Description: Translation: Magyar Borok Haza

This self-guided wine tasting tour is in a celler located on the Buda side of the city close to Fisherman's Bastion and the Hilton Hotel. It is one of the more expensive attractions in the city at about HUF4000 (approx £10) to get in. It is open throughout the week but closes on public holidays. The attraction is open between noon and 8pm and they allow you a maximum of two hours there, so you need to arrive before 6pm to make the most of it.

When you arrive you will be given a fold out map (which I then promptly lost) which shows a plan of the cellar which is divided into each of the 22 wine growing regions in Hungary, a small wine glass which you can take away to keep and a small packet of bite sized cheesy biscuits. You can leave your coats here and then head down to the cellar. This is no cold, dank or dark cellar but a well-lit one with plenty of light bricks and wood to make it look attractive. It is also full of bottles of wine. The helpful assistants explain what is happening. Tours are self-guided and you can walk around the cellar however you choose or follow the map as each section of the cellar is dedicated to a particular region. Firstly there are white ones, then red, and some that are mixed, with some sparkling wines at the end. The cellar stocks hundreds of Hungarian wines and in each section there are three or four bottles you can try. In most sections there are jugs of water so you can rinse your glass with (or drink if you are so inclined) and small barrels where you can chuck away any wine in your glass that you don't like. There are no restrictions on which of the opened wines you drink and how much of them you drink in your allotted two hours - I love a challenge! If a bottle is empty just give one of the friendly assistants a shout and he will open another for you. You can, of course, purchase any favourites, but not all wines can be tasted. There are not many of the top end of the price range open, being mainly bottom-middle end. I'm afraid I can't be too specific as to the prices to buy, but I think the majority of the wines available to taste started from about the equivalent of £6.00, but the notes I took didn't make much sense when I got home strangely…Apparently they change the wines available to taste monthly.

We decided to start at the beginning in Area 1 which was a white wine region. My first taste was a Pinot Grigio and it was lovely, and I had the last sample from the bottle (you just help yourselves from the display of open bottles) so called the assistant to replace but sadly they had run out of that wine, and the chardonnay he replaced it with was not as nice, in my opinion. One thing I did like about the place was the informality, you don't have to feel you know anything about the wine other than if you like it or not. After we got our Jilly Goolden impersonations out of the way ("ooh it smells just like Wellington boots with a hint of moss…") we moved onto the next display (which was a different region). Each region had a map on the wall and some information about the wines of that area, but I have to admit that I didn't read them after the first region; valuable tasting time was being wasted! I was quite insistent that I wasn't going to tip any of the wines I tried away but drink them all, but to be honest some of them weren't very nice! In this environment though I did get to taste wines I would have not considered before. For example I found a really nice Muscat which I would never normally have drunk, assuming it would be too sweet for my taste, but I actually found it quite pleasant.

I'm not a fan of red wines, but most of the red wine growing regions also made white wines, so there were still white wines to sample in the reds section. This is not the case in reverse, but generally there were more wines in each red section to taste so it was swings and roundabouts really. By this stage I had eaten all my cheesy bites and was starting on my friend's. Eating beforehand might've been a good idea…There were only a couple of rosés available to taste, and some quite pricey champagne type sparkling wines at the end, which were very drinkable. The relaxed atmosphere (and no doubt the alcohol) made this a very friendly place and you'll find yourself swapping tips of wines to taste and then tourist advice with your international fellow tasters by the end. I think all the visitors when we were there were international; this may not appeal to locals as much as it is one of the more expensive attractions we visited, but for West European travelers I think it represents really good value as the admission is cheaper than a bottle of House wine in most UK restaurants, and you get to try so many wines.

If you are visiting Budapest, then this is an attraction with a difference, and although not cheap, ultimately offers good value for wine drinkers. We visited on a Saturday at about 6.15pm and although there were several other small groups there we didn't really get in each others way, as you just skipped to the next section if people are there and backtracked to the ones you missed. Our entire group (eight of us) enjoyed the visit and it was a good ice-breaker as some of us had not met friends of friends before. Needless to say we were all new best friends by the end of it, and no, we couldn't walk in a straight line when we left. I have to say if I ever went back to Budapest I would definitely come back to this place with friends.

Cheers!
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