I’ve been studying wine and spirits for over two decades. Whenever we travel, I’m obsessed with what I call drinks culture — what a country’s drinks reveal about its people, history, and habits.

I’ve been known to order several drinks off a menu – just so I can taste them. And I could spend hours in the local grocery/wine/liquor store just studying the shelves. Ken is not as enthusiastic about this activity, so I usually send him off to climb a mountain or something.

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We spent four days in Budapest in advance of our Danube River cruise. I did my best to experience as much of Hungarian drinks-culture as I could during that time. Here is my local drinks-culture report from Budapest:

🍷 Wine

Hungary has been making wine for thousands of years – at least since the Roman times. And yet, Hungarian wine remains oddly under-appreciated outside of Hungary. This is probably because most Hungarian grape names cannot be pronounced by anyone whose first language isn’t Hungarian. Feeling brave? Try: Cserszegi Fűszeres.

The history of Hungarian wine follows a familiar European arc. It takes root and prospers under Roman rule, nearly collapses during 16th-century Islamic occupation, and is pushed to the brink again by the phylloxera epidemic of the late 1800s. The 20th century brings another low point under Communism, when mass production all but erased viticultural identity and individuality. Hungarian wine has only recently begun a revival, reclaiming indigenous grape varieties, and allowing them a long-overdue renaissance.

Wine Tasting in Budapest

I knew I was going to want to taste some wines while we were in Budapest, so I did some research about how to get the most bang for the buck. I ended up booking a wine tasting at Bortodoor Budapest – a wine bar owned by three friends from the USA, UK, and Australia. If you’re a wine lover and find yourself in Budapest, I highly recommend this experience. Super knowledgeable staff, and English is the pivot language here.

On our food tour of Budapest, we stopped at a super fun wine bar called Vinikli. Curiously, it’s also a bicycle shop. They have a great selection of Hungarian wines, the staff speaks perfect English, and they are happy to teach you all about said wines.

As a sommelier, wine tasting can be a double-edged sword. One one end of the wine tasting spectrum is the get drunk in a hurry experience: you belly up to the bar and taste a handful of entry-level wines while mostly ignoring everything the host says about them because you’re not there to learn, you’re there to get tipsy. I avoid that experience at all costs. On the other end of the tasting spectrum is the highly technical classroom experience where everyone is swirling and spitting and furiously writing tasting notes. I try to land somewhere in the middle when we travel. I want to learn something, but I don’t want an academic experience.

Both of these two wine bars give you a good compromise experience: educational without being too technical.

Tokaji: The Wine of Kings

Any discussion about Hungarian wine starts with Tokaji (pronounced TOE-kai). Tokaji wines come in a range of styles, from dry to intensely sweet, all originating from the Tokaj region of Hungary, and made from six native grape varieties – primarily Furmint and Hárslevelű (pronounced however you want; confidence is key). If you’re feeling brave with your Hungarian, the other four grapes are: Sárgamuskotály, Zéta, Kövérszőlő, and Kabar.

Styles of Tokaji Wine

Here’s the basic style line-up for Tokaji wines. They’re all great to know about, but the wine everyone wants and should try/buy is Tokaji Aszú.

Dry Furmint

One of my favorite Hungarian wines. The Furmint grape is known for its high acidity (which is why it’s the backbone of the famous Aszú sweet wines) and mineral character. It’s delicious as a stand-alone dry wine, too. This one from Disznókő is particularly good, and readily available in the US.

Tokaji Late Harvest

Wines made from grapes picked later in the season that allow for the development of noble rot (Botrytis cinerea), but with less concentration than Aszú wines. A fine wine, but really just an understudy to Tokaji Aszú.

Tokaji Szamorodni

Szamorodni means “as it comes” and is made from whole bunches of grapes that have a mix of botrytized and healthy berries. It can be dry (száraz) or sweet (édes), and often has an oxidative character (think: Sherry). It’s really fun to taste one (it can be a challenge to find in the US), but again, Tokaji Aszú is the star of the show.

Tokaji Aszú

This is what you came for. Tokaji Aszú is one of the world’s great sweet wines, possibly the greatest, as long as you are not asking a Frenchman (who will say Sauternes) or a German (who will say Trokenbeerenauslese). The grapes have been affected by noble rot (Botrytis cinerea), which sounds like something you’d need antibiotics for, but is actually a magical fungus that turns grapes into concentrated drops of honeyed brilliance.

Tokaji Aszú is an utterly transformative experience – a wine that is perfectly balanced between sweetness and acidity. Tokaji Aszú tastes like honey, dried apricot, golden raisin, and candied orange peel. It’s elegant and complex and it just might blow your socks off and across the room.

Tokaji Eszencia

The rarest and most expensive “holy grail” of Tokaji. It is the free-run juice that drips from the aszú berries under their own weight and can have over 450 g/L of residual sugar and very low alcohol content (around 2-3%). Essencia wine is exceptionally expensive, ranging from around $500 to over $1,000 for smaller 375ml/500ml bottles.

A few years ago, Ken bought be a 100ml bottle (just over 3 ounces) and it was $350. It was an incredible experience to taste eszencia, but in terms of bang for the buck, I’ll buy the six puttonyos Aszú all day, every day.

