Bott Frigyes Kékfrankos 2021

Bott Frigyes works organically and biodynamically, and all vineyard work is done by hand. "The historic wine region is enclosed inside the geographical centre of the triangle formed by the Garam River, the Danube, and the southern side of the hills of Muzsla. The old desire of our winery has been to bring back the old splendour to the villages along the Garam River, and to build a well-established winery that rightly reflects the specific characteristics of our wine region." - Bott Frigyes, winemaker.

Since 2020 it has become clear to Frigyes that Furmint and Kékfrankos would define the estate’s future. Though Kadarka, Olaszrizling, Tramini, Muzsla Cuvée, Pinot Noir, and Juhfark continue to be made, his vision now centres on a clear hierarchy—village, cru, and grand cru—elevating these two varieties to express the terroir of Muzsla. 

With an increasing emphasis on extended maceration, minimal intervention, and prolonged élevage, Frigyes is careful to ensure that technique never overshadows terroir. Muzsla, representing the village level, comes primarily from volcanic-limestone soils and younger vines. Béla (this wine), classified as a cru, is rooted in clay and loess, while Faricka, the grand cru, is planted with the estate’s oldest vines on volcanic-limestone slopes. Farming practices favour small, thick-skinned berries, making a delicate approach essential. Béla, for instance, undergoes the ‘Hamburger method’—a combination of whole-cluster fermentation, foot-treading, and hand-destemming—over two weeks to soften its naturally firm tannins. The wine then spends ten months in Hungarian oak before being bottled unfiltered and unfined, with only a whisper of SO₂ at bottling. As Frigyes describes it, “This is the true voice of our region.”