PAP Wines
Szent György-Hegy, Hungary (Balaton)
PAP — short for Papa Áron Pince — is the two-person project of Áron Molnár and Karina Vissonova, who since 2013 have farmed six hectares of organic and biodynamic vines on Szent György-hegy, a two-million-year-old extinct volcano rising above the vineyards northwest of Lake Balaton. Easily one of Hungary's most dramatic wine sites: a flat-topped basalt butte ringed with stone columns, with vines climbing its lower slopes.
Everything — farming, winemaking, tasting, bottling, even the label design — is done by Áron and Karina themselves. The cellar philosophy is total: nothing is ever added, , no sulfites, no fining, no filtering. Just eight to ten thousand bottles a year, fermented and aged in a mix of old barriques, amphorae, and qvevri buried the Georgian way.
The grapes are all Balaton classics — Olaszrizling, Hárslevelű, Kéknyelű, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir — turned into wines that range from direct-press whites to skin-contact ambers and long-macerated volcanic reds. The labels are art in their own right, built from 1960s and '70s drawings and wood cuts by István Molnár, Aron's father.
IMPORTED SELECTIONS
Bazalt
Don't Tell Mama
Jumis
Tanc (Pinot Noir)