How to Buy Tokaji Aszú

When selecting a bottle of Tokaji Aszú, look for the following:

• Producer Name: This is the most important indicator of quality. Reputable producers include Royal Tokaji, Disznókő, and Oremus. You can get high quality boutique producers, but for ease of purchase (and availability), stick to the big guys.
• Puttonyos Level: For Aszú wines, the sweetness level is measured in puttonyos (or how many baskets of noble rot-affected grapes are added to a base wine). Higher numbers indicate more sweetness. Easy peasy, right?
  • 3-4 Puttonyos: You’re not likely to see this term on a bottle anymore – it was discontinued in 2013.
  • 5 Puttonyos: A balanced and luscious sweet wine, with at least 120g/L residual sugar. A great starting point for most wine lovers.
  • 6 Puttonyos: Richer, more intense, and almost syrupy, with 150g/L or more residual sugar. These are often for special occasions and can age longer. Treat yourself. Buy the 6 puttonyos.

Olaszrizling

Olaszrizling (also known as welschriesling) is a classic Central European white grape variety with fresh acidity. It’s similar to furmint, but doesn’t have the same high acidity structure. While furmint is serious and structured, olaszrizling is elegant and reliable.

We tasted an olaszrizling from Dubicz Sárhegy at our Bortodoor Budapest tasting, and it was my surprise favorite of the dry whites. I would have bought a whole case if I didn’t have to lug said case all over central Europe to get it home.

Kékfrankos

Kékfrankos is Hungary’s most widely planted red grape and has decided it wants to be taken seriously. Kadarka is difficult to grow, delicate, and unpredictable – which is wine language for worth the trouble. It produces lighter-colored reds with bright acidity and peppery spice.

Kékfrankos was the house red wine on our Viking River Cruise. I was happily surprised they selected a local wine, and while it was perfectly drinkable, it was nothing special. But kudos to Viking for going local.

Viking’s house white was a Pinot Grigio, which was a head-scratcher to me. They could/should have gone more local/authenic with a dry furmint or an olaszrizling from Hungary.

Bull’s Blood aka Egri Bikavér

Hungary’s second most famous wine (behind Tokaji) is probably Bull’s Blood of Eger, or Egri Bikavér.  According to legend, in the 16th century, Turks laid siege to the Castle of Eger.  Frightened villagers sustained Hungarian troops with red wine from their vineyards, and the Hungarian troops fought courageously and tirelessly – eventually beating back the Turkish army.  Rumors circulated that the wine the Hungarian troops drank was mixed with bulls’ blood to give the soldiers strength.  Eger was saved, and Bulls Blood wine was born.

The wine itself is a bold red blend, with little to no actual bull’s blood, and usually based on Kékfrankos. It’s designed to be sturdy, spicy, and satisfying. It pairs well with red meat, hearty stews, and feeling vaguely invincible.

Final Thoughts

Hungarian wine is historic, distinctive, and full of personality. It offers incredible value, unique flavors, and the joy of discovering something genuinely different. If you have a wine merchant with access to Hungarian wines, start that conversation. You can thank me later.

🍐 Pálinka

Pálinka is Hungary’s national drink. It has a reputation as both a celebratory drink, and a medicinal cure-all. Hungarian grandmothers swear it can fix anything from a sore throat to a broken heart. Pálinka is a clear, extremely potent, schnaps-like drink, distilled from various tree fruits. The iconic Hungarian version is plum, or szilva. But Hungarians will make pálinka from just about any fruit that grows on a tree (apricots, pears, and cherries, quince).

After the fall of communism, small-batch producers resurfaced, and in 2008 the European Union granted pálinka a protected geographical status, confirming what Hungarians already knew: only fruit grown and distilled in Hungary can use the name pálinka.

As is the case with almost all liquors, you can get really good pálinka and you can get really bad pálinka. Let price be your guide. You get what you pay for. My verdict: pálinka is good, but I’m still Team Schnaps – all day, every day.

Ruin Bars

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Budapest’s ruin bars – the bars that accidentally became cool after decades of neglect. Walking into a ruin bar is a sensory experience. These bars are in crumbling old buildings with exposed (and maybe even falling) bricks. All of the furniture is mismatched, there are vintage chandeliers precariously hanging from the ceiling, and a crowd of people who look like they read Kafka for fun. But somehow, amidst the graffiti, fairy lights, and furniture scavenged from someone’s grandparents’ basement, everything sort of makes sense.

If you’re in Budapest, hanging out in a ruin bar is a fun way to spend an afternoon.

🍺 Beer

Hungary is famous for wine and pálinka, which means Hungarian beer has spent decades quietly sitting in the corner. This is unfair, because Hungary makes perfectly respectable beer. Most Hungarians grew up with lagers like Dreher, Borsodi, and Soproni. And they are pretty good beers – mostly because they are not trying to taste like grapefruit, pine forests, or an emotional journey. They taste like beer.

Hungary also has a lively craft beer scene, because the world has collectively agreed that every country must now have at least one IPA named after an animal. I’ll stick to lagers, though. IPAs taste like angry garbage water.

Bottomline: Hungarians do not overthink beer. They drink it, they enjoy it, and then they order another one.

🌿 Unicum

Unicum, Hungary’s famous herbal liqueur, is very dark, very bitter, and made from a secret blend (it’s never not a secret) of herbs. It was created in 1790 by Dr. József Zwack who tasted it and said: Yes. This. The world needs this. Dr. Zwack offered the tonic to Emperor Joseph II, and upon tasting it, the emperor allegedly declared, Das ist ein Unikum! (this is unique) and the name stuck.

Unicum is traditionally consumed after meals to aid digestion, or before meals, or instead of meals, depending on how Hungarian the situation is.

What does Unicum taste like? Bitter, bitter herbs. It’s similar to Jägermeister, but less spicy and more aggressive. Unicum is one of those it grows on you liquors. Translation: it doesn’t taste good, but we drink it anyway. For me: I’m glad I tried it, don’t need to drink it again.

And that’s a wrap on Hungary’s drinks-culture.

Egészségére (cheers)!