Pálffy in Hungary

On Thursday, our 11th day of visiting Hungary, we stopped at Pálffy Since and visited with Mr. Gyula Pálffy, who is the owner and winemaker. The winery is a boutique style. We walked to a small knoll where Gyula provided with us with a detailed description of the region. He commented that the land was once under the sea. One of his best comments was, “You  just don’t sit down and drink wine, you have to work.” After viewing the landscape, we entered the cozy tasting room where he showed us rocks embedded with fossils from the area. We also enjoyed tasting  a few of his wines.

Kreinbacher Estate

We then traveled to  the second smaller wine region of Hungary, Somló, to learn about the Kreinbacher cellar in this region. At this modern-style winery we tasted wines and enjoyed lunch. In the Somló region, the main grape variety is Juhfark, a white grape variety. The Somló  wine region is in the upper part of the Lake Balaton located about 30 kilometers from Lake Balaton. 

Later we traveled to Villa Tolnay winery to taste wines. This winery is located in the  Badacsony wine region. The enthusiastic owner and winemaker is originally from Switzerland and decided that vineyards and winemaking were more rewarding than the technology (IT) industry. As dusk was about to descend, we walked to the higher vineyards and viewed the vineyards and landscape surrounding the winery. Returning to the tasting room, we tasted several of the Villa Tolnay wines. Then we visited the old wine caves.

Villa Tolnay in Hungary

We returned to Hotel Zenit for another restful night. We knew that our last winery to visit was located at a Benedictine Abbey. Little did we know in advance what magnificent library we would also see.

Cheers!
Kathy and Terry