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Latest News
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Villa
Sandahl 2013 Decanter medals
Last year we received a Decanter gold medal for the 2010
Rhine Riesling The Stamp. We are happy being awarded
another gold medal from
Decanter,
now for the
2011 Rhine Riesling Magic Rain. Like last year's
2010 Rhine Riesling Recept, we also fetched a silver
medal for
2011 Rhine Riesling Cappuccino Oil. As Hungarian
producers, we are happy to receive so much international
recognition. |
Both
2011 Riesling wines among
top-15 at Pannon Bormustra
Pannon Bormustra awarded both our Rhine Rieslings
Magic Rain and Cappuccino Oil to be amongst their
top 15 judged dry white wines. To get positioned between
such celebrities as Oremus and Demeter is encouraging. |
VinCE
wine tastings and post box
We are very glad that VinCE, the Decanter counterpart in
Hungary, gave
Magic Rain 16.6 points, which is four stars out of
five, in their Riesling tasting. By this judgment, it
was the best Riesling from Hungary. The Olasz Rizling
Give Me Five
got 16.3 points and also four stars in their new
releases tasting. Unfortunately it is sold out by us.
VinCE also have published a
nice letter
from their post box. Click
the links for articles in Hungarian. |
Fermenting the 2012 vintage approaching completion
The
2012 vintage has been a bit hard to ferment and thus has
taken almost 5 moths. We ferment at ultra low
temperature, starting at 6 oC and never
exceeding 14 oC. Click
here or on left graph to retrieve an enlarged
diagram. |
See you at Boscolo New York Palace in Budapest
!
Villa
Sandahl will join the wine exhibition at the Boscolo
Hotel in Budapest the 20th of March. Many Badacsony
producers will be there in person to show and explain
their products. Very welcome to our stand.
Invitation in Hungarian, click here. |
Villa Sandahl wish Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
2012
has been an extremely memorable year, our new 2011 wines
made big impact but sadly we also had a vineyard
sabotage. Our Christmas card is as usually out of the
box, click on the
picture for high resolution. |
Swedish
Newsletter 12 (12-12-12)
A newsletter for the Christmas is now released. The
paper Sydsvenskan and the winefinder blog has given
Villa Sandahl high scores,
click here to read. |
Challenging ultra early 2012 harvest
Villa Sandahl has now harvested almost 15 ton Riesling, whereof about
4 ton Olasz. The harvest was difficult, because the
accelerated ripening caused the grapes to accumulate
sugar much faster then overcoming their green and bitter
youthfulness.
The 2012 vintage challenges
The Villa Sandahl cure :
- Risk waiting for optimal ripeness with restrictions of
potential alcohol getting too high or acidity getting
too low.
- Apply a severe pressing declassification, to eliminate
this vintage character of greenness and bitterness |

Villa Sandahl wines available in all Bortársaság
shops

Villa Sandahl is now introduced and
Villa Sandahl wines are available in all
Bortársaság wine shops
all over Hungary. This is yet a breakthrough for us, and
we see a long term relation with this high quality
retailer.
 |
Download
desktop wallpapers and high resolution photos
Be aware that our labels can be downloaded as Windows
desktop wallpapers for most screen resolutions, see
Vintage 2010 and
Vintage 2011
menus. We also have high resolutions photos and
presentations to be downloaded, see
Promotion mtrl
menu. |
Villa Sandahl and Bakó Ambrus being highly praised by

Villa Sandahl is amazed over making such strong impact on the
former wine blogger Csaba Jónás, now writing for Gault
Millau. He has visited Badacsony and did tast a handful of
Bakó Ambrus' own wines and yet another handful of Villa Sandahl's
wines. You simply must
click here to read his very personal and knowledgeable
article on the Hungarian Gault Millau web site.
Click here to read an English
translation. A comment is that Villa Sandahl has own
winemaking methods and management, which can be seen as
an upscale of Bakó Ambrus methods, which then perfectly
match each other. |
Report about the vandalized vineyard by MTV2 mokka

MTV 2 morning program made an extension to their news
report which they sent a couple of days ago. Our wine maker
assistant Földi Bálint guides in the vineyard, and our
Budapest seller dr. Soós Katalin Eszter answer questions
in the studio.
Click here to see the extended report.
Click here to
read an English translation. |
|
Thanks a lot, we are overwhelmed by
your support

