Uncorkmywine - Wine Education | Interviews | Wine Travel

Jan Eggers
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I am certified Sommelier and WSET Diploma student discovering the world of wine with your. This channel includes tastings of grape varieties, producer interviews, and travel reports. Thanks for joining my journey.

  1. 2d ago

    Johanniter: The PIWI Grape Poland Took to Its Heart | Winnica Silesian

    Johanniter was crossed in 1968 in Freiburg, Germany, but German winemakers never really embraced it. Poland did. I taste the Johanniter Sur Lie 2021 from Winnica Silesian in Lower Silesia: Riesling freshness, yellow apple, honey and brioche, at only 11.5 % alcohol. Along the way: the grape's genetics (Riesling × Freiburg 589-54), why it thrives in cool climates, and the surprisingly long history of wine in Silesia, with the first vineyards near Trzebnica in 1206. Today Poland has ≈ 1,100 ha of vineyards, 724 vine growers and 324 wineries (KOWR, September 2025). 🍷 In the glass: Winnica Silesian, Johanniter Sur Lie 2021 · Silesia, Poland · 11.5 % alc. 🎥 Watch the video: https://youtu.be/gQvJUnvuFek 🎙 Interview with winemaker Esben Madsen (Winnica Silesian): https://youtu.be/WqXhStEyo1U 🍇 Hibernal, a German PIWI grape with a similar story: https://youtu.be/Iwlqsx1h8eY 📖 Source: Wine Grapes by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz Chapters 0:00 Polish wine 0:30 Johanniter: the grape 1:13 Winnica Silesian 2:00 Genetics: Riesling × Freiburg 589-54 3:53 Wine history in Silesia 5:10 Tasting: Johanniter Sur Lie 2021 7:21 Final thoughts The Wine Grapes Project: tasting all 1,368 grape varieties, one bottle at a time. 🌐 https://uncorkmywine.com

    Johanniter: The PIWI Grape Poland Took to Its Heart | Winnica Silesian

  2. Aug 7

    Cramposie Selectionata

    Cramposie Selectionata

  3. Aug 2

    Hibernal: The German PIWI that found its home in Slovakia. Found in Bratislava.

    I was a bit in doubt if I find this PIWI variety as a dry single varietal wine, only few German winemakers come to my mind who might have tried it...... However, luckily, this German PIWI cross found a new home in Slovakia, where the local winemakers really bring out some greatness in this grape variety. Get more from my wine journey on Instagram 📷 References Vejrhøj "Daler" Danish Hibernal Sparkling Market in Bratislava 1. Grape and PIWI angle Hibernal is a fungus-resistant PIWI hybrid, crossed in 1944 at Germany's Geisenheim institute from Riesling and Seibel 7053. The Seibel parent carries American vine genes, and with them a resistance to mildew that lets growers spray a handful of times a season instead of a dozen. Bred in Germany, it found its home abroad, in the Czech Republic and now Slovakia. 2. The find Picked up at a Saturday craft market in Bratislava from a tiny southwest-Slovakian grower with barely a website to their name. A dry 2024 at around ten euros, likely unfiltered, from the kind of unknown producer you only stumble on in a wine region still flying under the radar. 3. The tasting Pale, faintly cloudy, 13.5% and likely unfiltered. Fresh and floral on the nose: citrus, green apple and pear from the Riesling side, riper peach from a warm vintage, a creamy lees texture and the faint green-pepper note typical of PIWI grapes. The palate is lively and lightly spicy, the acidity holding well, with a medium-plus finish. Clean and complex for the money. Wine Tasted Vino Ráchela Hibernal 2024 sec

    Hibernal: The German PIWI that found its home in Slovakia. Found in Bratislava.

  4. Jul 30

    Cserszegi Fűszeres: Impossible to pronounce, yet a powerful, aromatic, Hungarian crowd-pleaser.

