misserdos

On a frosty winter day in the Fertő-tó (Neusiedlersee) region of north-west Hungary, the family decided to go on a wine-tasting adventure. Guess who was behind the plan?

And so it happened that we visited Jandl, a winery just up the road from our lovely bed and breakfast. This small family cellar is run by father-and-son duo Kálmán and Arnold, in what seemed to me perfect harmony. Their small production – 35,000 bottles on 10 hectares – and emphasis on quality struck a chord with me even before we got round to tasting any of their wines.

Not unusually for a family in this corner of the country, the Jandls originated somewhere near the Frank-Bavarian border, and they are able to trace their history back to the tenth century. For many generations, the family lived in Sopron, and 25 years ago they moved out to the banks of lake Neusiedler. Following the Second World War, Kálmán tells us, they lost many of their vineyards, and building the business up again has been a long and slow process. ‘But we have no ambitions to grow any further. Our ambition is to keep our business going with the vineyards we have now, and by maintaining this quality.’

As we taste a lovely flight of wines, Kálmán gives us a brief history of winemaking in the region, and in his own family. Today 80 per cent of the wine production around Sopron is reds, but this wasn’t always so. When the first Jandls started trading their wines in the large international markets of Kraków, the main commodity of Sopron was white wine, mainly made from Furmint, Hárslevelű, Pinot Blanc, and some Muscat varieties. With the phylloxera epidemic of the 19th century this changed, and the region is today almost exclusively associated with reds, mainly Kékfrankos. Phylloxera, however, was not the real disaster; that came with the loss of markets as the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy collapsed after the First World War. This was immediately followed by the Treaty of Versailles (Trianon), in which Hungary lost much of its land and population to neighbouring countries. Then, if this weren’t enough, in 1946, in an incomprehensible act of retaliation, the post-war communist government expelled the German-speaking population of Hungary. This sadly meant a loss of precisely those experts who had an in-depth knowledge of the vineyard areas and grape varieties of the Sopron region.

Under communism, the general trend in winemaking was ‘the more the better’. The Soviet Union, Hungary’s main export market at the time, swallowed up unfathomable quantities of cheap plonk, and so this was what had to be produced. It is this attitude that needs to be changed today, and Kálmán’s wish is for Sopron to become once more a well-respected region that produces high-quality wines. ‘The general perception is that this region is just too far north and too close to the Alps for quality wine. On the contrary, these are all favourable factors’, he says. ‘When I was a child, we had 700 mm of rain per year. Today it’s down to 400. We are facing new challenges in the vineyards.’

Kékfrankos, as I wrote in an earlier article, is a tricky variety. It has a lot of acidity, which can easily get out of control, and unless the grapes have reached full maturity the resulting wine can be harsh, thin, and austere. ‘There are many different “genres” within the variety’, Arnold tells me. ‘You’ve got to find the right clone, one that is not late-ripening and which doesn’t have dramatic acidity.’ Kálmán adds, ‘For good wine, you need three things: good grapes, cleanliness, and a careful management of oxygen.’ Good grape, he explains, means harvesting when the grapes have fully matured. Oxygen, that’s all in the barrels. ‘We use a barrel as long as it can breathe. The barrels are there not in order to add oaky flavours but for micro-oxygenation. And if the pores of a barrel become blocked over time, we steam-clean it so that it can breathe again.’

Kálmán’s conclusion is that Hungarian winemakers must relearn winemaking. ‘Our country must rediscover the old winemaking tradition. Forget all the bad tics of the past, such as quantity over quality.’ In 2004, the Jandls were invited to participate in a French wine competition. ‘We were invited as the poor east European relative. We didn’t even have to pay the application fee’, Kálmán says. After much toing and froing, they agreed, on Arnold’s insistence, to send their oak-aged Kékfrankos, which was simply called ‘Kékfrankos barrique’ at the time. ‘The wine came back with a gold medal! And so we decided to rename it Missio.’

All the reds we tasted were very well made. Ripe fruit, soft tannins, good acidity. Balanced and harmonious wines. The Jandl Merlot and Cabernet Franc are equally lovely, but here I want to recommend specifically their Hungarian varietal wines.

Missio 2017, 100% Kékfrankos

Old, 50-60-year-old vines. Wild yeasts, 30-day fermentation process, including spontaneous malolactic fermentation.

Prickly, leafy, herbaceous nose, very promising. Strong floral fragrance. Spicy palate with berries, currants and herbs, and a bit of chocolate. Lovely and ripe, soft acidity, smooth tannins, graphite on finish. Very ready to drink.

Jandl Rosé Kékfrankos 2018

Pale salmon colour, fresh, dynamic nose. Good acidity, citrus flavours but not particularly fruity altogether – somewhat savoury in fact, which is very enjoyable. Fresh and clean, balanced. Graphite on finish.

Kékfrankos 2017

The winery’s entry-level red, not a vineyard selection. Fermented in stainless steel tanks. Warm, fruity nose. Red fruits also on palate, prickly, leafy, blackcurrant character. Lovely acidity.