Many, many people from Hungary and abroad have
expres-sed their indignation over the senseless crime.
Click
here to see the MTV 1 Badacsony report.
Click here to
read an English translation. This makes us really encouraged to cope and recover from
the sad situation. |
[Press release]
Vandalistic crime to worldclass value national
treasure.
Villa Sandahl has been awarded many gold medals from top
international wine competitions, and thereby created a
lot of good recognition for Badacsony and its world
class vineyards.
However, yesterday was a day of sorrow for Badacsony and
the whole Hungary. Sadly we have to announce that one
0.6 ha Badacsony premium vineyard, cultivated by Villa
Sandahl and owned by local wine producers, has been
damaged very severely by pitiful criminals, cutting off
all new sprouts from 1500 vines of 30 years age at 20 cm
above ground.
The deed is reported to the police for further
investigation of the crime.
For us it is simply disgusting how anybody intentionally
in this way, is capable of destroying one of the best
vineyards in the world ! This is exactly as terrible as
if it has happened in Alsace or Wachau, and then it
would certainly be broadcasted as shocking world news.
  |
Blue nets in place to protect grapes against birds

Near the lake Balaton huge swarms of starlings are
attacking the vineyards to get a luxury meal from world
class material. Sadly for the birds, they leave the nets
with hunger, but luckily they dare not come close enough
to get fasten. |
Villa Sandahl presented by the Hungary television
MTV1

Villa Sandahl is happy to draw recognition by the
Hungarian television. In their summer program from the
Balaton lake, we had the opportunity to briefly explain
our selves, why Hungary, our visions in Badacsony and to
show a couple of our wines.
Click here to see the clip (41 MB wmv). |
Swedish newsletter for vintage 2011 at Systembolaget
A
newsletter in Swedish,
click here to
get it, announce the availability of the 2011
vintage available on the Swedish market. As said before,
it is nowadays very easy to buy from Systembolaget,
click here to get their internet site with our wines.
They can be ordered over internet and fetched from any
of System-bolaget shops a couple of days later. |
Welcome
to Villa Sandahl in Badacsony
During the Badacsony wine weeks, from the 14th to 29th
of July, we will sell our wines from a small chalet in
the centre of the village. This is our second year, now
with a more complete wine portfolio, containing 9 wines
ranging from 2006 to 2011. It will be a pleasure for us
to receive you and present our remarkable journey
through these years. |
Olasz
Rizling Day in Buda Castle
To celebrate the most beloved grape variety of Hungary,
we will show our 'Give me five' in the first Olasz Rizling Day
to be held in Magyar
Borok Háza (Buda Castle, Szentháromság tér 6., H-1014
Budapest, Hungary) the 12th June, 2012, at 14:00. Free
entry for members of the wine trade. |
2011
in bottle
Now we have bottled our 2011 wines:
- Cappuccino Oil
- Give me five
- Magic rain
Release in July :) |
Newsletter
about the medal rain
To inform all our customers, suppliers and other parties
about our medal success during this spring, we have
released a newsletter in three languages -
English,
Hungarian and
Swedish. Obtain them by clicking on desired
language. In Sweden we have a continuous sale, but in
other countries we search for representation. |
Decanter
gold and silver medals to Villa Sandahl
Sandahl 2010 'the Stamp' is the only dry white Hungarian
wine awarded a gold medal. We are extremely proud that
Villa Sandahl now reach one vision to be among the top
Hungarian wine producers. |
 Villa
Sandahl gets five VinCE stars out of five possible
The VinCE magazine recently held a Bala-ton wine
competition at Chateau Visz. Both Sandahl 2010 'the
Stamp' and 'Recept' were awarded five stars (similar to
18 - 20 points out of 20 possible.) |
Villa
Sandahl one of the 15 top white wines at Pannon wine
challenge
Pannon Wine Challenge being one of the most serious
wine competitions in Hungary, judged 2010 The Stamp from
Villa Sandahl as
one of the 15 top white wines at their 13th wine
completion. We are proud that medals keep raining. |
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Villa Sandahl awarded in France with
2 gold medals
Now there is no doubt about the unique high quality
of Sandahl 2010 wines 'Recept' and 'the Stamp'. We
catched
two gold medals (the only 2 medals awarded to
Hungary) on
Les Grands Concours du monde, one of the most
prestigious competitions in the world. In the winner
list we are inter-mixed with world producers such as
Gustave Lorentz, Pierre Sparr och Basserman-Jordan. We
work very hard to conquer the world and to bring
Badacsony back to its former glory.
 |
Newsletter for the Swedish market
A newsletter in Swedish is distributed to all Sandahl
wine friends, mainly announcing the wines to be
obtainable by private persons from Systembolaget and by
restaurants from BonaVite. Click
this direct link for web letter or click
this link for pdf format. |
Villa
Sandahl now available at Systembolaget
The Swedish monopoly has made their sale procedures
much
more consumer friendly.
Our wines can further be found and easily bought,
click here see our wines on
their web. |
Wine
transportation in Sweden
Wine distribution to System-bolaget and restaurants
will be handled by DB Schenker Sverige. |
Importer
to Sweden
Import and sale of our wines to Systembolaget and to
restaurants will be handled by Sandahl International AB. |
Sandahl exhibits in New York Palace (Boscolo Hotel)

