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A wine from the Top 100 list of 2009

I was always a fan of sweet white wines, although I can enjoy dry and/or red wines too. When I came back from Hungary, I wanted to bring something special and truly Hungarian, so (among others) I grabbed a bottle from the most famous type of Tokaji (link to a really detailed Wikipedia article about the wine region, the wines, history and almost everything you may be interested in). After the must have Wikipedia article, I suggest you to read a nice and short review from The New York Times: Hungary Returns to a Sweet Past. Of course I had to make some background research to pick up the best one, so I checked the most recent Top 100 lists from the Wine Enthusiast and the Wine Spectator. As there was only one Hungarian wine on both of the lists, the choice was clear and easy.

Royal Tokaji Aszú 5 puttonyos 2005

The Royal Tokaji Wine Company, founded in Hungary in 1990, has become one of the most defining wineries in Tokaj. Acknowledged as one of the region’s top winemakers, Karoly Ats combines traditional techniques with modern technology to create the award-winning Royal Tokaji range of wines. (For more information about the company, visit their English only website – yeah, they do not have a Hungarian site…)

Aszú wines are special sweet white wines (remember the Wikipedia article). This perfectly balanced 5 puttonyos wine is now widely available throughout the world. Royal Tokaji’s 1st growth Nyualszo vineyard is the benchmark for quality. As in all aszu wines, the three grape varieties are Furmint, Harslevelu and Muscat de Lunel. The characteristics are a vivid gold colour with honeyed apricot and orange peel flavours which are uplifted with dramatic acidity.

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Please read the special notes on the year 2005 on the website of the company. Tasting notes: A medium golden amber colour, on the nose showing orange peel, mint, figs and cinnamon. The palate is sweet and rich with cinnamon, apple, coupled to grapefruit aftertaste. Its sugar (148 g/liter) is well balanced with fine acidity which leads to a clean and refreshing, long finish. Will continue to improve over several years. But I can assure you, that it’s already fantastic! The best wine I have ever tasted. And the first from the Top 100, as it is the number 42 on the list of Wine Enthusiast (93/100 points) and number 44 on the list of Wine Spectator (94/100 points). The price for a 500 ml bottle is 18.3 € in a Duty Free Shop at Budapest International Airport and 41 $ on the Internet. Serve slightly chilled at 12°C – 15°C in white wine or large port glasses. Enjoy with foie gras and asian fusions, with dry and blue cheeses or with fruit and chocolate desserts. Or enjoy instead of a dessert :)

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2009 – summary

2009 was not as special and exciting as 2008, but it was close, so I really do not have any reason to complain. Now specially for my non Hungarian readers, I will present a review of my last year in English. It will probably not be short, so grab a good beer (e.g. a Rochefort 8) and some cheese, and enjoy ;)

January: I spent the New Year’s Eve alone at home, thinking about life, but it was really bad, I hope it would not happen ever again… Then – as usually in every January since 2004 – I had to study a lot for my exams. Endless, monotone days of working on the given topics and learning them later on. But I managed to stay much calmer and stress less then before, which was a success already. Not for me only, but it made things much easier for my parents too. In the meantime, we had a small one-day floorball tournament, which shoved again that we were much better than any other team in the Hungarian 2nd League. I wrote about the first official smog warning, the International Year of Astronomy and the weather of Budapest (based on public data covering 1971-2000). Somehow during exam periods, I tend to find much more interesting stuff on the Internet… I got the highest possible mark for my “big exam” (an exam covering several semesters, 4 in this case) in Astrophysics, which made me completely satisfied and happy, as this was the most important exam during my university studies. Right after my last exam I sold my wide-angle Sigma lens and bought a Canon compact from the money I got for it – at that time I was a bit fed up with serious photography… I felt love again for a short time… Continue reading →

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Cycle Chic Belgium

The original street style cycling blog was started in Copenhagen back in 2006, but now almost all the countries around the globe have their own copycats. Belgium and Hungary are not exceptions. And the guys at the Belgian one have just included one of my recent photographs to show that girls around here are not worried about the weather :)

20091222cyclechicbe

Az első divatos-bringás-közlekedős blog 2006-ban indult Dániában, azóta pedig lassan minden egyes országban elstartolt a megfelelő helyi változat. Belgium és Magyarország sem kivétel. Viszont most a lényeg az, hogy az egyik képem felkerült a belga blogra – csak hogy lássuk, hogy a leuven-i lányokat nem tartja vissza egy kis hó attól, hogy továbbra is biciklivel jussanak el A-ból B-be :)

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