Jasz Laci "Basalt Somlai" Hungary 2019

Press 4 Mix/White • March 2024 Direct Press Selection

The enigmatic Jász Laci is making some of the most uncompromising wines in Somlo. Despite making some of the most exciting expressions of the region's intense volcanic terroir, his wines never get the Somlo designation. This is because Hungary's wine bureaucracy is even more hardheaded and antagonistic to natural wines than France's. Even though he bottles under the most basic Hungarian wine classification, the government still forces him to add sulfur to the wines, though he does the minimum and there is zero free sulfur in the end.

Jász’s ‘Basalt Somlai’ is a blend of Juhfark, Furmint, and Hárslevelű grown on his organic estate on volcanic deposits of basalt. The cuvee is named in tribute to the centuries old “Somlai” wines made from similar grapes in this region. The wine is co-fermented spontaneously in stainless steel. The grapes spend one night on their skins and the wine is aged for 6 months on its lees before bottling.

The bouquet lures you in with notes of honeysuckle, ripe stone fruit, lightly spiced, and a creamsicle floating around in the background. The palate echoes this with ripping electric acidity, ripe stonefruit, citrus reminiscent of Sunny D, with racy minerals to round it all out. This is definitely high on my list summer thirst quenchers!  Jonathan Kemp & Jeremy Hernandez