Havas & Timár Winery
Eger Region
Havas & Timár Winery is a small winery in Eger, founded by two long-time friends—Balázs Havas and László Tímár—in 2011. Balázs, a Budapest native, is the winemaker and oversees the vineyards. The pair started out with no vineyards of their own. But today they own one hectare (2.5 acres) of land in Eger and they buy the rest of their grapes from local growers, with the quality strict controlled by Balázs. Before switching to winemaking (and studying it at Corvinus University in Budapest) Balázs had a career in hospitality, with nature being a particular passion of his. He loves that winemaking allows him to follow both his passion for nature and for wine.
Franom (Cabernet Franc), 2018
This is 100 percent Cabernet Franc from 30-year-old vines from Eger’s Rádé vineyard. The Bordeaux variety of Cabernet Franc has found itself very much at home in Hungary. While the southern region of Villány has been building the Villányi Franc brand, Cabernet Franc also thrives in the cooler climate and volcanic soils of Eger, which provide the impressive structure-building acidic backbone. Winemaker Balázs Havas and his co-owner László Timár are childhood friends who created this winery after studying winemaking and working in hospitality. They only have 1.5 hectares of their own vineyards. But they buy grapes from other local growers, and are actively involved in the vineyard work and harvesting. Their philosophy is to make wine from only the best, fully-ripened grapes. Their goal is for all of the grape’s own aromas and flavors to be fully present. Havas decided against filtering the wine to keep the fine flavors at their fullest. He has managed to capture Cabernet Franc’s highly sought herbaceous, leafy note by picking it earlier rather than later, on the cusp of full ripeness, well before the grapes became overripe. He also does several harvests to get only the most perfect grapes. This wine has juicy fruitiness and spiciness in abundance, with pronounced aromas and flavors of eucalyptus, tobacco, autumn leaves, cassis and truffles, as well as the dominant fruits (black cherry, blackberry, sour cherry, and black currant). The lively and long acidity brings tension and makes the wine very long and refined on the palate. This is a medium-plus rather than full-bodied, but really complex and elegant, with a thick finish. It’s the ideal companion for red meat and game, as well as just about anything grilled.
Franom Hordóválogatás (Cabernet Franc), 2017
Villány is not the only Hungarian region which produces notable single varietal Cabernet Franc wines. Cabernet Franc also thrives in the cooler climate and volcanic soils of Eger, which provide the impressive structure-building acidic backbone. Winemaker Balázs Havas is a big fan of this grape (Franom means “my Franc”). This wine has the herbaceous, leafy note which is evident in the best Cabernet Francs, as well as juicy fruitiness and plenty of spiciness. There are pronounced aromas and flavors of eucalyptus, tobacco, autumn leaves, cassis, black currants, black cherries, cloves, vanilla, dried cherries, plums, and truffles. There is so much going on in this wine—even a bit of Worcestershire sauce and A1 sauce umami flavors. It has an amazing lively and long acidity, with a long and refined finish. This unfiltered Franom Hordóválogatás (Franom barrel selection) is a more concentrated version of the winemaker’s favorite Franom. For this wine, he chose the three best barrels of Franom, and continued to age them. It has been aged in new oak barrels for 21 months, with an additional two more years of bottle aging before release. This is a really complex and elegant wine, with a smooth and satiny texture, and fresh tannins. It’s a powerful wine, perfect for your finest steak. It really benefits from decanting. Just 880 bottles of this wine were produced, and only in the best vintages.
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Pinot Noir, 2016
Pinot Noir thrives in the relatively cool climate of Eger in northeastern Hungary, even in a warm vintage like 2016. Harvested at the end of September and beginning of October from 20-year-old vines from two different plots and two different clones of the Kis-Kocs vineyard. The very warm autumn also saw overripe and shriveled grapes making it into the picking bins alongside more acidic, just ripe grapes—and the balance between concentration and freshness in the resulting wine is perfect. Fermented in open tanks with punching down by hand. Aged for 12 months in second-fill and older 225 liter barrels. It was bottled unfiltered. Just 2,600 bottles were made by winemaker Balázs Havas. Vibrant dark cherry color of medium intensity, complex Pinot Noir aromas striking a complex balance between earthy, floral and red fruit aromas, with mushroom, truffle, violet, cranberry, strawberry, raspberry and some dark chocolate. Similar notes appear on the long palate, along with a spicy finish and Pinot’s trademark restrained tannins. Ideal with lamb, poultry and game.
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