From the atlas
Béres Vineyards and Winery
At A Glance
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| Location | Erdőbénye, Tokaj, northeastern Hungary |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Hectares | 45 |
| Grapes | Furmint, Hárslevelű |
| Winemaker | János Jarecsni |
| Range | Dry Furmint, dry Hárslevelű, Szamorodni, Aszú |
| Flagship | Lőcse dűlő single-vineyard Furmint |
The Producer
Béres Vineyards and Winery planted its first vines in 2002 in Erdőbénye, a village near the southern edge of the Tokaj wine region in northeastern Hungary. The family came to the project not through inherited land or a commercial brief, but through attachment to Tokaj itself and to the particular character of the wines it produces. That motivation shaped an estate built from the ground up: 45 hectares farmed on volcanic tuff-loess soils, two native grapes at the centre, and a range that covers the full breadth of what Tokaj can make.
Winemaker János Jarecsni leads production. The estate's flagship parcel is the Lőcse dűlő, a single-vineyard Furmint site within the Erdőbénye estate whose rhyolite tuff-loess soils give the wine its mineral character. The range extends from dry Furmint and dry Hárslevelű through Szamorodni to Aszú, placing Béres across both the contemporary dry-wine revival and the sweet styles that made Tokaj famous across Europe for three centuries.
Place
Tokaj is a UNESCO World Heritage wine region in the far northeast of Hungary, where the Bodrog and Tisza rivers create autumn mist that encourages noble rot on the Furmint grapes. The region's reputation rests on Aszú, a sweet wine made from botrytised berries selected by hand and measured in puttonyos, a unit counting the number of baskets of affected fruit added to the base wine. Tokaj also holds one of the oldest wine classifications in the world, predating Bordeaux's 1855 system by more than a century.
Erdőbénye sits toward the southern end of the Tokaj region, on hills where volcanic geology dominates. The landscape is hillside and valley, with parcels carved into slopes that catch afternoon sun and shed water quickly. Rhyolite tuff, the predominant volcanic rock here, holds warmth through the day and releases it slowly at night, extending the ripening window for Furmint and allowing the late-harvest timing that Aszú and Szamorodni both require.
Soil And Site
The Lőcse dűlő, Béres's named single-vineyard parcel, sits on rhyolite tuff-loess soils. Rhyolite tuff is volcanic in origin, formed from compressed ancient ash deposits, and it drains freely while retaining enough warmth to concentrate flavour in the grape. Loess, a wind-deposited mineral sediment, adds a finer textural layer and contributes to the mineral salinity that distinguishes Tokaj Furmint from expressions of the same grape grown on other Hungarian soil types. The combination suits Furmint's natural drive toward high acidity and stone-fruit concentration, and it provides the conditions for selective botrytis development in the right autumn seasons.
Story
When Béres was founded in 2002, Tokaj was midway through a long recovery. The region had spent the communist decades producing industrial sweet wine under state cooperative control, and the quality and reputation built over centuries had largely collapsed. After 1990, a wave of investment arrived: foreign capital, returning Hungarian families, and committed growers who believed the region could reclaim what it had once been.
Béres entered at this moment, motivated by love of the place rather than by a map of the market. The estate grew to 45 hectares in Erdőbénye and committed to both ends of the Tokaj range: dry Furmint and Hárslevelű as everyday expressions, and the full Aszú tradition alongside them. In 2015, thirteen years after the first vintage, the estate was elected Most Beautiful Vineyard of Hungary, a recognition tied as much to the physical care of the land as to the wines it produced. The award arrived without the prestige of a classified-growth listing or a long family lineage in the region. The estate earned it on the merits of what it had built.
Vineyards And Cellar
The 45-hectare estate is farmed around Erdőbénye, with the Lőcse dűlő as the named single-vineyard parcel. Furmint and Hárslevelű are the two principal varieties across the estate.
Fermentation uses a combination of stainless-steel tanks and oak barrels, a method that allows the winery to preserve the fresh fruit and acidity of dry Furmint in tank while building texture through barrel contact in the same vintage. The Lőcse Furmint is aged on yeast sediment in traditional 215-litre zemplén oak barrels. These are small by Hungarian standards and specifically associated with the Zemplén hills that enclose the Tokaj region. Lees contact in that format softens the mid-palate and adds a creamy texture without covering the mineral line that the volcanic soil contributes. The small barrel volume limits the oak influence, keeping the wine's fruit and acidity at the front.
