The Spice of Hungarian Wine

When the Magyar tribes swept in from central Asia to settle in what is now Hungary in the 8th century, they brought with them their own tastes and traditions.

- Elizabeth Gabay

Spice is particularly important in both Hungarian cuisine and wine. It is the most frequently cited tasting note according to the WSET’s Level 2 WineLexicon, mentioned in almost a fifth of all tasting notes, followed by oak 17.2% and cherry 9.5% and a range of classic fruits. However, despite being an important descriptor, the spice is rarely specified.

American importer Eric Danch, along with his business partner Catherine Granger, specialising in Central European wines with their company Danch & Granger Selections, find a large range of spices, playing on “the exoticness of Hungarian history with the Huns eastern origins and short occupation by the Ottomans with notes of sumac, rose water, pomegranate, cardamom, nutmeg, caraway etc… They’ve shared so much history and already have coffee and paprika from the same source”.

Do these exotic notes exist? Going through my own notes, and those of a range of Hungarian wine specialists, it would appear that Hungarian wines do indeed have a unique range of tasting descriptors.

Land-locked Hungary is located at the heart of the Central European crossroads with Austria to the west, Slovakia to the north, Croatia to the south and Romania to the southeast and Ukraine to the northeast. The climate changes from classic continental with hot summers and cold winters along the mountains of the northeast (Tokaj, Eger and Mátra appellations), through Szekszárd (pronounced sek-sard) in the south and the almost Mediterranean climate of Villány in the far south on the Croatian border.