    At the Sebestyén winery in Szekszárd, a region given over almost entirely to red wine, Sebestyén Csilla opens the bottle on a rare white in the portfolio: Cserszegi fűszeres, an aromatic Hungarian crossing the family planted to start tastings and win over people who think they don't much like wine. Get more from my wine journey on Instagram 📷 1. Origin and grape Cserszegi fűszeres is a Hungarian crossing of Irsai Olivér and Roter Traminer, bred in 1960 by Károly Bakonyi and named after Cserszegtomaj, a village near Lake Balaton, with fűszeres meaning "spicy." It inherits Traminer's perfume, all lychee and spring flowers, but holds a fresh acidity that keeps it composed even in warm vintages. Early to ripen and hardy in the vineyard, it is as easy to grow as it is to like. 2. Why a red estate grows a white Szekszárd is red-wine country, some 90 percent of it, so a white here is a deliberate outlier. Csilla explains that her brother wanted one white to open a tasting with, and chose a local crossing over an international name. Planted on a plateau and fermented in stainless steel to preserve its freshness, it also appears in a lightly sparkling version that lifts the aromatics further. 3. The tasting On the nose it is unmistakably of the Traminer family, lychee, peach and flowers, aromatic without tipping into the overpowering. The palate then pulls back, more delicate and grapey than the perfume promises, carried by a medium-plus acidity that keeps it approachable rather than sweet or heavy. It is the kind of white that draws in people who claim not to drink wine, which is precisely the point. Wines Tasted Sebestyén Cserszegi fűszeres #wset #wineeducation #wine #winetasting #hungarianwine #magyarbor #whitewine #winelovers

    Cserszegi Fűszeres: Impossible to pronounce, yet a powerful, aromatic, Hungarian crowd-pleaser.

  5. Jul 27

    Kiralyleanyka: This Hungarian white grape lost its whole royal family tree after genetic testing.

    Kiralyleanyka was long thought to be the same grape as the Romanian Feteasca Regala, bit genetic analysis confirmed that those two grape have nothing to do with each other... A classic and refreshing white wine, popular throughout Hungary, but especially in the Eger region, where it is part of the Egri Csillag blend. Get more from my wine journey on Instagram 📷 ⁠Instagram⁠ Wine Tasted Bolyki Kiralyleanyka 2025 Bolyki Winery ⁠Website⁠ Description Eger's "little princess" is one of Hungary's quiet workhorses: a fresh, structured white that lends backbone to the Egri Csillag blend. Long dismissed as a cheap summer wine, it's taken seriously again by producers like Bolyki, whose crisp, citric, almost spritz-like version shows what it can do. Its real fascination is genetic: for decades it was thought identical to Romania's Fetească Regală, until DNA proved the two unrelated, leaving Leányka as its confirmed mother and its father a mystery. Királyleányka, the "king's daughter," is an Eger native with a tongue-twisting name and a tangled past. In the vineyard it's a fussy, small-berried diva prone to rot; in the glass, at least in Bolyki's hands, it's all green apple, lemon and salty freshness, with a faint carbonic tingle. Once assumed to be the same grape as Fetească Regală that simply crossed from Romania under two names, it was shown by Wine Grapes' genetic work to be something else entirely: the daughter of Leányka, by an unknown father. A crisp, easy-drinking Eger white that's far more interesting than its mass-market reputation suggests. Királyleányka anchors the Star of Eger blend, and Bolyki, working from a spectacular quarry winery with famously playful labels, makes a vivid, spritzer-fresh example. Behind the wine sits a genetics detective story: the long-held belief that it was Romania's Fetească Regală under a Hungarian passport, undone by DNA that revealed no relation at all and left the "little princess" with a known mother, Leányka, and a lost father.

    Kiralyleanyka: This Hungarian white grape lost its whole royal family tree after genetic testing.

  6. Jul 25

    Czech Wine - Frankovka - Moravia | Interview with Jan Stávek

    Frankovka, as they call Blaufränkisch/Lemberger/Kekfrankos here in Czech Republic fits perfectly to the terroir of Nemcicki. Despite warmer temperatures, he does not see a problem for the future. With regards to the more difficult vineyards, Jan uses Blaufränkisch-based PIWIs to reducing labor hours. Vitiforestry and breaking up monoculture are also at the center of efforts here. Planting fruits and vegetables in the vineyard, interrupting the rows of vines to create "connection channels" for the forest parts, and ultimately, as Jan did, having planted more than 3,000 trees, replant forests. For Czech Republic and its wines, Jan is optimistic for the future. But it needs effort to placing Czech Republic better on the export markets. Instead of many different varieties, especially the ones difficult to pronounce, he would prefer that winemakers focus on two or three signature varieties, Frankovka, Pinot Noir, Palava for example to show the dedicated work and signature of Czech wines.

