wine tasting

Last night I went on a wine tasting at one of the best wine producers in Eger. Yes, on a school night....that was a bad idea. But going was a very very good idea, even though I was not feeling too hot for the better part of the day.

This particular wine producer, Kalo Imre, is so passionate and philisophical about creating, aging and drinking wine that he turns away people he doesn't like. Apparantly, the Queen of England's workers came to Hungary seeking wine and wanted to buy 200 bottles from this seller...But the owner refused and said they could only have one! He doesn't let many people in his cellar, but through a friend of a friend, we found ourselves there. It was literally a cave under the ground with barrels and barrels and bottles and bottles of wine--I've never seen anything like it.

I was literally in a cellar drinking wine with a bunch of Hungarian men last night, and although it was quite cold, it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. The wine we drank came straight from the barrels, he used a "stealer" to suck a bit of wine out and pour it into our glasses. Each time we were presented with a new wine, I was able to taste something very distinct in each of them and so I started naming them "summer," "honeysuckle," "forest," "smoke," "dinner".....We tried at least 30 different wines and each was so so so good.

In the middle, we went into his house for dinner, which he cooked for us, and it was incredible. We played with his 2 Hungarian Vissla dogs (which are so adorable!) and ate and drank more wine. Dinner was this wild hog amazing paprika sauce over pasta and cabbage. I thought it was interesting, he even had a hope chest in his dining room kind of like the one my Grandmother has, but it was painted with Hungarian folklore designs!

After dinner, it was back down the cellar for some more wine down the hatch. At this point, everyone was pretty giggly, and it almost didn't matter that I didn't understand a damn thing going on around me. Believe me, I wish that I could, because this guy was straight up preaching to us about wine. I could hear the dedication and passion in his voice and see it in his expression, but less than a third of it actually got translated for me. One memorable part that did get translated was that he treats each grape as his own child.

The outside world may see him as a little kooky because he holds this attitude, not to mention he spends a lot of his time in an underground cave, but he sees nothing wrong with it. He can deprive whoever he wants of his wine, and believe me, it's quite a deprivation. He makes enough money selling to who he wants, and doesn't need to be a sellout (Although he probably easily could be!) to live his happy wine producer life. Quite inspiring. We should all be so lucky to be able to live comfortably doing something we truly enjoy.

He allowed me to take pictures, but wanted them to be for my own personal collection. He specifically asked me to not use them on the internet or on facebook. He sees such public displays of everything as corrupt. He holds what is special to him close and private, and in this way, him and I are alike.

Funny how I am from so far away, and can't speak the same language, and I'm not even from the same generation.....However, I am able to understand his point of view. Intonation, Facial expressions, smiles, and clinking happy wine glasses together are universal, it turns out. I guess I just appreciate when something good isn't exploited.

I will post one photo of a very happy me taken somewhere during the second half of the night only because you can't really tell where I am, and I'm in a different wing of the cellar where the barrels aren't kept.


Egészségedre!