One day, I went to a spa where people could swim, but I chose to relax in the hot tub and saunas. During the week, I visited a different winery where Roland and I tasted the wines in tank with the winemaker. The winemaker there lived in Calistoga for two years and we talked about different wineries and breweries that he remembers.
At Fuleky, we pressed the small amount of aszu that they picked this year. It only made half a barrel of wine and it won't be the highest quality, but at least I got to see what happens. On my last day of work, my boss gave me five bottles of great wine to take home with me. I would have liked to be paid in money, but wine is good too. I left behind some clothes because the wine was more valuable. I even declared it on the customs form for $300, but no one asked me any questions.
For my last few days I visited the town of Eger, which has a historical area with old buidlings built in the Baroque style. The inside of the basilica was quite impressive. There was a castle to walk through and the northernmost minaret from the Ottoman empire.
I spent my last night in Budapest drinking wine with a couple of Australian guys because I had too many bottles to fit in my bag. I think it was appropriate that I was drinking wine the night that I had a phone interview for a harvest job in New Zealand.
I only slept one hour before I had to catch the 4am train to the airport. The first flight went to Frankfurt, then on to Las Vegas. I enjoyed watching the landscapes pass by beneath the plane. Norway was covered in snow and had a lot of lakes. Greenland was amazing. There were icebergs, snow-covered mountains, dramatic valleys, and one building with lights on for some poor researcher in the middle of nowhere. While lining up with the runway in Vegas we passed over Hoover Dam and saw the snow on the mountains around the city. The airline, Condor, got bad reviews online, but I was quite happy with them. There were no personal video screens in the plane, but it was also very inexpensive.
In Vegas, the hostel I stayed at was not as nice as the ones in Europe, but the staff took us out to the Stratosphere and we wandered around Ceasar's Palace for a while. I even met a Hungarian guy and we both know the same person in Tokaj. Although, I will give the hostel a good review for the free pancakes in the morning. It was exactly what I needed.
At the airport I had to take 4 pounds out of my bag, but the flight to Santa Rosa went well and now I am happily back at home. At this point I feel like I should have some sort of conclusion with what I learned on my trip...
While there are cultural, social, economic, and other differences most people just want to live a happy life with food, shelter, family and fun. The places I can recommend going to are New Zealand, Fiji, Turkey, and of course Europe. I want go to Egypt again only to dive in the Red Sea. I would not go back to South Africa because I didn't like the people. I feel like I saw Hong Kong in a few days and there's not much more to do there. Hungary got a bit dull after a while, but I would go back to see all the nice people.
Whoever is reading this: I hope you enjoyed it, but I'll be glad to be finished because writing this blog was like doing homework!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
November in Hungary
Working at Chateau Dereszla has been pretty easy and involves a lot of tasting. The people are very relaxed and friendly. Having a few fluent English speakers around is helpful too.
I spent a weekend in Budapest to feel the excitement of a city again after being bored with the village life of Tokaj. Roland from work took me with him to a party of his old college friends, then I stayed at a hostel and talked with the other travellers. I was surprised that everyone there spoke English at least passably. It was another instance of me feeling lazy for not knowing another language that well. While in Budapest, I visited the House of Terror, which was the headquarters of the Nazis and the Communists. It has been turned into a museum now, showing off the disturbing things that happened there including the cells for prisoners in the basement.
Back in Tokaj, I visited another winery which had the best wines in tank and barrel that I'd tasted here so far. The cellar was a new building, but the hotel was a 200+ year-old manor house. It was cool. Speaking of cool, one day everything was covered in frost. It was very pretty, but not as warm as I would like. This is easily the coldest growing region I've worked in. But I have just two more weeks here before I fly home. Hopefully I won't be covered in ice by then.
I spent a weekend in Budapest to feel the excitement of a city again after being bored with the village life of Tokaj. Roland from work took me with him to a party of his old college friends, then I stayed at a hostel and talked with the other travellers. I was surprised that everyone there spoke English at least passably. It was another instance of me feeling lazy for not knowing another language that well. While in Budapest, I visited the House of Terror, which was the headquarters of the Nazis and the Communists. It has been turned into a museum now, showing off the disturbing things that happened there including the cells for prisoners in the basement.