    Czech Wine - Frankovka - Moravia | Interview with Jan Stávek

  7. Jul 23

    Hárslevelű: The hidden gem within the Tokaji Aszu blend. outstanding example by Demeter Zoltán.

    I always had a crush on Hárslevelű, the aromatic backbone of the Tokaji Aszu blend. However, this grape deserves much more attention than it gets, especially in a dry style, where it really performs when made by talented winemakers like Demeter Zoltán. Get more from my wine journey on Instagram 📷 Instagram Wine Tasted Demeter Zoltán Szerelmi Hárslevelű 2024 Demeter Zoltán Winery Website Description Hárslevelű is Tokaj's second white after Furmint, widely known as the aromatic backbone of Tokaji Aszú, yet far too rarely drunk as a dry wine in its own right. The name explains the wine: hárs is the linden tree, levelű means leaved, so this is the linden-leaved grape, named both for the rounded leaf in the canopy and for the acacia honey, linden and pine-needle aromatics in the glass. The linden itself carries weight in European folklore as the tree villages gathered under to hold court and sign peace treaties, and, in literature again and again, as the place where people fall in love. The bottle is a single-vineyard 2024 from Demeter Zoltán, who together with István Szepsy pioneered dry winemaking in a region the world had only ever known for its sweet wines. The fruit comes from Szerelmi, from szerelem, Hungarian for love, so loosely the lovers' vineyard. The Demeter name is a coincidence rather than a nod to the biodynamic body: it is an occasional Hungarian given name, the equivalent of the Greek Dimitris. He works largely by hand and aims to draw out the character of each site individually, from a cellar in a house dating to 1790 in the village of Tokaj, where visits and tastings are worth booking ahead. In the glass the colour is deep yellow with golden reflections, and the wine carries 14.5 percent alcohol, fully dry but a clear signal that Tokaj is moderate to warm rather than cool, which is exactly why noble rot and its dessert wines work so well here. The nose brings peach and ripeness, the linden and pine-needle signature, herbal hints and a faintly oily richness, with malolactic and lees-contact depth adding a savoury, almost parmesan note. The palate is salty, fresh and mineral, the alcohol well integrated rather than hot, with a firm acid backbone. A wine to spend a whole evening with, and a reminder of how good this grape is when taken seriously.

    Hárslevelű: The hidden gem within the Tokaji Aszu blend. outstanding example by Demeter Zoltán.

  8. Jul 20

    Zéta: The Invisible Grape of Tokaji Aszú

    Zéta is one of the six grapes permitted in Tokaji Aszú, and one you'll almost never see on its own. It's rare enough as a dry, single-varietal wine that I doubted I'd find one at all — until a wine shop in the village of Tokaj turned up a bottle.Get more from my wine journey on Instagram 📷 https://www.instagram.com/uncorkmywine_official/Zéta is a fitting name. In Géza Gárdonyi's Hungarian novel, Zéta is a Greek slave who moves unseen through the court of Attila the Hun — an invisible man. The grape is nearly as invisible: around 110 hectares, almost all in Tokaj, and mostly used as a blending partner in Aszú rather than bottled alone.It's also a modern variety. Zéta was crossed in 1951 by Ferenc Király — a breeder so fond of the letter Z that its half-siblings include Zenit, Zengő and Zeusz. It was called Oremus until 1999, when it was renamed to avoid confusion with the famous Oremus vineyard and winery. Among the six Tokaji Aszú grapes it earns its place by ripening early and taking botrytis readily, which makes it a useful backbone for the noble-rot sweet wines.The wine here is a dry, 100% Zéta from a small family estate run by Péter Ákos, between the villages of Tokaj and Tarcal, aged in old oak. Pale and greenish, 13% alcohol, and more complex than I expected: citrus and lime, an underripe-peach freshness, wet-stone minerality, and a chemical, almost bergamot edge on the nose, with a light creaminess and roundness from the barrel. Medium-plus acidity, good structure, fresh and lively with a medium finish — a terrace wine that also handles light fish or a cheese plate.

    Zéta: The Invisible Grape of Tokaji Aszú
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I am certified Sommelier and WSET Diploma student discovering the world of wine with your. This channel includes tastings of grape varieties, producer interviews, and travel reports. Thanks for joining my journey.

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