Wines
Béres makes four styles, each occupying a distinct position in the Tokaj range.
The dry Furmint is the largest-volume tier, made to be drunk young or with a few years of bottle age. Furmint at this level delivers high natural acidity, white peach, apricot and citrus peel, with a clean finish shaped by the grape's natural phenolic grip.
Dry Hárslevelű is the aromatic counterpart: softer, more floral, with linden blossom and a rounder texture than Furmint. The two grapes cover different moods in the dry-wine tier, and together they represent the contemporary Tokaj argument that the region produces world-class dry whites, not only sweet ones.
Szamorodni is the bridge style, made from whole clusters that carry varying proportions of botrytised grapes. It can be dry or semi-sweet depending on the vintage. The botrytis influence adds a walnut, dried apricot, and oxidative note that separates Szamorodni from the fruit-forward dry wines.
Aszú is the historic apex. Made from puttonyos of individually selected botrytised berries, it combines deep sweetness with Furmint's high natural acidity, so that the wine finishes clean despite its concentration. Béres produces Aszú as part of its commitment to the full Tokaj tradition.
The flagship single-vineyard expression is the Lőcse dűlő Furmint. Where the estate-level dry Furmint is a broad introduction to the grape, the Lőcse version is parcel-specific: one named site, one soil type, aged on lees in zemplén oak.
In The Glass
The Lőcse dűlő Furmint opens with white flowers, fresh apricot and a pale mineral note that reads almost saline on the nose. In the mouth the acidity arrives first, the kind of firm, mouth-watering acid that lifts everything behind it. Stone fruit follows: peach and apricot in a concentrated mid-palate that the lees ageing rounds slightly without softening the line. The zemplén oak contributes texture rather than flavour, and the finish is long, mineral, and clean.
Across the broader range, Hárslevelű brings linden blossom and a gentler citrus quality, with less of the structural tightness that Furmint carries. Szamorodni adds dried fruit and a savoury, slightly oxidative note depending on the vintage and the proportion of botrytised clusters in the harvest. Aszú at its best from Tokaj is dense and honeyed but not heavy: the natural acidity cuts through the sweetness, keeping the wine fresh through a long finish.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Béres Lőcse dűlő Furmint. It is a single parcel on rhyolite tuff-loess, aged on lees in 215-litre zemplén oak barrels, and it does the clearest job of connecting place, grape, and cellar method in one bottle. The acidity is high and firm, the fruit is stone rather than tropical, and the mineral quality is direct: there is a saline thread running from the nose through the finish that comes from the volcanic soil and goes nowhere else. The lees contact adds creaminess without covering that mineral line. This is what Tokaj Furmint tastes like when a single named parcel is treated with care.
Anecdote
In 2015, Béres Vineyards and Winery was elected Most Beautiful Vineyard of Hungary. The estate had been in existence for thirteen years. It had no classified-growth designation, no century of family history in the region, and no headline score from an international critic driving the nomination. The award goes to estates that treat the physical vineyard as something worth maintaining for its own sake: the terracing, the upkeep, the visible care given to the land between the vines. The Béres family had built that from scratch in Erdőbénye, and in 2015, thirteen years after the first vintage, a panel of judges decided it was the most beautiful piece of vineyard land in the country.
Final Word
Béres is a Tokaj estate built by choice rather than inheritance, farming volcanic soils in Erdőbénye across two native grapes and the full range of styles the region can produce. The Lőcse dűlő Furmint is the clearest single bottle: mineral, taut, aged on lees in small zemplén oak, and grown on rhyolite tuff-loess soils.
Sources
- https://hungarianwines.eu/beres-winery/
- https://tokajiborlovagrend.hu/en/wineries/wineries-2016/beres-winery-and-vineyards/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/9494901/
- https://www.winewithseth.com/winewiki/single-vineyard-dulo-tokaj-top-producers-benchmark-expressions/