Kolonics Winery – Somló Region

Károly Kolonics’s family goes back several generations in the Somló area. He has a reverence to this terroir, which is evident in his textbook Somló style wines. They are rich, full-bodied, and waxy, perfectly reflecting Somló’s volcanic terroir with minerality, saltiness, and concentrated flavors.

Kolonics grows Olaszrizling, Furmint, Juhfark, and Hárslevelű on 9 hectares of mostly in thick basalt crumble soil vineyards. He is a traditional winemaker, and typically ferments his wines in oak, and then ages them for one to three years before bottling. He is serious about his unique aging methods.

His wines are all named for the barrels in which they mature, so he can produce multiple versions of single varietal wines from the same vintage, each aged in a different oak or acacia barrel, resulting in different styles. A photograph of his great-grandfather, who emigrated to America before World War One, appears on all of his labels.