Hungarian Wine Challenge – Doblo Wine Bar, Budapest
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 Doblo Wine Bar in Budapest.
An extensive wine list
Doblo Wine bar is located between the river and the 4/6 tram line in Budapest, not far from the large Synagogue. It is an building with a cellar brick feel which makes it very atmospheric. The bar also had live music in the form of a guitar player / singer which was of a reasonable standard and gave a bit of background noise. The bar has an extensive wine list, and options to have glasses, as well as smaller tasting size samples of the wines, meaning you can taste multiple wines relatively affordably.
Wines come from all over Hungary and there are some well known names on the menu, but also some smaller producers which give a good mix. My sense was this was a slightly more relaxed venue – a bit more a place for couples to go on a date night or friends to just hang out somewhere with a bit of character. The staff were welcoming and friendly and appeared to know the wine list well, making recommendations based on my tastes.
Staff were happy to bring multiple samples at a time, so it was possible to do some comparative tasting which was nice. Service was efficient, but not rushed. When you needed attention, someone was there to give it, but you never felt you were being watched over. The bar was also only a short walk from where I was staying which made it an ideal location for me, but generally its reachable from most of Pest quite easily.
What makes this bar stand out is… Firstly, the building. The character of this place is nice and I felt was actually enhanced by the live music which was more of a background sound than a loud performance. That left the focus on the wines, which is why I visit a wine bar! Secondly, the fact you can have fairly small sample size glasses to try, and that they are happy to bring multiple wines at a time. This makes it a tasters dream. Thirdly, the staff were knowledgeable, attentive and friendly. Once of the challenges Budapest / Hungary sometimes faces is a bit of a Eastern European attitude to service, I didn’t find that here.
The Bar has a website http://doblo.hu/ where you can see some of their extensive wine list. I visited mid-week so can only speak for the atmosphere in the mid-week evenings, but it was very relaxed.
So thank you to Doblo, they were a new addition to my ‘must visit when in Budapest’ list and I am pleased I found the bar just down the road from where I was staying. If you do pop in, let them know I sent you. And in the meantime, keep exploring this beautiful planet we live on, one glass at a time!