Celebrating International Women’s Day with Csetvei Pincészet Ezerjó Amphora
With woman still being marginalized in the wine world (although oddly enough not in Turkey which you can read about here!), it continues to be important to lift up those who are in the industry. So, I’m celebrating International Women’s Day with a wine made by a woman at the winery she owns: Csetvei Pincészet Ezerjó Amphora. I’m a great fan of Hungarian wine but rarely let myself open one. Once it’s drunk, it’s gone and who knows when I’ll be able to get another one!
Krisztina Csetvei – photo from Csetvei Pincészet
And yet, if any day is a good day to enjoy one of my precious bottles, it is today!
Krisztina Csetvei – the woman and the winery
Krisztina Csetvei studied marketing at the University of Technology and Economics in Budapest and it was during her time at school that she discovered her love for wine. She got a marketing internship at Béres Vineyard and Winery where she listened, learned, and tried. In 2006, as a Christmas gift, the Béres family gave her the opportunity to take the WSET elementary course at the Wine College. After successfully completing the course she started tasting wine whenever she could and, in her words “…collect pretty labels (that if I see now, I smile), pay attention to food and wine pairing…” She went on to work in the marketing department of a large corporation while completing her BME MBA postgraduate course and, of course, tasting wine whenever she could!
In 2011, Krisztina completed the WSET advanced course, became a wine judge, ran the Borjour wine magazine, and slowly, with her family, created Csetvei Pincészet. By 2013, she graduated from Corvinus University with a degree in viticulture and winemaking, and set out to promote the Mór wine region with her wines.
photo by Bor.hu
Csetvei Pincészet has 3.5 hectares spread across several different vineyard plots in the Mór region. In these, Krisztina cultivates Kékfrankos, Olaszrizling, Szürkebarát (Pinot Gris), Zöld Veltelini (Grüner Veltliner), Ezerjó, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. She also has one hectare between two different sites in the Nagy-Somlói region. Here she grows Juhfark and more Olaszrizling – which is bound to show different characters in Nagy-Somló’s volcanic soils than in the limestone, loess, and clay in Mór!
Csetvei Pincészet Ezerjó Amphora, 2020
I burst out laughing after I removed the capsule and saw the cork. The smiley face greeting me was delightful; it seemed almost a shame to mar it with a corkscrew! The wine came as a recommendation from Taste Hungary’s Tasting Table in Budapest. I hadn’t hear of the winery before and my experiences with wines from Mór have been uneven…but they usually give a good recommendations and we all know I’m a sucker for a grape I’ve never heard of!
Ezerjó once held much greater popularity in Hungary than it does now and was used to make a wide range of wine styles both dry and sweet. It’s an early-ripening, high-yielding variety with naturally high acid and either thin or thick skins (depending on whose website you’re reading). It’s also been a parent to a number of other Hungarian varieties, including: Generosa, Zenith, Zengő, and Zeus.
The Ezerjó Amphora is 100% Ezerjó that underwent spontaneous fermentation then maturation on the lees in amphora. The wine poured a tarnished, pale gold. Initially a little shy, the nose expressed delicate grapefruit and pear coupled with chamomile jam and pine nuts. A little salty on the tongue, flavors of pomelo and apple joined the chamomile sensed on the nose. Delicious and interesting on the palate with texture and structure, moderate alcohol (13%), nice acidity, and length.
I paired this with a white peach salad and it was so good!
Please Help Turkey and Syria!
In light of the horrific earthquakes that have decimated large areas of Turkey’s south east and northern Syria, please consider donating to one of the relief efforts if you are able:
Animal rights organization Haytap is helping animals affected by the earthquake, and displaced people who need a place to stay with their pets.
Donate to search and rescue efforts in Turkey via Ahbap, Akut and Turkish Red Crescent
Donate to civil society groups working on the ground to provide immediate relief and medium- to long-term recovery to survivors via UK-based Turkey Mozaik Foundation or US-based Turkish Philanthropy Funds.
To support rescue efforts in Syria, donate to White Helmet and SAMS.
Field Ready Türkiye (Sahaya Hazır İnovasyon Derneği) is a team of engineers working in Gaziantep, Turkey, and northwest Syria who make cheap, low-tech airbags for search and rescue from buildings which have collapsed. “If we move fast they can make more,” a good friend who previously worked with the team writes. “The workshops in Syria also have vast experience of fixing essential medical equipment, and making insulated shelters – both greatly needed right now”
Follow Jennifer Hattam on Twitter at The Turkish Life for continued updates on organizations accepting donations and needing local assistance.