When wine lovers think of the Villány wine region, what undoubtedly comes to mind are the great wines and the international grape varieties that produce them. The pinnacle of the A.GERE portfolio is also built on these varieties. At our winery, rooted in seven generations of winemaking tradition, we also consider it important to showcase our lesser-known, time-honoured varieties, and one of the finest ways to do this is through Fekete Járdovány.
The history of this grape variety at our winery began when Attila Gere decided to embark on an exciting experiment with old Hungarian grape varieties that have since almost completely disappeared from wineries’ offerings and can now only be found in the gene banks of research institutes.
In 2004, he therefore approached the Pécs Research Institute of Viticulture and Oenology. In consultation with the researchers, they selected seven grape varieties: Csókaszőlő, Bakator, Balafánt, Purcsin, Feketefájú Bajor, Kék Bajor and Fekete Járdovány. The goal was to determine which of these best suited the Villány terroir and the preferences of modern wine consumers.
We planted two rows of each grape variety right next to our winery building so we could observe them up close. While these two rows of each variety were not enough to produce wine on their own, they were perfectly suited for observing what kind of fruit the Villány growing region produces under varying vintage conditions. We therefore studied the vines, drawing conclusions from the cluster structure, skin thickness, and the vines’ resistance to disease. After considering all these factors, we concluded that the Fekete Járdovány variety was the most promising.
We first planted a significant quantity of it in the Csillagvölgy vineyard, but only in stages. As this grape variety was unavailable at nurseries, after the initial grafts we received from the research institute, we could only rely on our own pruning material to obtain grafts suitable for further planting. Nevertheless, we continued our work undeterred, and today the area of our vineyards producing Fekete Járdovány exceeds one hectare; we are cultivating it not only in Csillagvölgy but also in Ördögárok.
We will always remember the time when we had enough grapes from our own vineyards to make our first wine on our own. It quickly became clear that this wine would have a fundamentally different style than the international varieties we were used to in Villány. It displayed a unique character that bore a closer resemblance to Pinot Noir, Kékfrankos, and Kadarka. As with those varieties, it is not the body that defines Fekete Járdovány, but rather its spiciness, fruitiness, finesse, playfulness, and uniqueness that make the wine memorable. What we — and its ever-growing fan base — love most about it is that it offers a new perspective on our wine selection.
It took time, of course, to figure out how to handle it in terms of both viticulture and winemaking. We had to learn what kind of pruning it prefers, what yield restrictions to apply, how to ferment it and what kind of barrels to age it in. We don’t know of any other winery that makes varietal wine from Fekete Járdovány. We had no model to follow, so we had to blaze our own trail.
One important lesson was that, given the wine’s characteristics, it is not worth using new barrels; we only use second- or third-fill barrels for almost a year to avoid overwhelming its fruitiness and lightness. It was also fascinating to observe how it responds to vintage variations. It produces high-quality grapes in every vintage, demonstrating its reliability. At the same time, we’ve observed that its Járdovány character is most pronounced in more moderate, balanced vintages, while the Villány terroir becomes dominant in warmer, drier years.
For a long time, all we knew about the variety was that it had been cultivated in Transylvania even before the phylloxera epidemic; then, a source we hadn’t even anticipated revealed even more about it. Once, a group of foreign journalists visited us, among them José Vouillamoz, the Swiss scientist who is the world’s most renowned grape geneticist. Together with Jancis Robinson, he co-authored a serious, exceptionally comprehensive, and voluminous book on the world’s grape varieties, so we thought that if anyone deserved to see the Fekete Járdovány, it was him.
We were surprised to find out that he had never even heard of this grape variety; he immediately asked us to send him fresh shoots so he could perform a DNA test. Based on the results, it turned out that this grape variety does not exist anywhere else in the world, not even under a different name, nor is it a hybrid of any other two varieties—so it is considered completely unique. Moreover, after the genetic testing, it also became clear that it is a completely different variety from Fehér Járdovány, which bears a similar name.
We are proud to be part of bringing this old grape variety from the Carpathian Basin back to life, so that we can show many wine lovers today what a delightful, unique wine can be made from it.
