Hungarian Wine Challenge – Nádas Borműhely Etyek (City & Wine tour)
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 Nádas Borműhely winery in Etyek.
About the winery
For about as long as I have been travelling to Hungary, I have been going on a wine tour which travels from Budapest to Etyek, run by City & Wine. You can use my affiliate link to book the wine tour here. The tour runs in the morning and afternoon with the option for either 2 or 3 winery visits and either lunch or dinner depending on the time of day. The morning is 2 wineries plus lunch and the afternoon is 3 wineries plus dinner.
The Nádas Borműhely winery is one of the wineries which they visit regularly. This winery is owned by one of the most amazing and creative winemakers in all of Hungary. Szilard is a great wine convention challenger. He wants to push the boundaries and see what is possible. Despite being a relatively small producer, he has many different types of still and sparkling wines. Often, as a result, his tasting consists of pairs of wines to try rather than just single wines.
In recent years, he has been in a position to make more and more sparkling wines. Indeed, Etyek lies on a similar latitude to Champagne and has fairly similar soil, so in theory here the sparkling wines should be very good. And they are! The variety of sparkling wines is really exciting. Lots of different quality levels, blanc de blanc, blanc de noirs, blends, its all possible with Nádas.
The still wines are equally as good. One of the most interesting Sauvignon Blancs I have ever tried was from this winery and it really made me rethink what was possible with that variety. They also make an orange wine which is very enjoyable and also some wines which are completely unique. Szilard is always experimenting with something and that makes every visit a trip into the unexpected.
The cellar itself has two tasting areas. One in the old cellar itself and another in a snug above the cellar. Both are great venues. The tasting is accompanied by bread and the hospitality is always great. There are a few different hosts, but obviously if you get Szilard you are getting the master himself. The other staff are good, and know their information, so if you don’t you still know you are in safe hands.
| Over the years, I’ve been back to the winery quite a few times, and Szilard always recognises me and is keen to chat. Other guests who visit here, also find themselves excited by the possibilities. And I notice often come out clutching bottles as I do! In my wine circle of friends in Hungary the winery is well known and the wines find their way onto menus in some pretty decent wine bars. |
The highlights here are how open to experimentation Szilard is. And, sometimes a little annoyingly, he rarely gets it wrong. The wines are always top notch, high quality, delicious and just have that special something to them that other wines don’t quite have. As global warming impacts, I am confident it won’t be too long before they have some very decent heavier red wines here as well. The hosting is always really good, and the fact that often a 4 wine tasting becomes and 8 wine tasting is obviously not going to disappoint people!
I always smile when I find out we are going to Nádas. And I find myself wondering what new wines will be on the menu this time. Being a sparkling lover, I am delighted that more and more sparklings are appearing and that they are rising in quality all the time. I think the wines here break the mould of the usual simplistic Etyek style and have much more complexity to them, which I love.
I have never quite found the time or courage to try to arrange my own visit, but it is possible to get the bus from Budapest out to Etyek and walk between wineries. The great thing about the City & Wine tour, though is that besides the obvious door to door transport, you get to meet different people on each tour from all over the world, drink great wine together and share the experience. That’s probably why I keep rebooking!
So if you want to visit the Nádas winery, its definitely worth a trip to Etyek. The way the City & Wine tour works is there are multiple wineries, so its not guaranteed you will visit on every tour. So to be absolutely sure, you’d need to arrange you own visit. But you can do so using Hellowine.com – Just click here (not an affiliate link). If you do plan a visit, let Szilard know I recommended them. And in the meantime, keep enjoying this beautiful planet we live on, one glass at a time.