Back in Tokaj, I visited another winery which had the best wines in tank and barrel that I'd tasted here so far. The cellar was a new building, but the hotel was a 200+ year-old manor house. It was cool. Speaking of cool, one day everything was covered in frost. It was very pretty, but not as warm as I would like. This is easily the coldest growing region I've worked in. But I have just two more weeks here before I fly home. Hopefully I won't be covered in ice by then.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Back to work...sort of
The harvest has been winding down, so it is not very busy at Fuleky. Lisa took a trip to Prague, then to Austria to visit her family. Gyuri also went to Austria, so the guys at the winery said it was a holiday for us. We were free of the boss.
For the weekend, my coworker Bertie invited to his house for lunch. I ended up staying for eight hours. His family was very kind to me continually telling me to eat something. We shared photos and talked about our respective countries. He was frustrated because most people in Hungary are poor. The wages are definitely way too low, but they still had a decent (but small) house, car, laptop, and photo equipment (his hobby is photographing birds). Their house cost $10,000 but Bertie fixed all the electricity, water, heating, and painted it. They have enough, but nothing more. They certainly don't have as much as in the US, but they still have a first-world standard of living. Bertie's friend was there as well and he spoke good English, but without him we used Google Translate quite a bit. I'd hate to think what I'd do without it! Use a book?!
I walked around the town of Tokaj, but it was quiet because of a holiday. They celebrate November 1st as the Day of the Dead. They take candles and flowers to the cemetery in remembrance. However that meant that all the stores were closed and I couldn't buy groceries. The hours here are inconvenient without Safeway and 7-11.
At work, the guys let me try Eszencia, which is the sweetest type of wine in Tokaj. It is only free run juice from the botrytised berries, creating incredibly concentrated flavor with only 2-3% alcohol. It was intense. They sometimes add it to tanks of aszu to raise the sugar level.
On Friday, I went to the parent winery called Dereszla. Roland gave me a tour. His English was great because he's been to Australia, New Zealand, and California. We tasted out of some barrels and the winemaker, Edit, said I could work there starting some time next week. They dug a lot of caves into the hillside, which made it seem big, but it is still a relatively small winery (350 tons). At least I'll be able to say I worked at five different wineries in one year.
For the weekend, my coworker Bertie invited to his house for lunch. I ended up staying for eight hours. His family was very kind to me continually telling me to eat something. We shared photos and talked about our respective countries. He was frustrated because most people in Hungary are poor. The wages are definitely way too low, but they still had a decent (but small) house, car, laptop, and photo equipment (his hobby is photographing birds). Their house cost $10,000 but Bertie fixed all the electricity, water, heating, and painted it. They have enough, but nothing more. They certainly don't have as much as in the US, but they still have a first-world standard of living. Bertie's friend was there as well and he spoke good English, but without him we used Google Translate quite a bit. I'd hate to think what I'd do without it! Use a book?!
I walked around the town of Tokaj, but it was quiet because of a holiday. They celebrate November 1st as the Day of the Dead. They take candles and flowers to the cemetery in remembrance. However that meant that all the stores were closed and I couldn't buy groceries. The hours here are inconvenient without Safeway and 7-11.
At work, the guys let me try Eszencia, which is the sweetest type of wine in Tokaj. It is only free run juice from the botrytised berries, creating incredibly concentrated flavor with only 2-3% alcohol. It was intense. They sometimes add it to tanks of aszu to raise the sugar level.
On Friday, I went to the parent winery called Dereszla. Roland gave me a tour. His English was great because he's been to Australia, New Zealand, and California. We tasted out of some barrels and the winemaker, Edit, said I could work there starting some time next week. They dug a lot of caves into the hillside, which made it seem big, but it is still a relatively small winery (350 tons). At least I'll be able to say I worked at five different wineries in one year.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
From one harvest to another
On my last day of work, I made a white wine blend then said goodbye to everyone at the winery. Edouard drove me to Budapest where I stayed in Alain's apartment. Alain came to Budapest the next day and we went out to dinner and agreed to keep in contact. He wanted to see Hungarian grape varieties in the US, and I later learned that one of them is being tested at UC Davis right now so that it can be planted in the US when it is approved. He also suggested that I work in the Cote du Rhone in France next year because he knows someone there.