This exhibition was very successful for us. Many
shops and restaurant people was praising and cheering us
when tasting our 2008, 2010 and 2011 wines. Later a lot
of private people were also astonished over the high
quality of our wines. |
Wine professionals visiting Villa Sandahl in
Badacsony

From right to left: Müller László, restaurant manager
Chateau Visz, Hermán Gyula, sommelier
Arcade Bistro, Tuza Eszter, sommelier
Arcade Bistro, Lotte Gabrovits, MSC student
agriculture wine, Erdei Tünde, sommelier
Symbol Budapest, Tribol Zsolt, sommelier
Pomo d'Oro Restaurant, Tóth Zoltán, bar manager
Sofitel
Paris Budapest Restaurant, Michael Gabi, Germany,
Hidvéghy Melinda, managing director
Chateau Visz, Horváth Máté, sommelier
Pomo d'Oro Restaurant, Bakó Ambrus wine maker Villa
Sandahl, Soós Katalin
Eszter sales representative Villa Sandahl, and sitting: Kállay Péter, sommelier
Borssó
Restaurant. |
Buy
our wines at
Dionysos
Borház
It is a pleasure to announce that yet another
Budapest shop now sell our wines. This shop has
specialized on distinguished wines from all over the
world, not necessary the most expensive, but merely
having outstanding price-performance ratio. |
Villa
Sandahl new vine-yards getting renovated
2.4 ha of Solitude and Bishop Backyard Rhine Riesling
vineyards are having their vines cut down and bound to a
new modern trellis system for efficient future
cultivation |
Villa Sandahl promotes at New York Palace in Budapest
Villa Sandahl will present their highly appreciated
2010 wines together with samples from the new 2011 wines
(including Olasz Rizling), not being inferior in quality
:- ). For the program see the invitation below. Click at
it to see the full invitation, or go to
www.kostolo.badacsony.com.
 |
Villa
Sandahl participate at Borjour Magnum
Villa Sandahl will be present at the Borjour Magnum
exhibition in Budapest the 18th of February between
16:00 -21:30. More than 120 wineries with over 300 wines
will be presented. Click on picture to enlarge. Very
welcome to us ! |
New Restaurants and Shops in Budapest offer our wines
We are proud that more and more restaurants and shops
are listing our wines on their wine menu.
The new restaurants and shops are :
- Borssó
Bistro

-
Olimpia Étterem

- Boráruda

- Café
Pierrot

- 21 A Magyar Vendéglő

- Pest Buda
Vendéglő

-
Budapest Marriott Hotel

-
Marriott Executive Apartments Millennium Court

-
Baldaszti's Grand

-
Château Visz

-
Kredenc Wine Bar

- Dionysos Borház

-
Trattoria Pomo d'Oro

-
Jásdi Pince Csopak Borászati

Please also use the Google Map below, to easy navigate
to all restaurants and shops offering our wines. |
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How to obtain Villa Sandahl Wines in
Hungary ?
Click on the map below to see on Google maps where to
find Villa Sandahl wines in Hungary.
 |
Pampetrics
Borkereskedés
Villa Sandahl wines are now on the shelves in the
fantastic wine shop
Pampetrics Borkereskedés
,
located close to the center of Keszthely.
The owner Pampetrics György (to the left in picture) is a truly skilled
and passionate wine lover, and he especially likes wines
to be bottle mature. He sells from a storage of more
than 1800 different wines. |
Villa
Sandahl now available in Gödöllő.
The fine bakery and delicatessen shop
Rádi Pékség és Delikátesz
,
located in Gödöllő, a town 20 minutes east of
Budapest, is now selling Villa Sandahl wines. |
Genesis Vineyard Rhine Riesling
harvest and pressing
The whole 2011 growth season is the driest in records
(as was 2010 autumn the wettest). The grape skin is thick with
sharp tannins and the grapes don't taste fully ripe due
to drought stress. The 7th of October our vineyards get
a full day of 'magic rain', followed by 10 sunny days
with cold nights, which make the tannins soften up
without the grapes being diluted. At the 17th of October
we harvested 8 tons of glorious raw material, with
enough acidity and sugar.
 |

Regina Papp, and Anikó Kada, co-editor & sales, of web
site 'We
Love Budapest'
and Szaraz Istvan, internet
communication,
dry,
visit Villa Sandahl for a vineyard tour and tasting.
Very Pleasant. |
 |
Prominent professionals visit Villa
Sandahl, from left:
- Varga Dániel Gergely,Baldaszti's
,with fiancée Dóra
Békefi
- Peller Ágnes,
VinCE Magazine

