Gere Tamas & Zsolt

This traditional wine estate produces 140,000 bottles of wine on an area of over 35 hectares and is located in the most southern wine region of Hungary Villány-Siklós.

Father, Tamás Gere, the founder of the family winery has handed over the torch to his son Zsolt Gere, an animated and passionate winemaker.

Villány is unique because of its location, the soil and the temperate Mediterranean climate. The family winery brings a wide range of quality wines where the emphasis is still on the blue grapes Kékoportó and Kékfrankos. However more and more international grape varieties such as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot are being planted.

Since 2009, Zsolt follows the principles of integrated plant protection for one third of the vineyards . Here extra strict rules apply concerning the use of all sorts of chemicals.
These rules are imposed by the government and they regulate what natural products should be used. Moreover there is a careful monitoring of the purchase and use of chemical pesticides.

If the wine adheres to an increased use of natural products, the winemaker may receive some government subsidies in return.

The average age of the vines is 10 years.
Until 2003 the plantation density was 5,500 vines per hectare, the distance between rows was 2.2 meters and the distance between vines on a row was 1.7 meters.
Since 2003 the plantation density was 7,200 vines per hectare, the distance between rows is still 2.2 meters but the distance between vines on a row is 1.2 meters. One of the advantages of a greater number of vines in the warm Villány is that the grape leaves are better protected against sunburn.

The harvest on the family domain Gere is largely manual using large plastic baskets and starts for the precocious Kekoporto (Portugieser) traditionally on september 15.
The harvested grapes are carefully selected and destemmed, put in a stainless steel tank and alcoholic fermentation begins.
For the basic red grape Kékoporto (Portugieser), the first fermentation lasts up to twelve days after which the grapes are pressed.
For the noble grape varieties Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Kékfrankos (Blaufränkisch), the fermentation takes between twenty and thirty days to complete.
Once malolactic fermentation is finished, the wines are stored either in stainless steel tanks for white and rosé wines or new oak barrels in French or Hungarian oak for the better red wines.
The best wines on the estate Gere Tamás & Zsolt mature at least eighteen months in oak barrels.