The Association of Young Winemakers, Junibor, met in December to select some new members. Now two new winemakers are joining their ranks – Dorottya Bussay from Bussay Pincéset in the Zala wine region and Tamás Kovács from Szent Donát winery in Csopak.
Dorottya Bussay
The Bussay family have five and half hectares under vine. When the head of the family László died, his three daughters took over most of the work, with Dorottya and Bianka looking after the wine-making. Dorottya grew up roaming the forests, hills and vineyards of Zala, learnt about winemaking from her father, helping him in the vineyards from the age of seven or so, getting up at five in the morning in the summer to start work along with her sister. Later she was entrusted with work in the winery, wine-tastings and events. That’s how she grew up, gradually taking on more wine-making responsibility from her father. She is following in her father’s footsteps not only as a winemaker, but also as a general practitioner.
Her first own harvest was the 2011 Pinot Gris (Szürkebarát in Hungarian), although her father still had a hand in that vintage, followed by the 2012 Tramini and from 2013 onwards everything. She is now trying to find her own way as a winemaker and hopes to be able to pass this heritage on to her own children, just like her father to her.
Tamás Kovács
The family winery of the Szent Donát estate is located in Csopak on the scenic shores of Lake Balaton. The estate comprises ten hectares, of which eight are under vine. Their core lands can be found in Csopak and Paloznak, but they also have vines in Tihany and next year are also going to start planting in the Káli Basin and on Fekete hill, where they plan to establish a second estate centre.
Tamás has been helping out in the vineyards since he was a child; he liked being out of doors and anyway grapes had always been his favourite fruit. He started to get more involved in the winemaking with his father and since 2010 has spent much of his time among the barrels and tanks of the winery. In the 2012 vintage, he was already given a free rein with the winemaking.
The first wine he made was a 2006 Olaszrizling made from new vines from Szigetheg, also cultivated by him. He still remembers this wine – wild fermented in barrel, he says, it was well balanced and full bodied. This was also their first wine which showed the vineyard selection on the label. He only produced 3-400 bottles from 1,400 vines. It was a lot of work and only a few bottles were produced, so he priced it quite high for the time, so that it wouldn’t run out too quickly. Nevertheless, it was very popular and had already run out in several weeks. This is a great inspiration for a 21-year-old. He then started to consider the possibility of working in wine seriously.
Over the next five years, they would gradually like to increase the size of the property, expand the cellar and double the current production. Tamás thinks it is very important to build a stable market outside Hungary, considering himself lucky to have had the chance to travel all over Europe when he was a teenager. He went to grammar school in Belgium, lived with a Flemish host family, getting to know the language and the culture, and felt a bit like it was his second home. For him Europe is not abroad, it’s just a bit further away from Csopak! Anyway, he thinks there are great opportunities in Europe, as it’s never been so easy to deliver wine further afield. Interest is growing and small quantities are not necessarily a problem.
Junibor
Junibor members have to be talented young winemakers aged under 35 when they are chosen and can only remain in the association until they are 40. They are very often the offspring of another generation of prominent winemakers. They currently have around 30 members from 10 wine regions in Hungary.
Junibor works in association with DiVino, the chain of wine bars, which offers the wines of Junibor and members of their family. So, Dorottya and Tamás’s wines will soon be available there too.
The Association of Young Winemakers, Junibor, met in December to select some new members. Now two new winemakers are joining their ranks – Dorottya Bussay from Bussay Pincéset in the Zala wine region and Tamás Kovács from Szent Donát winery in Csopak.
