Hungarian Wine Challenge – St Andrea Winery, Eger
Like lots of people, I love a challenge! In September 2024, I set myself the challenge, while visiting Hungary, of travelling to multiple wine regions, tastings, festivals and other wine events in order to find some of the best wines in the country. The challenge started on 1 September and finished towards the end of the month.
Along the journey there were a number of places I visited. Among them was the St Andrea winery in Eger.
About the St Andrea Winery
St Andrea is one of the premium wine producers in Eger, and indeed in Hungary. Their wines regularly win awards in competitions throughout Hungary and beyond. They also have a wine bar in Budapest where you can go and sample their offering. The winery has been making wines for 20+ years and they try to stay true to the Eger traditional styles. Here you find traditional indigenous varieties such as Olaszrizling, Hárslevelű, Furmint, Kadarka, and Kékfrankos.
Arriving at the winery it immediately became obvious that this was the winery of choice for affluent wine drinkers. The car park was full of premium car brands and the venue itself oozed style and elegance. The interior was well decorated and service was excellent. The tasting we did was around £50 each, but included 12 premium wines, which seemed like good value.
The wines here were nice wines of good quality. The tour included some time to visit the cellar and see some of the production. There were light snacks as well. There was brief description of each wine before it was served, and the information provided was about the right level of detail. If anything the pace felt a little rushed, and it was a little difficult to finish the wines before the next one was being poured. The wines were well produced and high quality.
The 12 wines included a good selection of sparkling, white, rosé and red. These were definitely a good mix of premium and good quality accessible wines. The wines have good consistency, but if anything are a little overproduced with all the rough edges smoothed out. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just leads to them tasting exactly as you expect they should, so there are no real surprises here – just really nice tasting wines.
It would have been possible to book a meal at the restaurant and I have every confidence it would have been very high quality. What we saw coming out of the kitchen looked very good. The snacks we ate were also great – nice bread and bread based snacks with some oil. The place itself is nice and atmospheric. Seating and tables are arranged spaciously which means you do not feel like you are on top of other customers.
Overall I enjoyed the tasting here, the atmosphere was pleasant and I tasted some very good wines. It is clear this place is striving for both perfection and to remain true to the Eger historic viticulture. That is to be commended. It also, however, potentially presents a little challenge. Another 15 minutes on the tasting would have made it feel a little more relaxed. The pace was efficient, but didn’t leave much time to allow the wines to breathe, which may potentially have enhanced the tasting itself. And the wines were technically perfect, but perhaps lacked the distinctiveness of retaining some imperfections. Now let’s keep that in perspective, they were good wines, and the tasting was fine. However, at the premium price, people do have higher expectations. I’d go back, and I did buy a couple of bottles.
I think this winery is very much pitched at a premium audience who want good wines and a nice place to enjoy them, and it absolutely provides that. A Hungarian recently described his experience here as a little dismissive, somewhat rushed. He felt like unless you were planning on spending 300-400 euros, they perhaps didn’t pay as much attention to you as other guests. The problem with that is that the same friend also runs a wine bar and could potentially be a big customer, but probably didn’t buy 20 cases of wine based purely on the fact her felt slightly looked own on for just buying a coffee and a glass of wine.
So I think St Andrea is worth a visit, for sure. The wines are good and the atmosphere and food is excellent. I’m glad I did the tasting and it helped me to understand the brand a little better. So if you do pay a visit do let me know. And in the meantime, keep enjoying this beautiful planet we live on, one glass at a time.