🍷 Sabar Borház

Sabar Borház is a small winery at Káptalantóti, north of Lake Balaton in Hungary. It is named after the Sabar hill, a 217-metre volcanic hill on the edge of the village and, according to the winery, one of the smallest hills of the Balaton Uplands; it belongs to the Badacsony wine region. According to the winery, it was founded in 2009, and Wikidata gives the same year.

According to the winery, its vineyards have since grown to 7 hectares, and it has restored two old cellars on the Sabar hill. Its range is divided into fresh wines, single-vineyard wines and estate wines, plus sparkling wines; it also sells pálinka, a fruit spirit, which is not wine. The winery also offers tastings and a guest house.

According to the winery, its list includes fresh wines, single-vineyard wines, estate wines and sparkling wines, with Riesling bottlings named Hercegfold and Kisherceg, a Kéknyelű, a Pinot Gris and a Cabernet Franc rosé. The Badacsony production specification describes basalt as the region's defining bedrock and an average rainfall of 640 millimetres a year. It requires at least 85% of the named grape for a varietal Badacsony wine and 100% for a white wine named after a vineyard hill, sets yields at 14 tonnes per hectare for white wine and 8.5 tonnes for hill-named wine, and requires at least 4,000 vines per hectare, or 3,300 on slopes steeper than 10%.

Badacsony is a protected designation of origin (PDO) listed in the EU register eAmbrosia. Under EU law a PDO wine must be made entirely from grapes grown in the defined area and be produced there; for a PGI such as Balaton, at least 85% of the grapes must come from the area.

Why it matters to you. Sabar is the name of the hill and the winery; Badacsony or another designation on the label tells you which rules the wine follows. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.