Monday, June 9, 2014

Old World Vines: Exploring Hungarian & Slovenia Wines

For the next three weeks I will be exploring the the regions of Hungary and Slovenia with Katy Bendel Daniels the owner/importer of Old World Vines. The education on the region as well as the wines were generously supplied by Katy.

I've tasted Hungarian wines before and recently, but never from Slovenia.  I am looking really forward to the next few weeks and sharing the learning experience with you.

How does one usually get into the wine industry...by following her passion and that is what Katy is doing. It all began with a trip to Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. Visiting castles, meeting winemakers who shared their stories with her.  Eight years later wanting a change, change took her back to her experience traveling through Slovenia, Croatia & Hungary. She decided to begin to import the wines from these regions and bring the culture and new varietals to the free market.

People don't realize that in the early 1700's these wine regions were THE wine regions.  After World War II they fell behind the Iron Curtain and cut off.  Many lost their land and bartered to get it back. It isn't until recently that these wines were able to cross the Atlantic to free market. Today, the wineries we will be talking about all have state of the art equipment and are bring a taste of old world wines, their stories and their varietals to you.

Put down your California Cabernet for a minute and explore with us such varietals as Furmint, Ribolla Gialla, Rumeni Muskat and Blaufrankisch. See how the high acidity of the wines make for great food pairings and open you palate to new tastes.

Stay tuned: Next week we taste Hungarian Wines, the week after wines from Slovenia.

To learn more about Katy, her business and the wines she imports, listen to her as a guest on the True Wine Culture podcast

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