Six guests from Finland were landing in Budapest at 11:20 on a Helsinki flight and wanted to go straight into the vineyards instead of the hotel.
They asked for lunch with wine pairing, a second, smaller winery, and to be at Prestige Hotel Budapest by 18:00. They only had carry-on bags, so their luggage stayed in the vehicle all day.
The shape of the day
- Private van with driver, from Budapest Airport to Etyek and then to the hotel in the city centre
- Etyeki Kúria: lunch at the estate's BRUT 21 restaurant, three courses paired with four of the estate's wines
- Nádas Borműhely: a 10-wine tasting at a small family winery 1.3 km down the road
Etyeki Kúria · lunch, three courses and four wines
Aperitif: Etyeki Kúria Pláne Frizzante White, light and gently sparkling
Apricot cream soup
toasted almonds, mint, homemade apricot compote
Rosé duck breast
cranberry polenta, balsamic beetroot purée, pak choi in brown butter, redcurrant jus
Kúria Red 2022 and Etyeki Kúria Pinot Noir 2023
Lemon tart
cherry coulis, grape must sorbet
MSV Pinot Gris Orange Wine 2024 (skin-contact)
At BRUT 21, the estate's restaurant.
Nádas Borműhely · the 10-wine tasting
Usually 2 sparkling, 6 white and 2 red wines, always including a Pinot Gris and a Pinot Noir. From the winery's range:
- Grüner VeltlinerFermented and aged in Hungarian oak
- Chardonnay Prémium12 months in French oak
- Sauvignon Blanc SelectionPart steel tank, part oak
- “Cimbi” Pinot Gris12 months in Hungarian oak
- “Vagy mi” Pinot GrisOrange wine, 7 days on the skins
- “Ösztön” Pinot Noir
- “Műhelytitok”Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, fermented in amphora
- “Öreghegyi 24”Viktória gyöngye, a local aromatic variety
Fourteen wines across the day: four at lunch, ten at Nádas.
Proposed timeline
- 11:20Land at Budapest Airport. The driver waits in arrivals with a name sign
- ~11:45Drive to Etyek (about an hour to an hour and a quarter)
- ~13:15Lunch at Etyeki Kúria, BRUT 21
- ~15:00Four minutes' drive to Nádas Borműhely
- ~15:15The 10-wine tasting
- 17:00Leave for Budapest
- 18:00Arrive at Prestige Hotel Budapest
All times are approximate and flexible. Final timings are confirmed with the wineries.
The wineries
Etyeki Kúria
Founded in 1996 on Etyek's historic Öreghegy hill, it has grown from 2 to 54 hectares. It was the first winery in the region to plant Pinot Noir for winemaking, and today it also runs a dedicated sparkling wine estate. The BRUT 21 kitchen uses seasonal local produce and mixes Etyek's Swabian traditions with modern cooking. In good weather, guests can sit on the Pinot Noir terrace. It was named Hungary's Most Beautiful Wine Estate in 2022.
Nádas Borműhely
A small family “wine workshop” run by winemaker and horticultural engineer Szilárd Nádas. Most wines are made in a few hundred bottles each, from single vineyards around Etyek such as Öreg-hegy, István-hegy and Szépvölgy. It's a much more local experience than a big estate.
