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Nimród Kovács on Hungarian wines featured on Travel Channel’s Journey into Wine
Travel Channel is soon to premiere two new episodes, filmed back in September of 2008, that explore the wines of Hungary - part of its new season’s series titled ’Journey into Wine – Budapest to the Black Sea’.
Introducing the infectious personality and formidable knowledge of the program’s presenter, London-resident, French wine expert Isabelle Legeron, the new series of ’Journey into Wine’ (Borutazások) debuts Monday, January 26, 2009 at 8 p.m. CET on the Travel Channel.
In the exciting new series of ’Journey into Wine – Budapest to the Black Sea’, „Isabelle travels from Budapest to the Black Sea to show that Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania, formerly part of the Communist Bloc, have more to offer than just the mass market plonk found on our supermarket shelves. In fact Isabelle discovers a region with thousands of years of wine making tradition, some of the world’s most famous wine types, and an industry that’s slowly waking up after 60 years of lethargy and neglect.”
Isabelle Legeron began her viticultural journey into Central and Eastern Europe by an exciting exploration of the world of Hungarian wines, setting off in Budapest, the capital city where she was invited – along with the program’s producer Deborrah Lambert and the entire production crew – to meet Nimród Kovács, owner of Kovács Nimród Winery, formerly known as Monarchia Winery, in his residence in Buda’s Cédrus Street.
However, it was no surprise visit: Nimród Kovács has long been good friends with Travel Channel’s owner Richard Woolf, who had recommended that in one of the episodes covering Hungary, Isabelle have a conversation with Nimród Kovács, a true cosmopolitan whose worldwide travels and extensive business experiences not only make him an authentic authority on the local and foreign wine trades but also can offer a valuable insight into the present and future of Hungarian wines both in terms of the domestic and international markets. During over six hours of Travel Channel’s visit with Nimród Kovács, many topics were covered, including such as the unique and distinctive characteristics that set the Hungarian wine regions apart on the world map of top wines; the centuries-long history of Hungarian wines and the thousands of years of local winemaking traditions; and, not surprisingly, the Hungarian gastronomy famous the world over. Of course, Isabelle couldn’t have continued on her journey without tasting some of the premium wines handcrafted by his host’s winery in Eger. Of the Kovács Nimród Winery wines sampled, her favorites were the 2006 Monarchia Chardonnay Battonage and the 2004 vintage Bazilika (the only Superior Bikavér of the 2004 vintage in the world), which she praised as an extraordinary, Burgundy-style cuvée.
Having visited Eger and sampled various wines in numerous local wineries, Isabelle came to the conclusion that Eger was the wine region that was bound to soon earn worldwide recognition thanks to its excellent wines. She firmly believed that Eger’s area got all it takes to put it back on the map of top wine regions of the world; and the progress that had begun and the momentum gained in the mid-90’s, should bear its fruit in the world market of wines in the next one to two years. With such positive projections in mind, she also pointed out the fact that Hungarian winemakers and retailers should pay an even greater attention to the price vs. value factor of their wines, which, in her opinion, could use some adjustments at this time.
Having truly enjoyed themselves, the crew and Isabelle bid farewell to their host, rather; said ’see you soon’ as her pleasant experiences and the excellent wines she tasted made her vow to return and follow up on the promising progress, and is looking forward to sampling the future releases from Kovács Nimród Winery, which should now also reflect the international expertise involved in all stages of the production process and the personal taste of Nimród Kovács himself.
During its twelve-day-long shooting in Hungary, Travel Channel’s crew received support from Magyar Bormarketing Kht. (Wines of Hungary) and Magyar Turizmus Zrt. (the Hungarian Tourist Authority).