The Estate & the Wine region
It has been almost ten years since owner Szabolcs Homola has chosen Paloznak as his second home. Since then, the goal has been to bring out the best of the exciting local vineyards and to create something lasting. The winery is situated in one of the best valleys of the Balatonfüred-Csopak wine district, where it cultivates on a 15-hectare private territory.
In order to respect the region’s traditions, our primary variety is Olaszrizling, but we also pay special attention to Kékfrankos and Sauvignon blanc. The winery’s top wines, marketed under the name Selection, are also selected from these varieties in the form of a barrel or vineyard selection. 5 vast vineyards provide the basis for our production. These are the Gölye-mál in Alsóörs, the Lapi and Óvár vineyards in Tihany, the Sáfránkert and the Hajnóczy vineyards in Paloznak.
The estate centre is located above an ancient Roman Road, surrounded by historic vineyards. The wine production takes place in a brand new winery close by and the short term plan is to extend the winery and open an event centre. The wines of Homola are a joint creation of the owner Szabolcs Homola and the head winemaker Attila Homonna. They place great emphasis on experimentation and traditional winemaking, as demonstrated by the barrel-fermented and aged Homola series, such as the Sáfránkert Olaszrizling, the Hajnóczy Olaszrizling, the Parti Szél cuvée and the Kékfrankos. We harvest by hand and carefully select the grapes. Most wines in the Homola series are fermented spontaneously.
The ‘100% wine family’ represents the popular basic range of the Homola Winery. These fresher, lighter, reductive wines radiate a real Balaton feel.
The wine district
The Balatonfüred-Csopak wine district stretches along the northern shore of Lake Balaton, from Zánka to Balatonalmádi and belongs to the Balaton wine region. Besides the famous Balatonfüred and Csopak, its most significant villages are Paloznak, Lovas, Felsőörs, Szentantalfa and Balatonszőlős.
The geological structure of the area shows a very complex picture. The oldest formation is a metamorphic phyllite shale of the Silurian age. The ancient volcanic rocks deposited in between provide a favourable place for quality wine growing. The shale is overlain by the Upper Permian sandstone of the Balaton Highlands, which is of a typical red, terrestrial origin and produces red soils rich in silica and iron oxide. Above this, we find various carbonaceous rocks of the Lower and Middle Triassic, whose lime-rich marl gives the loamy soil a white colour.
This calcareous soil is the reason for the distinctive acidity of the wines from Csopak and Balatonmellék. The colour combination of the red and white soil is an attractive landscape feature.
The typical white varieties of the area are Olaszrizling, Rajnai rizling, rizlingszilváni, tramini, muskotály, and in recent decades, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. The most notable red varieties are Kékfrankos, Cabernet Franc, Zweigelt, and in recent decades, the Syrah.
Two distinct wine styles dominate the area. Wines from the Balatonfüred region (which includes wines from Balatonszőlős) are full-bodied, fiery, and have a higher total extract content. Tasters with refined palates often describe these wines as having a mignonette flower note.
In the other region, the Rieslings from Csopak are distinctively elegant, their delicate flavours are complex but never harsh. These wines are more restrained, and even if we assume they have the same alcohol and acidity content, they are much fresher and lighter. However, it is not the lightness of a wine produced from loamy-sandy soils, but the result of a crisp, lively acidity.
It’s no coincidence that only the Rieslings from Szentgyörgyhegy can compete with the Olaszrizlings from the Csopak-Berekhát vineyard.
A területen két – mondhatni önálló – borstílus különböztethető meg. A Balatonfüredi tájegység (ide tartoznak a balatonszőlősi borok is) borai testesebbek, tüzesebbek, magasabb extrakttartalommal bírnak. E borokat kifinomult ízlésű kóstolók gyakran rezeda illatúnak írják le.
A másik tájegységben a csopaki rizlingek jellegzetesen elegánsak, finom savaik összetettek, de soha nem durvák. Itt a borok tartózkodóbbak, és ha azonos alkohol- és savtartalmat is feltételezünk, karcsúbban, könnyedebbek. Ez természetesen nem a sovány löszös-homokos talajok borának könnyedsége, hanem a lendületes savak adta élénk savérzet eredménye. Nem véletlen, hogy a Csopak-berekháti dűlő olaszrizlingjeivel csak a szentgyörgyhegyiek tudnak vetélkedni.
The “Csopaki”
“Csopaki” is one of the iconic wines of Lake Balaton, as it symbolizes the unity of this wine region. The name indicates a wine from Csopak, a category with a local Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label.
Uniquely in the country, the geographical designation of the wine is associated with a single grape variety. In fact, according to the regulations of the wine region, only those wines can be labelled as Csopaki or have a Csopaki Protected Designation of Origin, which are pure Olaszrizling, and the grapes come from the protected vineyards of Csopak. Wines from other grape varieties or Olaszrizling outside the Csopak wine-growing district may not bear the name.
One of the reasons for this special protection is that Olaszrizling is a traditional and still dominant variety in the Csopak area. The presence of this grape in Csopak dates back one and a half centuries, with the first written record dating back to 1862. Around the turn of the century, its popularity increased rapidly, and it soon became an essential element of the Csopak vineyards. It is the time when the name Olaszrizling and Csopak became inseparable.
Another reason for its protection is that, according to public opinion, the Csopak variety has the most elegant proportions, delicate acidity and mineral flavours.
The Csopak Codex
The Csopak Codex is the country’s first and, to date, the only voluntary origin protection system, focusing on Csopak and its traditional variety, the Olaszrizling. Its purpose is to provide a higher level of protection for the quality of the Csopak wine and to fill shortcomings in the official regulations of the region. The wine, granted the trademark of the Codex, must comply with the country’s strictest quality and origin protection rules.
The regulations have four main pillars, such as the geographical borders of the protected area, the cultivation of the protected vineyards, the viticultural work and the quality of the end product. The Codex distinguishes between wines without a vineyard designation and wines with a vineyard designation.
Homola Csopaki uses first-class Olaszrizling grapes from the Hajnóczy vineyard. No yeast is used, the fermentation is spontaneous, and it is aged in 500-litre oak barrels. The result is a harmonious and dry wine, with balanced acidity and alcohol, where a delicate minerality meets the typical aromas and flavours of Olaszrizling.
