OLD MOUNTAIN WINE TASTING

Two yellowed grape leaves are chatting.

Telling each other how life is flourishing!

We’re the chosen ones ripening, nourishing each berry

which we provide with taste, aromas, and harmony.

Hearing the breeze whistling from the cellar horn,

Preaching the vital fluid for which we ripened and cherished the fruit to be born.

Not many know that there is a unique valley amongst the Felsőörs highlands,

In bottles maturing, the most aromatic wine that the terroir grants.

Szörényi Vineyard based here, with its 5 wine varieties, white and red cuvée, riesling the ‘miracle’,

and the red and white aszú essences drizzle

Traveller, come on in for a glass of wine briefly,

Though tasting the nectar of the mountain makes it hard to continue your journey.

Before entering the cellar, there warns an ancient crest

that when you enter the room the special experience will leave you impressed.

On the wall are the dignified paintings of, Grandfather and Great-grandfather, assistant to Count Almási

and the kind presence Mother the dearest, a descendant of Count Nádasdi Sárközi.

All three welcome guests, suggesting

whoever enters, it is fate itself that brought them here for the wine tasting.

In the cellar, the host’s large family welcomes each guest,

because the owner named a crested barrel after each family member to manifest.

In the lower cellar, you can find new, ‘mellow’ and antique wines, each variety is mystical,

Tramini, Ottonel Muscat, Pinot Gris, Cuvée and Riesling are royal.

The host is justly taking a proud tone

that renowned winemakers compare his Riesling wine to their own.

Wine-makers, connoisseurs always praise the house wine.

Before tasting the ‘cellar wine’, the farmer starts singing a song so divine.

“What if we get half a cup from the Riesling fellas and drink up”

The guests replied, “why don’t we drink with half a cup.”

The song starts rousingly: Cimbora, I take a half a cup for you……….

/guests sing the whole song with the host too/.

Meanwhile, the Riesling releases its nutty-almond scent around the place

The soul of the thousand-flavoured wine will bring interest to every face.

The cellar lamp flashes the sparkling ring of the wine surface,

Like the light of the setting sun, it shines, such brightness.

With one sip in the mouth, the wine penetrates the body and soul.

The tide of flavours expands without control.

If only time could be stopped at this point,

so the experience you are part of can last for so long.

The wine continues to flow through with its flavourings.

Someone shouts out, such wine is for Emperors and Kings.

Guests think this cannot be topped it’s so fine,

Master says, come on, let’s taste some red wine.

Those who know the house red,

‘The list goes: Zweigel, Merlot, Kékfrankos, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc’ – they said.

The local characteristic of red wine is the spirit of the environment

since it gains its aroma from the unique Hungarian red stone and loess sediment

Guests can sample two types of red wine.

Pushing through sour cherry- blueberry- blackcurrant- notes so divine.

The grapes soaked in their skin for two weeks,

That creates the delight of fragrant, succulent, dense mystiques.

 

One of the creators of the masterpiece is the vital liveliness of the mountain,

the radiance of the sun and the reflection of Lake Balaton that brighten

The host only feels like a contributor

After all, he does nothing but carefully taste, cherish and savour.

The farmer has thought about winemaking for years and has learnt it the highest level,

that the wine reaches the top by maturing, pampering it in an idyll.

Afterward, the guests taste the wine of the kings, the elegance.

The king of white and red wines, the aszú essence.

In the Lake Balaton highlands, it is also unique,

that due to the boiler effect, during the late harvest the noble mould also shows on the grape

The white and red essences in the cellar are made according to the Tokaj specification.

By tasting these wines, we reach another world where you reach a sense of completion.

The spirit of the guests is at its prime.

They sing they chant, their joy is as high as the sky.

Somebody is asking if this experience can intensify.

The host says it’s time to taste some antique wine to gratify!

First, a ten-year-old Riesling is on the table.

Its cork is covered with the mould fed by aszú mist, so noble.

In a decanting basket, the cork removal is a ceremony.

What secrets has the wine kept in the bottle for ten years quietly?

When the cork is pulled out, the spiced fragrance passes through each nose

The taste is stunning, an aromatic prose.

Meanwhile, the unnoticed twenty-one-year-old red wine appears,

which awaits the guests’ admiration and high esteems

Antique wine to honour the end to the day.

In the taste and aroma of the wine, the past years will convey

Wine relaxes body, soul,  

and somebody starts a song again, now very slow

“Acacia Road, if I go down that road”

To which everyone responds, “I remember a beautiful memory so old”

/ guests sing the song with the host /

The guests are tired and thinking about their memories,

They slowly finish the wine in their glasses.

Each departing guest a kind word or two to define,

before they leave, imbued with experience and wine.

At this point, the host recalls the line in Uncle Árpi’s letter:

‘your wine is excellent, let’s drink some up for your health brother’.

A real special day for the owner would be

if Uncle Árpi could come to the cellar of Felsőörs to see.

Being optimistic, the host also dreams that the world will be a better place,

because most people will be kind, compassionate, warm and safe.

The guests are all tired from the wine,

slowly they get going and say goodbye.

Whoever is reading or listening to these lines,

Should know that who wrote the rhymes

is an amateur wine-loving poet sometimes.

The host tells each guest that if they can polish the verse,

Add a rhyme to the poem and make it diverse,

There will be many thanks from the host, as he will converse.

 

Botcsinálta Borissza poéta (Amateur Wine Aficionado poet) Felsőörs December 11, 2009