When we opened our hotel we immediately faced the problem what kind of welcome drink, aperitif should we serve for the guests. Though we knew that there were several excellent Hungarian wines in this category, because of the winery behind of Crocus Hotel and Mandula Restaurant it was clear, that we would like to fill the glasses with own, Villány wine.
So we started to make sparkling wines, but it didn’t come to our mind that these would be on the market widely, so we filled them into champagne bottles and closed them with simple crown fastener. But these became very popular among the guests, and more and more asked, couldn’t they take home from them?
Then came 2010, which brought a lot of challenges in the aspect of red wines, but fit excellent to the style of sparkling wines. Maybe we needed this strange double situation for the decision to step on the market with this item.
It was primary when choosing the bottle and design that the bottle had to reflect that youngish and vigorous picture which it contains. For the sake of easy handling we used screw-cap first time for our wines.
Many asked about the name. The basic concept was to create a similar wine to the Italian frizzante, but instead of it we used “frici” in family. When we looked for a name for our new sparkling wine, we decided that in this case the simplest solution will be the best and named it as Frici.
In the first, 2010 we made Rosé Frici from only Menoire variety, but in the next vintages we also added Merlot to it, because we found that the fruitiness of these two varieties supplements each other nicely. In the case of Fehér Frici the basis is Királyleányka, and we also add: Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Ottonel and Chardonnay.
In the case of both wines first we make the basic rosé and white wine with reductive technology. Then we add carbon dioxide, following it we use a filter, which is very important, because the raw bubbles burst out going through it, and a creamy and vigorous texture is formed.
The actual Fehér and Rosé Frici are also on the market now and really good sparkling wines can be made out of a balanced vintage which was 2015. In the years free from extreme heat, the fresh, fruity aromas remain, and Frici is kind and lovable because of these.
Gere Andrea
