BÁLINT LÁSZLÓ
DipWSET
My story
Loving wine started out as a simple hobby. I’m an electrical engineer by trade and I run a tech company. When we were celebrating my company’s anniversary in 1998, we visited what was then considered a new wave restaurant: it offered “modern” cuisine along with expertly paired wines.
At the time, I didn’t realize the significance of this event... But to this day, I do know that the appetizer was paired with a Muscat Lunel (now known as “sárgamuskotály”) from 1997 by Gróf Degenfeld, and a 1995 Thummerer Bull’s Blood from Eger accompanied the main course. My life changed forever in a flash.
I treasure a few of these bottles to this day. If this is what wine - no, WINE, all caps! - was all about, I definitely wanted to know more!
As soon as I completed every wine course available in Hungary, I beelined for WSET’s London-based diploma and graduated in 2009. I now teach at the prestigious “Borkollégium”, Hungary’s center for elite wine education. Meanwhile, I managed a winery and continue to consult for several wine estates and other industry organizations (please see “References” for more information).
I’ve been judging wines regularly for BORIGÓ magazine for over a decade and have headed up Winelovers100’s jury for a few years now. These hands-on engagements help expand my horizon and provide incomparable practical experience. And, perhaps most importantly, they enhance my flavor profiling abilities - a key skill for my favorite hobby: blending wine.
MY PHILOSOPHY
What I believe in>
Faulty wine is absolutely unacceptable to me. Wineries these days must create flawless wines if they are to succeed in finding a niche, in being noticed, in remaining active and valued market players.
It’s a beautiful yet weighty responsibility when one makes blending decisions. Not only do you need to consider the aging process but the style of the house and their brand, too… The master blender is able to make each unique quality of any given vintage work in harmony so as to create a blend that is superior to its individual ingredients. Hence my motto: “Blending, a beautiful battle of barrels”!
My mini-estate in Tokaj - all of 0.375 ha, or 0.93 acres - offers the ability to stay actively engaged in winemaking. Naturally, furmint from Tokaj is a personal favorite. I also love Burgundy, especially when on the receiving end of a gifted bottle, as they say.
I’d be remiss not to mention the beauty of bubbles! I’m involved in several sparkling wine projects in Tokaj, too; I always enjoy the challenge of creating the ideal base wine for secondary fermentation.
I engage in thematic wine tastings monthly, whether exploring the world of centenarian vines, the possibilities of Port, or the mature wines of Hungarian wine regions.
Faulty wine is absolutely unacceptable to me. Wineries these days must create flawless wines if they are to succeed in finding a niche, in being noticed, in remaining active and valued market players.
I can’t say I am a devotee of natural, raw wines. I firmly believe that it’s best when processes are tightly controlled - “que sera, sera” is the opposite of my philosophy. Control, though, must be welded with a skilled hand.