Péter Nagyváradi grew up close to Villány but was frequently on the road, travelling the world with his geologist father along with a stint living in the States. Visits to national parks, exploring different soil formations and connecting with nature, were part of what led him to become a winemaker. His wife’s grandfather was also an inspiration, working for the Viticulture Research Institute of Pécs; a conservation and research centre that, with more than 1500 species, varieties and clones, is the second largest grapevine gene bank in Europe. After studying viticulture and oenology in Budapest, Péter started working in the wine industry in Villány, heading to Balaton on the weekends where a friend had a tiny cellar. Together, they made 1000 litres of wine to bottle and sell to friends, and with his portion of cash, Péter booked a flight to New Zealand. Travelling New Zealand after an internship at an industrial winery in Marlborough, he had the chance to visit other regions and smaller vineyards, tasting his first natural wine at the biodynamic Cambridge Road in Wellington. After further experience at a winery in Chile he returned to Hungary in 2018 and took a job managing vineyards close to Balaton. Enamoured with the region and its positive energy, he began building his own project, working a neglected plot of Olasrizling (Welschriesling) planted in the 40s and slowly returning balance to the vines. After two patient years of pruning and regenerative soil care, he was rewarded with enough fruit to make wine in earnest. Now with a cellar in Balatonfüred, on the north side of Lake Balaton, Péter works four plots across 2ha, with Chardonnay purchased from organic vineyards he consults for and helps cultivate. The soils vary hugely: Arács, the original plot, lies close to the lake, on rocky limestone with marl and clay; Furmint and Kékfrankos (Blaufränkisch) grow in Monoszló, one plot made up of limestone with Pannonian sediment, and the other with basalt volcanic soil; on the Tihany peninsula, the vines are planted on basaltic tuff, and the purchased Chardonnay grapes are grown on sandy limestone soil.
In keeping with the rest of Péter’s white wines, Perm ’24 was crushed underfoot before the whole bunches were pressed slowly, left to settle in the tank over night and transferred to barrel the following day. After fermentation, it rested on full lees for 11 months, ageing in 225l French oak, with a total of 15mg sulphur at bottling. Creamy, floral and lightly reductive, it’s a great match for asparagus with brown butter, hazelnuts and rocket.