- Pongrácz Péter, chief sommelier
Costes Restaurant

- Soós Katalin, wine broker Budapest, Villa Sandahl
- Bakó Ambrus, wine maker, Villa Sandahl
- Romhányi Mónika,
MTV Zrt
- Christer Sandahl, quality manager part owner, Villa
Sandahl
- Sipos Tamás,
Vinotaurus
We are proud to get such overwhelming recognition for
our wine operation, which will encourage us a lot to
strive on. |
The Villa Sandahl core team at Costes in Budapest

A party for the passionate core team of Villa Sandahl is
held in Costes restaurant in Budapest. The peak of the
evening is to 'buy back' a 2010 Rhine Riesling 'Recept'
for 17 000 Ft and compare with a 2007 Szepsy Furmint
Urbán at 25 000 Ft, these two being Costes most
expensive white dry wines. The outcome is that one
challenge still remains. |
Villa Sandahl exhibit at Borjour in Baudapest
In
the nice restaurant 'Manna' in Budapest, wine tasting
exhibitions called 'borjour'
are arranged frequently. The visitors can mingle in a
relaxed atmosphere and taste with some food. 2008 Silver
Line was voted very good by the visitors. |
First
Villa Sandahl Olasz Rizling
From the newly acquired vineyard 'Earl Ridge', 4000
kg Olasz Rizling was picked in end of September. This
very appreciated grape in Hungary, does resemble some
Rhine Riesling character, but the varieties are not
closely related. The whole season has been hot an torrid
so grapes were picket with a modest level of acidity and
good level of sugar. The press juice quality was
sensational high. |
Villa Sandahl tour and Swedish delicatessen dinner
It was a pleasure for Villa Sandahl to receive bloggers
and media people from Budapest, and the BonVino
management from Badacsony, for a wine producing seminar
of all possible aspects, followed by a tasting with
Swedish delicatessen.
 |
Blogger
'croque monsieur' at Villa Sandahl
The blogger
croque monsieur visited us on a wine tasting with
dinner, and we talked much about Villa Sandahl being out
of the box. Visit the blog 'out
of the box' which also contains some pictures from
the Káptalantóti market. |
Buy Villa Sandahl wines in centre of Budapest
Sas
Center Borszaküzlet
is a
wine shop in the absolute centre of Budapest, at the
Pest side. The shop offer a selection of inspiring high
quality wines. The shop also offers tastings and wine
tours. |
Villa Sandahl wines available at BonVino in Badacsony
The
new built hotel
BonVino
,
located
in centre of Badacsony, now offers Villa Sandahl wines.
BonVino is a fresh and modern hotel, with comfortable
rooms, a splendid spa and gastronomic restaurant. |
Villa Sandahl conquers Budapest restaurants
Our strategy is to produce world class quality dry white
wine which goes very well with sophisticated food.
Consequently, Villa Sandahl is truly happy that our best
wines are available at Budapest most fashionable
restaurants, such as:
-
Kistücsök Restaurant (Balatonszemes)

-
Fausto’s
Italian Restaurant
-
Borkonyha
Étterem
-
Arcade Bistro

-
Búsuló Juhász Restaurant

-
Ristorante Krizia

-
Dobló Wine Bar

-
Baldaszti's

Since
2 years we are listed at
the famous
Gundel Restaurant
,
and one month ago our wines were listed at the one
Michelin star
Costes Restaurant
,
see below. |
Villa Sandahl wines available at Costes Restaurant
Costes Restaurant
in Budapest was the second restaurant
in Eastern Europe to capture a Michelin star
in March 2010. We are very glad to announce, that from
September 2011 they have our three best wines on
their
wine menu. The Costes management were thrilled by our
high quality, and that fact do certainly place Villa
Sandahl among the best wine producers in Hungary. |
|
New Villa Sandahl label design

