The “Great Wine” is a natural wonder and an emotional creation. The winemaker needs exceptional dedication to imagine it first, then to prepare for its arrival with faith, patience and care.

The winemaker creates the right vineyard in the right place: good soil, generous sunlight and a microclimate capable of producing outstanding grapes.

He waits patiently for the vines to reach their honourable age, protects them until ripening, and accepts that the best fruit for a Great Wine appears only in rare vintages.

When fate creates the right conditions, the grapes must be processed quickly and gently. The clean must is placed into the vessel and environment where it can ferment in the best possible way.

During fermentation the winemaker follows every phase closely, because the wine’s development can change from one day to the next.

The crucial moment is the first racking. Too early or too late, and the possibility of the Great Wine may be lost.

After harvest, the winemaker senses through repeated tasting whether the Great Wine may arrive. This creates a lasting state of excitement: he becomes its guardian and its captive at once.

Never ask a winemaker whether he has a Great Wine. He will not say it, especially not to those who do not respect wine enough.

If you love wine, understand it and receive what the winemaker offers with humility, the moment may come when the Great Wine is revealed to you.

The merit of the winemaker lies in creating the conditions, then caring for the wine with patience. The Great Wine itself remains a wonder of the world, an almost divine creation.

Its secret has been researched by many and will be researched by many more, but it will never be fully solved.

Csaba Szörényi, hobby winemaker, Felsőörs, 2004 / 2010