Going nuts for fruit brandy at the Agárdi Pálinkafőzde

Pálinka, the fiery fruit-based spirit, is as Hungarian as wine, pörkölt, and pig-sticking. But just as there is a world of difference between mass-produced wines and a fine Villányi red, a top-quality pálinka is light years away from the harsh stuff locals call fence-rippers (keritésszaggató). And some are even better.

The Agárdi Pálinkafözde (Agárd Palinka Distillery) took three of the top five places in the Hungarian category at this year's "Destillata" Awards in Austria (a kind of European Championship for hard liquors), while netting a total of two gold, six silver and five bronze medals - and being named best Hungarian distiller for the third year running. I recently paid a visit to Agárd, on the banks of Lake Velence, to find out what makes the stuff so special.

I was met at the door of the distillery building by the friendly and enthusuastic Tibor Vértes (right), co-owner and production manager, who offered a guided tour of the production process. It starts, as you might expect, with huge boxes of fruit. I peered into one and found 400kg of dried aszú grapes (middle; these are the grapes "afflicted" with the noble rot needed to make the famous Aszú wines of Tokaji), what Vértes calls an "experiment." The fruit, whether grapes, apples, wild raspberries, or something even more exotic, is mashed to produce a base called cefre, which is then fermented slowly at a low temperature in large stainless steel tanks for about three weeks. The resulting pungent, alcoholic mush (bottom), imbued with the natural flavor of the fruit, is then distilled.

Despite being relentlessly traditional in some other areas of production, the Agárd distillery uses a non-traditional reflux- or column still, which means distillation takes place in one step. The whole process is computer controlled, so the unwanted smelly and poisonous distillates (the "head" and "tail" fractions) are safely discarded. "For me," said Vértes, "what is important is not how it is made, but what is in the glass at the end." The bit I was most interested in, the main fraction called the szív (heart) can have an alcohol concentration of up to 90% - as anyone foolish enough to stick their nose into the metal milk pail that collects this essence can tell you. This volatile fluid is diluted to an alcohol concentration of 40% and, hey presto, you have pálinka.

So why is Agárdi pálinka so special? Fruit, says Vértes. He differs from the bulk of pálinka makers, he explains, in his choice of fruit. Traditionally, pálinka has been a way of making something useful out of old, dry or rotten fruit. Vértes is only interested in fresh, good quality raw materials. In fact, he was the first pálinka maker to give his products wine-style "vintages". (Tip: 2005 was a good year for blackcurrant and quince).

The pálinka industry was shaken up recently by an EU decree that the name "pálinka" can only be applied to spirits distilled in Hungary or the Austrian province of Burgenland, and only pure fruit can be used to make it (no added sugar, flavorings or alcohol). That is why Hungary's most famous "pálinka", the pear-scented drink known as Vilmos, no longer carries the name. In fairness to Zwack Unicum, the makers of Vilmos, it should be noted that they do produce the real thing too, and won several prizes at Destillata this year, including a gold for their blackberry pálinka. And, of course, they are responsible for the inestimable Unicum

But that's enough of the science and politics - what does the stuff taste like?Agárdi have two pálinka lines. The basic one, modestly called "Miraculum," has solid versions of the Hungarian pálinka staples: plum, pear, apricot and grape. The "Premium" selection is the more interesting: pálinka made from a wide variety of fruits, each assigned a vintage. Vértes is inclined to use the language of wine for tasting, too ("vanilla nose", "melon" and so forth), but really it would do more justice to the pálinka to say it is all outstandingly clean and pure. You don't receive an immediate presentiment of a killer hangover when you taste it. The flavor is, of course, more difficult to define. The szilvapálinka had the characteristic smell and taste that reminds you more of the skin of plums than the juice (and of course the heat of the alcohol) but I challenge anyone to describe that taste. These pálinkas are, of course, absolutely dry as no sugar is added after distillation. The only permitted modification is ageing in oak barrels for six months, as in the case of Agárdi's Barrique Szilvapálinka, which has a light oaky taste and warm yellow color.

Then the shock came. The erdei vadmalna (wild woodland raspberry) pálinka leapt out of the glass with its exceptional fragrance: here the essence of the fruit has been captured perfectly. And the birs (quince) pálinka that won gold at Destillata this year has a delicious fruity taste and aroma of sour apple and citrus. No surprise: Vértes explained that because of the low sugar content of these sour little apples (2005 vintage), 100kg only yielded 1.5 liters of distillate, which equates to about six half-liter bottles of pálinka.

Which explains why some of his pálinkas can cost over Ft 10,000 for a half liter. But, as Vértes reminds us, whereas an Ft 2,500 bottle of decent Hungarian wine is gone in an evening, a bottle of pálinka lasts indefinitely. Not if it tastes like the wild raspberry or the quince, one suspects, but he has a point.

As mentioned above, Vértes likes to try new things: he has been salting away two barrels of Agárdi Scotch Whisky each year. The Zempléni oak barrels will sulk in the cellar for another five years before you get to taste Hungary's first-ever single-malt Scotch. Then there is his new sideline in pure fruit jams, and a line of liqueurs including a Jägermeister-like bitter made in partnership with the Benedictine monks of Pannonhalma (who have been in the wine game for centuries), and some deliciously sweet aperitifs. This summer will see the opening of a tasting shed with capacity for 50 visitors. The small-scale Agárdi Pálinkafözde was only set up in 2002, yet last year the distillery produced 60,000 bottles; Vértes hopes this will rise to 100,000 in the next few years.

If you can't wait until summer, you can find Agárdi pálinka at many hotels, bars and restaurants in Hungary (only 1-2% of Agárdi pálinka is exported). Retail prices range from about Ft 3,000 for a Miraculum pálinka to over three times that for the prizewinning stuff. The House of Hungarian Pálinka (A Magyar Pálinka Háza) has an online price list and and some interesting information (albeit in Hunglish) about "The Pálinka."

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