From the 2010 vintage Villa Sandahl has changed their
label graphic design. Every vintage and vineyard will
from now on have a unique label. The 2010 labels can be
downloaded for desktop backgrounds, see information
about 2010 vintage. |
Badacsony
Wine Weeks
Villa Sandahl was present on the two Badacsony wine
weeks in the end of July 2011. We made a substantial
impact on locals and official repre-sentatives, and were
very successful with selling our high quality wines with
good prices. |
Villa
Sandahl Newsletter number 8
The newsletter number 8 is now broadcasted to all
Villa Sandahl fans. The biggest news is that Villa
Sandahl wines are now available at a internet web shop
for the Swedish market, see below. |
Internet
sale in Sweden
We are glad to announce that Villa Sandahl wines now are
available in Sweden at the internet web shop
WineFinder
. This is one of the most serious wine
shops for the Swedish market, offering almost one
thousand of carefully selected wines in all price
levels. Already now our 2008 Rhine Rieslings are in
stock, and more wines will gradually be offered from our
portfolio. Click
here
to find our wines on WineFinder. |
|
Villa Sandahl vineyards
Names in English and Hungarian are now assigned to all
Villa Sandahl vineyards. From 2010 Villa Sandahl will
instead of Golden and Silver Line, bottle the 'Golden'
wines from each separate vineyard, and 'Silver'
wines as vineyard blends.
(Click on below picture to download better resolution or
click here to go to Google maps for online maps of
Villa Sandahl). |
Medals from the Badacsony Hill
wine competition
Villa Sandahl is proud to receive 1 gold, 4 silver and 1
bronze medal for their current portfolio.
- Gold medal:
2008 Rhine Riesling Silver
Line
- Silver medal:
2008 Rhine Riesling Golden Line
2007 Pinot Gris Golden Line
2010 Rhine Riesling Golden Line
2009 Rhine Riesling Silver Line
- Bronze medal:
2010 Rhine Riesling Silver Line |
Decanter medals 2011
Villa Sandahl has again been awarded medals from the
presti-gious international wine maga-zine Decanter (click
here and fill in 'Sandahl' in the 'Search by Producer'
field). The 2008 Rhine Riesling Golden Line now took
a bronze, and Silver Line a com-mended medal. Strangely the opposite happened
last year, that the Silver Line got
the better medal. Anyway, this confirms that Villa
Sandahl Golden Line has the better long term capacity
for bottle ageing. |
A larger
suit is currently
being
tried out
For continuing to increase the wine quality from even
more vineyards then before and to open new markets in
the same pace, Villa Sandahl now undertakes
extraordinary measures, such as:
- Moving from Cezar to Bazaltbor.
- Advance to more sophisticated wine making.
- Be more exposed on domestic and EU markets.
- Extending internet sale to northern Europe.
...To read more about above statements of intents,
click on English,
Hungarian or
Swedish.
This will of course take some time to realize. As you maybe have
recognised, we are not longer part of Cezar web shop,
but Sandahl International AB is urgently implementing an
own internet sale system. We will release a newsletter
to inform you as soon as anything is ready for you... |
|
Villa Sandahl acquires
premium vineyards in Badacsony

Thord, Christer and Gunnel Sandahl has acquired 5,7 ha of
premium vineyards (options up to 6,6 ha) from Huba and Lásló
Szeremly. Together with Zsuzsanna vineyard this land
makes almost 10 ha, which makes Villa Sandahl to the
major holder
of Badacsony premium vineyards. Szeremley, Laposa and Sandahl
are now in an excellent position of restoring the Badacsony
reputation to the heights it truly do deserve.
|
Newsletter
nr 7 now issued
To promote Christmas spirit by one of the best wines
from Badacsony and one of the best Rieslings from Hungary,
we now advice our wine lovers to fill their cellars in time.
The newsletter is also available for your
web browser (click here). |

We are proud that
Múzeum
Kávéház és Étterem
now offer 2008 Villa Sandahl
Rhine Riesling on their wine list. This Budapest restaurant
is famous for their traditional quality Hungarian dishes.
The managing director Budai
Zoltán provided us a memorable evening.
|

Wine Competition Results
The results from Hungarian official wine competitions
are available on a web site called:
www.borverseny.hu.
Results for Villa Sandahl can be found by
a search on Villa Sandahl (click here). As can bee seen,
we have earned 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Diploma.
|
Celebrating
the 2010 vintage
To celebrate the successful harvest and all night pressings,
we went to Restaurant Gundel at Saturday evening. Chief
sommelier Fabók Mihály is always glad to serve a bottle
of
Villa Sandahl Rhine Riesling. We tried the Tribute Menu
which was quite excellent, be it somewhat extra-vagant and
expensive. The gourmet menu is more price worthy. |
Our pressing schematic and juice press
fractions
This vintage we have extended the pressure schematic
duration. Since we only harvest ripe fruit, we can also
extract harder without risk to increase bitterness. The
longer extraction did fit very well to the botrytis vintage.
The picture show the clear premium juice fraction to the
right and the cloudy second juice to the left.
 |
2010
Harvest
Thursday the 14th of Octo-ber 7705 kg Rhine Riesling was
harvested. 10 % of the grapes had botrytis like the picture.
No grey rot was evident so the entire grapes could be harvested
and pressed. The general quality was quite excellent and
the botrytis will improve the wine. The Pinot Gris harvest
of around 4000 kg was sold. |
|
Wettest and coldest
autumn within memory

