The Bottom Shelf

2000 Thummerer - Egri Bikavér

This is a Hungarian red wine that is, I believe, a blend of five different native red grapes. Egri refers to the region, meaning from Eger. Bikavér translates to bulls blood and it is aptly named. It is very strong with very complex flavors and in my opinion very good. I love this wine cause you get to enjoy non Western European grapes which you rarely see anywhere else.

I had my first Egri Bikavér when I was living in Hungary back in aught aught and loved it immediately. In fact, back then I really didn’t care for wine much so this is probably what got me into wine in the first place. I bought a bottle of Thummerer’s 1997 Egri Bikavér before a left and kept it for a couple of years before finally opening it in 2002. In 2004 my parents took a trip to Hungary and I asked them to get me some Egri Bikavér on their way. When they came back they had two bottles of the very same wine that I bought four years before.

So last weekend I opened my first of the two and shared it with Katie’s parents and my parents. Like I said before it was really strong and very complex. Katie didn’t know what to make of it at first but by the time her glass was empty she really liked it. I of course enjoyed it from the first sip. Unfortunately I’m not much good at describing wines, something I’ll try and work on, but if you have the opportunity to go to Hungary, don’t forget to try the Egri Bikavér and if you can the Thummerer version.

PS Trader Joe’s does sell an Egri Bikavér but it isn’t as good as the Thummerer.