Balaton’s volcanic soils & small wineries

Like every plant, vines need the right surroundings to grow and thrive. They respond to soil, to climate, to the whole of their environment, which is why terroir, the character of a place, its soils and its particular geography, matters so much. Many of the best wines even reveal the slope or the single vineyard they came from, because terroir shapes a wine’s style all the way from the grape to the glass. Winemakers have known this for centuries. As early as the 18th century, Tokaj created one of the first vineyard classification systems in the world. Tokaj owes its varied landscape to volcanic activity in ancient geological times, and volcanic soils are known for turning noble grapes into some of the finest wines there are.

So where are Hungary’s volcanic wine regions? The answer is simple and easy to remember. Find Lake Balaton on the map, the largest lake in Central Europe, formed by tectonic movement, and draw a line along its length across the country. With very few exceptions, every wine region north of that line sits on soils of volcanic origin.

Besides Tokaj, the north shore of Lake Balaton is Hungary’s other major volcanic region. Its dark basalt rock, formed in geological time, shaped the striking, jagged hills of Badacsony, Szent György-hegy (St George’s Hill), Fekete-hegy and many more. These steep, unusual slopes are home to two winemakers who only recently turned a hobby into a profession: Robert Gilvesy of Gilvesy, and Gyula Szabó of Káli Kövek.

Gilvesy

Robert Gilvesy is a Canadian-Hungarian who spent a lot of time on the north shore of Balaton, enjoying the landscape and tasting the wines. A few years ago he decided to make wine himself, and the results have been impressive. He now farms white grapes organically across 10 hectares and is quickly winning a loyal following. His vines grow on György-hegy and Badacsony, two of the most fascinating hills in the region, full of basalt and volcanic minerals. His wines have an eclectic style, combining the classic minerality and depth of the region with a fresh, crisp, modern character. They are made with as little intervention as possible, built around good grapes and the aim of drawing out their best flavours.

Káli Kövek

Gyula Szabó spent most of his life in the city, but always kept a close bond with wine and nature through his family’s small house and vineyard on the north shore of Balaton, in the picturesque Káli basin. In 2009 he decided to leave city life behind and return to the vineyard. We are glad he did. His winery sits just one hill away from Gilvesy, on Fekete-hegy, another extinct volcano whose name says it all: fekete means black in Hungarian, after the dark volcanic soil. Alongside his own tiny 0.5-hectare vineyard, Gyula buys grapes from trusted small growers around the mountain, making sure every bunch has been carefully grown so he can draw the best wine from each site. Besides his estate Riesling cuvée, he makes single-vineyard varietal wines, much like Gilvesy.

Two small growers, one hill apart on the same black mountain, making wines that taste of the volcano they came from.