In 2010, the August and September months was the wet-test
since long. During these 2 months, it was falling 307 mm,
which normally equals half a year of rain in this area.
|
|
Decanter October 2010
issue, page 190 (Silver Medal)
Ł
= under
10 Ł, C
= Ł 7 - Ł 9,99

|
VINTAGE
2010 PREPARATION
When changing winery to Bazaltbor, there is a natural opportunity
to
also implement new plans and possible improvements. Villa
Sandahl has consequently visited their indispensable
oenology consultant Fabien Stirn (with his wife at left
photo), in order to thoroughly discuss and prioritize
what is appropriate to realize for
the approaching vintage 2010. |
LONG-TERM MUTUAL AGREEMENT WITH BAZALTBOR
KFT
In
summer 2010, Villa Sandahl signed a long term cooperation
with Bazaltbor Kft. Together we will develop our winemaking
skill, trying to take back Badacsony to the world-class
wine it once was. In the picture to the right, we hand over
our extensive manual to the director Laposa Bence. |
BAZALTBOR WINERY (WITH VILLA SANDAHL
BEHIND)
The Bazaltbor winery is a
new top modern plant, located a stone’s throw from Villa
Sandahl. It is one of best wineries
in Hungary, with competent staff
on the same high level.
 |
QUALITY
SYSTEM DOCUMENTED
Business with key economy details, and all operations for
strategy, cultivation and winemaking is now documented by
Villa Sandahl in a 90 page manual. This
is primarily for ensuring that there is a common understanding
of quality and operation within the Villa Sandahl team.
It give us a competitive edge, and thus it is strictly confidential.
Sorry, no sharing. |
NEWSLETTER
No 6
Villa Sandahls has released their 6th newsletter mainly
to announce two medals awarded from
Decanter.
The newsletter is a
Swedish version for domestic market, and two international
versions for
friend network and
retailers. Feel free to download and spread them. |
DECANTER
2010 PRESTIGIOUS MEDALS
Two medals from
Decanter World Wine Awards consolidate the international
breakthrough for Villa Sandahl. 2008 Rhine Riesling Silver
Medal was awarded bronze and the Golden Line a Commended
medal. |
VINEYARD
POLES AND BINDING SYSTEM
The binding system in Zsuzsanna vineyard is modernized
from being the typical Hungarian tradition (2 meter vine
trunk with 1 meter horizontal arm) to a more widely used
cordon "umbrella" system allowing machine green work. The
acacia poles are replaced by pressure-creosoted poles approved
for agricultural usage. |
NEWSLETTER
No 5
Villa Sandahl has released their 5th newsletter to announce
the Riesling du Monde silver medal. It is a
Swedish version to support the domestic market and an
international version for abroad friends. Please feel
free to download
and to spread it to your friends. |
|
RIESLING DU MONDE
2010 PRESTIGIOUS SILVER MEDAL
It
is a breakthrough for Villa Sandahl to rub shoulders with
this exclusive group of medal winners, see the
medal list. The
Riesling du Monde price is probably the world's most
re-putable for a Riesling producer like Villa Sandahl The
silver medal was assigned to the 2008 Rhine Riesling Silver
Line, because it is more forward at the moment than the
Golden Line.
|
|
VILLA SANDAHL AVAILABLE
AT TOFTAHOLM HERRGĹRD
If you are travelling along E4 in southern Sweden, in
the Värnamo area you can find
Toftaholm
Herrgĺrd some 7 km from the road. The 2008 Rhine Riesling
Golden Line is chosen their wine of the month of March 2010.
|
VILLA
SANDAHL REPRESENTED ON RESTAURANT GUNDEL
We
are immensely proud to have get our 2008 Rhine Riesling
Golden Line into the
wine list
of the
Gundel Restaurant. Gundel
is the most prestigious restaurant in Budapest, (have the
highest Michelin mark in Hungary,
four red crossed forks & spoons, and is comparable to
Operakällaren in Stockholm). Their knowledgeable head
sommelier Fabók Mihály judge it to be
a "great Riesling" and offers it at 8900 Forint (€ 33) per
bottle. Consequently we hope our wine can raise the
Gundel excellent dishes to new levels. |
2009
PINOT GRIS AND RIESLING HARVESTED
The 10th of September the
Pinot Gris was harvested.
Without any warning a thunderstorm broke out, and some panic
occurred. The box stock was quickly covered and some wet
boxes were replaced with dry, resulting in no damage.
The Rhine Riesling was
harvested the 15th of October without any big problems. |
ENGRAFTING
ZEUS TO RIESLING
As time pass, Villa Sandahl gets more and more convinced
that Rhine Riesling is the grape to concentrate on. Riesling
ripens perfect in Zsuzsanna vineyard every year just before
it go to rest in the late autumn. Zeus gives an bigger abundance
of sweet grapes, but has less character. i.e. quite the
opposite to Riesling. By engraft the Zeus the 25 year Zeus
root is saved and harvest can be done from "old vines" within
a couple of years. |
YET ANOTHER
SILVER MEDAL TO VILLA SANDAHL
The Badacsony wine region has during June tasted wines
from the whole Badacsony region. Villa Sandahl was
awarded yet another silver medal for the 2008 Rhine
Riesling Golden Line, see "Borok
rangsora - 2009.06.26" protocol. This time competition
was harder and Villa
Sandahl got 81.6 points. |
NEWSLETTER
No 3
Villa Sandahl has released
the new 2008 Riesling wines, as well as a 2007 Pinot Gris,
see Nyhetsblad
3 (in Swedish). Remarkably, the quality of the 2008
wines has increased to yet another level. In Sweden, the
wines are available at the
Cezar Web shop. |
SILVER
MEDAL TO VILLA SANDAHL
The "Badacsony Hill Committee" has during May 2009 tasted
118 wines from growers of the hill of Badacsony (not
the larger Badacsony region). Villa Sandahl was awarded
a silver medal for the 2008 Rhine Riesling Golden Line,
see "Borok
Rangsora - Badcasony 2009.05.04" protocol. We got 86.2
points and are of course proud of this, but it is a bit
annoying that the gold medal limit was 87 point. |