Friday morning, Edouard drove me to Fuleky Winery in Tokaj. It is actually in a village called Bodrogkerestur, but it is easier to say Tokaj to refer to the region. When we showed up we toured the very small winery (500 case production) and tasted wines in barrel, tank, and bottle. It was a good lunch. Tokaj is much prettier than Villany because there are more hills and color in the trees vineyards, and two rivers converge next to the village. Edouard explained that Tokaj has been famous for hundreds of years, but under communism the quality of the wine decreased, so since then there has been outside investment and high quality wine is being made again.
Most people at the winery speak some English, a few speak French, one also speaks Spanish, and of course there's German and Hugnarian. Sometimes I hear four languages in a minute of conversation. A very useful tool to help us understand each other is Google Translate. It will even speak the other language!
I met two winemakers from a larger winery called Dereszla which works with Fuleky sometimes. Both winemakers speak very good English and one even worked in Santa Rosa at Copain custom crush for a harvest. They said I may be working at Dereszla sometime later because it is not very busy at Fuleky.
For dinner one night, we went to Buffalo Bills which was exactly as it sounds. An American-themed restaurant. The best name for a meal was the "Chuck Norris Favorite". We were with the vineyard manager from Dereszla who had also worked in Sonoma County. When he said Healdsburg, I said Bear Republic, and he smiled because it is world-famous.
On Monday I picked aszu berries (the botrytised one) from among the healthy berries in the clusters. There were not very many. It took the two French guys and me three hours to pick enough for one bottle. When we finished, no one arrived to take us back to the winery, so we walked for an hour. There has not been great communication so far, and not because of language issues. That night I ended up with a cold, then spent the next day picking normal grapes on Tokaj Hill.
I went to the doctor for some good drugs and spent a couple days off work to rest. Yuri kept trying to get me to drink wine or schnapps, but I know better. He made sausage and potatoes for dinner and called it healthy.
Friday morning, Edouard drove me to Fuleky Winery in Tokaj. It is actually in a village called Bodrogkerestur, but it is easier to say Tokaj to refer to the region. When we showed up we toured the very small winery (500 case production) and tasted wines in barrel, tank, and bottle. It was a good lunch. Tokaj is much prettier than Villany because there are more hills and color in the trees vineyards, and two rivers converge next to the village. Edouard explained that Tokaj has been famous for hundreds of years, but under communism the quality of the wine decreased, so since then there has been outside investment and high quality wine is being made again.
Most people at the winery speak some English, a few speak French, one also speaks Spanish, and of course there's German and Hugnarian. Sometimes I hear four languages in a minute of conversation. A very useful tool to help us understand each other is Google Translate. It will even speak the other language!
I met two winemakers from a larger winery called Dereszla which works with Fuleky sometimes. Both winemakers speak very good English and one even worked in Santa Rosa at Copain custom crush for a harvest. They said I may be working at Dereszla sometime later because it is not very busy at Fuleky.
For dinner one night, we went to Buffalo Bills which was exactly as it sounds. An American-themed restaurant. The best name for a meal was the "Chuck Norris Favorite". We were with the vineyard manager from Dereszla who had also worked in Sonoma County. When he said Healdsburg, I said Bear Republic, and he smiled because it is world-famous.
On Monday I picked aszu berries (the botrytised one) from among the healthy berries in the clusters. There were not very many. It took the two French guys and me three hours to pick enough for one bottle. When we finished, no one arrived to take us back to the winery, so we walked for an hour. There has not been great communication so far, and not because of language issues. That night I ended up with a cold, then spent the next day picking normal grapes on Tokaj Hill.
I went to the doctor for some good drugs and spent a couple days off work to rest. Yuri kept trying to get me to drink wine or schnapps, but I know better. He made sausage and potatoes for dinner and called it healthy.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
One last week in Villany
I did not go to Tokaj a week early, so I have spent one more week in Villany. The highlight at work was learning bad words in Hungarian. "Baszd meg" is my favorite. I finally got paid a big wad of cash. It was about 100,000 Forints, which sounds impressive, but it's only about $500. The Japanese intern and I both made white wine blends to see who could make the better one. Alain will make his own and decide which one he wants to use. Mine had good aromatics, and Tasuku's had better roundness and mouthfeel, so I suggested blending the blends.
We had sushi for dinner. You can guess who cooked. It was all good, but salty because soy sauce goes on everything. There were pork raviolis, fried chicken, and pork steaks. Alain opened a 10-year-old Tokaj wine that was amazing. They used to prescribe it to cure illnesses. I would be happy to drink it to feel better.
