Wine and Food

Villányi Franc, Vylyan, 2011, Red-wine from Hungary

6,5 points

If you would buy wine because of the beautiful or inspiring design of labels than you would not buy this wine! Of course it is a matter of taste as art and wine is, but the logo of the vinery is really remarcable ugly. I really believe many people who do not know too much about wine buy a bottle of course also because of its design.

Vylyan is the name of a winery in the Villány wine region in Hungary. Their estate is around the village Kisharsány. Villány is one of the most southern wine areas named by a smaller country city. The hills (with seven summits) actually are also named Villány.

This wine became my most liked Cabernet Franc! It’s a straight forward wine, truthful, without any squiggle and artificial experiments. Normally Cabernet Franc is rather tough, the addition to any Bordeaux to cool the rich cuvee down and with relatively strong acidity. Although I wouldn’t call Vylyan’s Cabernet Franc elegant, it is very delicate, rather nonchalant which comes along with a very fine and eclectic complexity. This wine delivers fruity aromas as like dark cherries and redcurrant, it cares some herbals flavors – even eucalyptus – and wooden notes in the combination of a little bit dark chocolate and coffee beans.

Cabernet Franc vine seems to suit to the soil of the Villány area, at least to the estate of Vylyan. Vinery belongs to Mónika Debreczeni who runs it since her father died who has been the founder. Istvan Ipacx Szabó is in charge of making wine. They produce 600.000 (!) bottle per year and offer a big variety of wines as you can see at their webpages. I have tried almost all of them. Another highlight aside of Cabernet Franc for instance is their Pinot Noir. You can find everything on Vylyan’s webpage: http://www.vylyan.hu/

Another really interesting and surprising aspect about this wine is the vintage. 2011 has been obviously a very good vintage in Villány. In some regards the vine areas in Hungary differ very much. Eger is completely different than Villány for instance. I had just some days ago also vintage 2012 (dwineandfood.net/2016/03/06/villanyi-franc-vylyan-2012/) and it wasn’t much worse than 2011. There is a difference, indeed, but due to the quality of winemaking and maybe for these vines in particular weather conditions aren’t too important.

This said, I remain to say, this is the best Cabernet Franc in certain regards I know – not being a big fan of Cabernet Franc. Seven points are a lot, indeed! But please consider the price of one bottle is between € 10 and € 12 only! This is great value for your money! You can order wine directly at the vinery.