JUDGEMENT FROM FABIEN STIRN
Our 2008 Rieslings are fermented and
enthusiastically judged by our French oenolog Fabien Stirn.
He writes "The Rieslings are really a class higher as
what you ever produced, I think you get the right way of
process and probably also a good vintage! The Golden Line
is upper class by the finesse and the citrus side that is
really promising a great and long aging Riesling. The Silver
Line is more in body and in power but lesser finesse, the
aging will probably be shorter."
|
|
VISIT
THE WEB SHOP
It is a real pleasure for us to offer our Villa Sandahl
wines to the total Swedish market by being represented at
the
Cezar Winery web shop. Do
order and pay the wines
and you will get them directly to your home address by the
Swedish Posten. Enjoy your shopping expedition.
|
NEWSLETTER
NR 2
To introduce the
2006 Riesling
wines for the 2008 Christmas sale, Villa Sandahl has
now prepared a
2nd newsletter. It is now 3 years
ago since the 1st newsletter was announcing
the 2004 vintage. The striking news is the web shop and
the dramatically increased quality. |
|
2008
HARVEST
Eight tons Pinot Gris was harvested the 23rd of September
and twelve tons Riesling was brought in the 10th of October.
This was quite early but the grapes was splendidly ripe.
The pressing was equally successful and 15000 litre are
fermenting
|
VILLA
DECORATION
During summer 2008 the Villa Sandahl were completed by furniture
and decoration. The mantra was Swedish design of unique
quality and high originality (same as for the SANDAHL wines
:-)
To the right you see the grey room. For booking the house,
see booking pages. |
ENTRANCE
ROAD
In spring 2008 the road and surroundings to the house is
finished. Used basalt stones is found to be the solid base
for the 20 % ascend. Vines are replanted close to all our
basalt work, to bring an interesting antagonism between
these elements. |
HONOURABLE
JUDGEMENT
Villa Sandahls new 2006 Golden Line Riesling were in May
2008 judged by the "wine school"
Grain Nobles in Paris.
The judgement were very positive by the group that liked
the residual amount of sugar of 7 grams per litre. They
compare our wine with "les grands Riesling de Moselle
ou du sud de l’Alsace (Grand Cru Eichberg)". |
PROWEIN
EXIBITION
Villa Sandahl were represented in the Prowein exhibition
in Düsseldorf the 16 - 18th of March. The new and much improved
2006 Riesling vintage were proudly presented. |
NEW
FRESH LOGOTYPE
A new logotype and graphical design is introduced in March.
The change is driven by the significant quality improvement
evident in the 2006 wines. The new logotype is designed
to still keep and attract the old consumers, but also to
invite a new group of more experienced consumers. To separate
two qualities, the new premium quality is labelled "golden
line", and the old basic quality is the "silver line"
|
SANDAHL INTERNATIONAL AB
Villa Sandahl Kft has so far been privately
owned by Thord and Christer Sandahl. To ensure a finically
strong owner and to establish a supporting international
market organization,
a company called Sandahl International AB is formed, and
is now the owner of Villa Sandahl. Sandahl International
AB is also owned solely by Thord and Christer Sandahl, implying
no change in strategic direction and operation for Villa
Sandahl. |
Gunnel Sandahl celebrate
her 50 year birthday event
the day after the Villa Sandahl inauguration.
 |
INAUGURATION OF THE PROMOTION
HOUSE
Villa Sandahl almost finished at the
inauguration 2007-08-03
 |
An
inauguration ceremony is held the 3rd of august for
the Villa Sandahl promotion house (get the
power point presentation
in English). Both Swedish and Hungarian
friends are invited and take a close look at the house. |
Thanks
to the warm winter, the construction of the Villa Sandahl
promotion house is on schedule. In end of January the
entry floor is covered with a concrete vault, and construction
of the loft floor will begin. An opening ceremony is planned
(cross the fingers) to be held on Friday the 3rd of August
2007. The south facing wall can be seen on the picture. |
In
December 2006 the construction of Villa Sandahl in
Zsuzsanna vineyard is in full swing. On the picture,
the wine cellar (indoors) entry can be seen. The house is
planned to be finished and finally inspected at end of July
2007. |
The
2006 Rhine Riesling harvest is finished at the 19th
