apple, pear and peach. Full-bodied, with rounded acidity, a sweetish, ripe character, but by no means sluggish. The long finish is dominated by oak spices.
A brief history of the estate: Sabar started out in 2009 and today farms around five hectares of vineyards, purchasing grapes from a further ten. Gábor spent his childhood in Jánoshalma – if that matters at all – and his original ambition was simply to sit sentimentally beneath a walnut tree in front of his own cellar in his old age. By now, that dream has manifested itself in an annual production of roughly 43,000 bottles.
Until 2016, the winemaker was László Nagy of Villa Tolnay; since then, it has been Bálint Földi, an apostle of Kéknyelű. Olaszrizling accounts for 45% of the estate’s wines.
Pinot Gris 2025 I 88 points
Sweet spices on the nose, rounded and ripe. This is no Pinot Grigio, but a proper Szürkebarát. Pear and melon on the palate, full-bodied, with rounded yet good acidity, plenty of fruit, a touch of minerality and ripeness. Long and exciting, although certainly not a wine for beginners.
Rajnai Rizling 2025 – Hercegföld I 88 points
Sweet fruit on the nose, mandarin, petrol, mango and citrus. Medium-bodied on the palate, with lively acidity and all the classic hallmarks of Rhine Riesling. There’s simply no disguising what it is. A wonderful wine, with a medium finish.
1970 Rajnai Rizling 2025 (spontaneous fermentation in wooden barrels) I 89 points
Ripe yellow-fleshed fruit on the nose, pear, pineapple and sweet spices. Full-bodied, with rounded acidity, a sweetish undertone of residual sugar, plenty of ripe fruit and a long finish. Exceptionally drinkable, with lots of sweet spices and a touch of modelling clay towards the end.
Találkozás 2025 (60% Rajnai Rizling, 40% Olaszrizling) I 92 points
Sweet spices on the nose, with hints of mango, pineapple, peach and nectarine. Medium-bodied, with rounded acidity, harmonious flavours and a lovely structure. Plenty of spice, white pepper, pear, peach, apple, a little mango and petrol. Long and elegant.
Kéknyelű 2025 I 87 points
Restrained nose, with green herbs, bay leaf, a hint of tonic, green notes and a touch of bitterness. Medium-bodied, with lively, vibrant acidity, plenty of energy, pear, lemon and green apple. Elegant and taut, but still very young and aromatically rather subdued. It really ought to be left to age for another five or six years before opening.
Kéknyelű 2020 I 93 points
Mature nose, with white- and yellow-fleshed fruit, a hint of punch and sweet spices. Medium-plus body, lively acidity, ripe flavours and a beautiful structure. The finish is long, with notes of modelling clay, sweetness and green herbs.
Birtokvörös 2023 (50% Cabernet Franc, 50% Kékfrankos) I 90 points
Slightly green notes on the nose, alongside chocolate and ripe black berries, although it could almost have come from somewhere along the Loire. Medium-bodied, with lively acidity, lovely fruit and not a trace of heaviness. Green herbs dominate on the palate as well, with the fruit providing the background music. Long finish.
By the end of the evening, we had really got into the swing of things. What you don’t see in this article is me attempting to lure the stags onto the terrace by imitating their bellowing. Fortunately, with very little success – although Gábor and his companions found the performance considerably more entertaining.
Spending the night in the neighbouring guesthouse, I could carry on listening to the stags well into the night. I even suggested to our hosts that city folk are particularly susceptible to this sort of thing, so next year they really ought to organise a “Stag Roaring on the Sabar Terrace” evening, complete with Kéknyelű and Birtokvörös. And perhaps another event featuring the various Olaszrizlings, accompanied by venison stew and dödölle, those traditional Hungarian potato dumplings.
Gábor’s eyes didn’t exactly light up at the suggestion, but I still have a whole year to convince them to give it a go.
I do hope I succeed!
