Thursdays at the Tasting Table with Taste Hungary

Thursdays at the Tasting Table are a regular series of food and wine events put together by Taste Hungary. 

We went along for a dinner and wine tasting with special guests: the Hernyak Family and this is what we thought:

The location

Thursdays at the Tasting Table are held at The Tasting Table & Shop - Brody Sandor Utca 9. The room is a lovely mixture of wine cellar, kitchen and living room, and has a welcoming feel. It's a small select store which stocks local wines you simply won't find in supermarkets or bigger stores.

The chef

Our chef for the evening was Thomas, who cooks for the Portuguese ambassador. He was very friendly and very talented in the kitchen.

The Hernyak Family

The evening started with an introduction from Vali Hernyak herself. 

Vali Hernyak runs a family vineyard in the Etyek-Budai region and all of the wines we tried at the Tasting Table on Thursday evening came from her vineyard. Etyek is known as the 'Vineyard of Budapest' because it's so close to the city.

Vali and her family came to Hungary from Yugoslavia in 1991. They started off making brandy and later began making wine. She called the brandy their 'liquid pension' as it takes at least 3 years before it ages. 

The welcome

We started with a Kiralyleanyka 2015, a white, dry, citrusy wine. It was delicious! It was paired with tiny canapés: feta wrapped with red pepper and topped with an olive. These were delectable and I had to stop myself eating everyone else's. 

The starter

For a starter we had a Porcini and Chanterelle mushroom salad with Parmesan and parsley. It was really yummy, especially the parm which was as good as an Italian parm and the salad which was fresh and crisp.

The starter was coupled with a Sauvignon Blanc 2014 and a Sauvignon Blanc 2015. Although they both came from Vali's vineyard they were very different. 

Vali said that 2015 was an excellent year, very sunny, and 2014 was more 'interesting' (catastrophic). 

HOWEVER, I absolutely loved the 2014, it was very honey like (both in taste and texture) with a sour after-taste, I loved it because I thought it was full of flavour and gave it a 10/10. Tanbay preferred the 2015 though. 

Both were dry and white, but that's where their similarities ended, it was incredible to hear that they were not only the same grape, but grown on the same vineyard, because they were so different!

The main

For the main most guests had duck confit with summer cabbage pasta. We went for the veggie option and had new potatoes, white asparagus and the most delicious lemon and parsley sauce we've ever had. The sauce was so tasty I would gladly eat that and only that for the rest of my life. We also tried the cabbage pasta which was very interesting. The thin pasta worked really well with the texture of the cabbage.

With our main came two new wines: a Zold Veltelini 2015 and a Pinot Noir 2012.

The Zold Veltelini was white, sweet and super dry. The Pinot Noir was red and smoky. Vali said that 2012 was another sunny, warm year and this gave the Pinot a deep colour that's uncommon. 

Dessert

For dessert we had strawberries with mascarpone. This was Tanbay's favourite course and he gulped it down before I could blink! The mascarpone melted in the mouth and the strawberries were perfect. 

We had a Pinot Noir Blanc 2015 with dessert, it was very nice, with the perfect sweet/acidic balance. 

Sparkling Wine and Brandy

After dinner we were lucky enough to try out a sparkling wine and brandy from the Hernyak Vineyard. 

The sparkling wine was opened in front of us, to make it sparkle, the correct amount of yeast & sugar had been enclosed in the bottle and then part of it had been frozen. We also learnt that a tyre has 2 units of pressure, but these bottles have 6!

The wine itself was again honey like, and again really delicious. This was my favourite wine of the evening. 

The brandy was 40% alcohol and had been aged for three years in a barrel, and then another three in a bottle. It was very yummy and the perfect end to the evening. 

The other guests

There was a really nice crowd at the Tasting Table, with about 20 other guests. We sat with Vali herself, a lovely Hungarian lady and her lovely Hungarian/Australian partner who both gave us loads of tips about what to see in Budapest, and two Californians who were 100% darling! We went for a drink with them afterwards and they are super cool. 

Further information

To find out more about our evening, check out our vlog:

Conclusion

We absolutely loved our Thursday evening at the Tasting Table, it was fun, sophisticated and above all delicious. We loved learning more about local wines and thought it was a great idea to pair it with a perfect dinner. If you love food, or wine, or want to learn more about Hungarian cuisine, this is the evening for you!

To book your evening, head over to their website: www.tastingtablebudapest.com/thursdays-tasting-table Taste Hungary do lots of other splendid evenings/tours which you can find more about here. We actually tried a Hungarian-Vegetarian tour with Taste Hungary too, read our review here.

You can also find Taste Hungary on TripAdvisor, Facebook and Twitter. And to keep up with our adventures, follow us on Facebook and Twitter too!

Disclaimer: Travelling Weasels were invited as guests, but all opinions are our own as always.

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