“From a tiny little grapevine watered with much love and will” grew the first ever wine-tasting event of Funzine, a truly enjoyable viticultural experience.
Expats from across Budapest joined native wine lovers in one of Budapest’s most dynamically growing wine bars, Andante Borpatika, a perfect location to praise, cherish and leisurely converse over the heavenly artifacts of the Tiffán cellar.
Indeed, rarely do we take the time to learn about the story, the history the cheerful anecdotes behind a glass of red or white. Luckily, Zsolt Tiffán, 10th-generation heir to a highly reputable winemaking business in Villány and proud host of the event, instructed those present with great expertise. Anecdotes ranged from Turkish-era battles to recent family stories, from barrel-making to grape-picking techniques. And as audience questions raced across the aisles in the Q&A sessions, the more gastro-oriented turned their attention to the seamlessly arriving mangalica sausage-Black Forest Ham plate, a real treat for meat aficionados.
After the honorable crowd was all wined and dined in true Tiffán style, and before the Chain Bridge visible through the front windows started to appear suspiciously unsteady, a final challenge was announced: blind tasting, the ultimate impulse to gather all our sobriety and recall the four magic words: the evergreen Port (or more precisely: Portugieser, for further explanation turn to Brussels), the Immortal, the Old Fashioned and the Pinot Noir. Without a doubt it was congratulatory if not magical that a handful of us got them right and the lucky few even won special vouchers for further self-indulgence. Alas, we did not get as far as joining in a collective impromptu drinking song and wine poem repertoire. All that is yet to come.
Anna Stumpf