Then this morning New Zealand beat Australia in the Rugby World Cup, so I was happy. It was a bloody game making it fun to watch. I also learned some more Hungarian this weekend, but it seems to get more and more complicated the more I try to learn.
By Friday I should be in Tokaj.
We had sushi for dinner. You can guess who cooked. It was all good, but salty because soy sauce goes on everything. There were pork raviolis, fried chicken, and pork steaks. Alain opened a 10-year-old Tokaj wine that was amazing. They used to prescribe it to cure illnesses. I would be happy to drink it to feel better.
Then this morning New Zealand beat Australia in the Rugby World Cup, so I was happy. It was a bloody game making it fun to watch. I also learned some more Hungarian this weekend, but it seems to get more and more complicated the more I try to learn.
By Friday I should be in Tokaj.
Monday, October 10, 2011
End of a harvest, beginning of another
We harvested the last grapes of the season, and work slowed down after that. On Friday, I was looking for cheap flights and I found such a good deal that I bought a plane ticket back home to Santa Rosa on December 1st. I will be happy to see friends and family and they are excited that I am coming back home. As an added bonus, my flight includes a 23-hour layover in Las Vegas. As soon as I told my friends, they wanted to meet me there.
I visited a pool/spa in a nearby town which was very relaxing after the harvest. Alain enjoys rugby, so we watched New Zealand beat Argentina to reach the semi-finals then had lunch. He said he knows a guy in the South of France where I might be able to work.
Alain gave me a book about Tokaj, so I have been reading that and earlier today he said I can go to Tokaj later this week, rather than next week. So I need to finish the book and prepare for another harvest.
I visited a pool/spa in a nearby town which was very relaxing after the harvest. Alain enjoys rugby, so we watched New Zealand beat Argentina to reach the semi-finals then had lunch. He said he knows a guy in the South of France where I might be able to work.
Alain gave me a book about Tokaj, so I have been reading that and earlier today he said I can go to Tokaj later this week, rather than next week. So I need to finish the book and prepare for another harvest.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Festival!
Work has been slowing down recently and the last of the harvesting will be done later this week. One night while a crossflow filter was processing wine, I heard a loud pop and saw a wave of wine flying through the air in my direction. It mostly missed me, but it was still a funny moment. I guess a lot of pressure built up in the machine and that was the result.
The way it looks now, I will go to Tokaj on October 20 to harvest there and stay until I want to leave. Unfortunately, they will not be making much of the sweet aszu wines because the weather was too dry, but it should still be a good experience. Alain put me in contact with a winemaker in Australia for the harvest in February of next year, and he also asked me where I would like to work in France. He knows people in South America, Hungary, Australia, and France. He's a very good guy to know.
My parents sent me a package full of good American stuff like peanut butter, so I can make PB&J's again. It made me happy.
This weekend is the Villany Wine Festival. There was a very good parade, live music, dance troupes, food and wine. It has been a lot of fun, and I even met some other Americans. One of Alain's friends, a French guy, slept at our house Friday night and brought us a bottle of Bordeaux as a thank you. He was a fun guy, but he woke up to watch a rugby match and France lost of Tonga, which is embarrassing for anyone who cares about rugby. He sells corks in and around Hungary.
Yesterday I saw the small wine school in town, went to the parade, and of course had some wine in the evening.
The way it looks now, I will go to Tokaj on October 20 to harvest there and stay until I want to leave. Unfortunately, they will not be making much of the sweet aszu wines because the weather was too dry, but it should still be a good experience. Alain put me in contact with a winemaker in Australia for the harvest in February of next year, and he also asked me where I would like to work in France. He knows people in South America, Hungary, Australia, and France. He's a very good guy to know.
My parents sent me a package full of good American stuff like peanut butter, so I can make PB&J's again. It made me happy.
This weekend is the Villany Wine Festival. There was a very good parade, live music, dance troupes, food and wine. It has been a lot of fun, and I even met some other Americans. One of Alain's friends, a French guy, slept at our house Friday night and brought us a bottle of Bordeaux as a thank you. He was a fun guy, but he woke up to watch a rugby match and France lost of Tonga, which is embarrassing for anyone who cares about rugby. He sells corks in and around Hungary.
Yesterday I saw the small wine school in town, went to the parade, and of course had some wine in the evening.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)