This is one of those wines that I really wanted to be able to poke holes in ... in a good natured kinda way of course. Think back to when you were in high school and your buddy finally got that date with the girl you secretly liked and you hoped beyond hope that he would fail miserably on his date; even though he was a buddy. That's kinda like what it was like for me and this wine. The winery is part owned by a fellow writer and friend John Szabo, and is a project he undertook in his native Hungary ... as much as you want to pat him on the back and say, "Good going John." There's still that part of you that says, "What does he know about making wine or running a winery?" After all, those who can't do, teach, right? Well it seems that the versatile John Szabo not only teaches but makes a pretty good wine. Made from the Central European Blaufrankisch grape (known as Lemberger in Germany, as well as a bunch of other names, depending on which country you are in; for example in Hungary it is known as Kekfrankos). I had this wine with friends during a gathering on Tuesday night - one of those in attendance had brought a bottle which was a curiosity for the rest of us (because we all know John); all of us had not had a chance to try John's wine and were excited to do so. The nose has raspberry, vanilla, a bit of graphite, and was quite pleasant. Now to be fair to this review I should come clean and say we tried it in a variety of different glassware, the wine showed best in a Schott Zwiesel Cru Classic Burgundy glass, which is the glass I used when taking these notes - after all the point of drinking wine is not to find the faults but to enjoy the wine ... Now back to your regularly scheduled review. The palate was quite exquisite, showing strawberry, raspberry fruit with a touch of cinnamon and cranberry on the mid-palate and a sour cherry-spice finish, which is also where the vanilla decided to show up. The best words to describe the wine are delicate and delicious. Good work John, you are to be congratulated on a job well done; as for the analogy of the girl, I have my own thanks very much, and I have no intention of ever starting a winery I'm happy to stick with the girl.
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