and 20th of October. The weather has been great during September
and October. Grapes in perfect condition are picked and
transported to the Cezar winery for pressing and fermentation. |
The
2006 harvest is vinified at the Cezar Winery just
south of Nagyrada in the Kis-Balaton area, 52 km from Badacsony.
The plant is brand new with all necessary equipment for
high quality wine production. The wine maker is Luis Santelices
from Chile. |
At
the 11 of September the building company is selected to
build the promotion house. After a long selection, the choice
fell on the company SZ-L Bau Kft from Tapolca. |
During
summer 2006 all permissions are complete for building the
promotion house in the Zsuzsanna vineyard. The vines
are cut away for the house and electricity cables, water
and drain pipes are in place. |
Villa
Sandahl Kft has selected Fabien Stirn from Sigolsheim in
Alsace as advisory wine consultant. Fabien cultivate
several hectares of grand cru vineyards an is
known to produce wines of true quality. |
|
At
the Scandinavian Wine Fair, Villa Sandahl is recognised
by the Swedish most well-known business newspaper "Dagens
Industri", see article to the right. It tells about
the search for good grape material, which was found it in
Badacsony in Hungary.
|
Villa
Sandahl is represented on the 3rd
Scandinavian Wine Fair held in Paris the
11th of February 2006. This fair gathers wine connected
people from all Scandinavia. Villa Sandahl creates a
lot of attention on the exhibition, and has one of the
most visited stands. |
At
the Scandinavian Wine Fair also arranged the
BKWine Scandinavian Wine and Spirit Competition. Villa
Sandahl is honoured by a silver medal for their dry
Pinot Gris / Rhine Riesling. The quality ambitions are recognised
and Villa Sandahl will surely continue to strive for still
higher quality. |
Villa
Sandahl is very glad to announce that our wines are available
in Denmark from December 2005 by Bergman Vin-Import.
Bergman is recognised for a careful selected portfolio with
very competitive prices. Visit their
web
site for prices and selling conditions. Select "Ungarn"
for Villa Sandahl offerings. |
The
first newsletter from Villa Sandahl (only in Swedish)
is prepared and distributed for the Christmas 2005 sale.
Click here to download it in one of two versions,
web quality (52kB) or
print quality (94kB). |
Villa
Sandahl is available at Systembolaget from October
2005.
In end of December 2008 the wines was moved to the
Cezar Winery web shop. |
| Sandahl Consulting
AB have the 10th of August 2005 received a permit for
importing and storing wine in Sweden. During September
the 2004 vintage Villa Sandal wines will be imported to
Sweden. |
At
the 28th of July 2005, Villa Sandahl finally receive the
eagerly awaited building permit for a promotion house
in the Zsuzsanna Vineyard. The architect Robert Epres
have made a terrific job. The planning is going on and the
building will be started as soon as possible. |
| In June 2005
Villa Sandahl receive honour from the Badacsonyi Borvidék
Hegyközségi Tanácsa ("Badacsony Wine Region Council
of Hill Township"), one gold medal for the half sweet
2004 Pinot Gris Late Harvest Barrique wine and one bronze
medal for the dry 2004 Pinot Gris Rhine Riesling wine. |
|

Villa Sandahl is represented
at the Wine & Spirit Fair at Excel in London in the Hungarian
"Agricultural Marketing Centre" at stand D70.
We pour our first vintage wines (see
Vintage
2004) while telling our short but non the less enthralling
story.
|
From
start of March 2005 Villa Sandahl welcomes Mr Toth Tibor
as tractor driver and vineyard cultivator. |
|
A
new Carraro TRX 9400 AC tractor is acquired at the
10th
of August 2004. It is a special type having a low centre
of gravity and wide balloon tyres suited for steep vineyards.
To shelter from sun and spray, it has an air conditioned
cabin.
|
Villa
Sandahl Kft is registered as an Hungarian company owned
by Thord and Christer Sandahl at the 3rd of August 2004.
- Company registration number 19-09-507746.
- Tax registration 13325121-2-19, EU code
HU13325121 |
The
4th of June 2004 a joint venture is started with Zsuzsanna
Pettenkoffer. Included in this cooperation is to cultivate
the vineyard located at the
Badacsony Hill and from these grapes produce wines that
will be labelled Villa Sandahl. |
|
Villa Sandahl Kft
8261 Badacsony
Római út 203/1
Hungary
|
Sandahl International AB
Box 2045
331 02 Värnamo
Sweden
|