Isabelle touches down in the land of Attila, where they started making wine centuries ago. Having been cut off from the Western world and its winemaking for the 50 years of the Iron Curtain, Isabelle sets off to find out where Hungary’s at today. Her Journey takes her from the squat bars and wine ‘spritzers’ of Budapest to the holiday hotspot of Balaton, Central Europe's largest lake. She discovers a rich vinous heritage and a future full of promise, where winemakers do things differently and indigenous grape varieties, while unpronounceable, are fast becoming a national treasure. But this hot, new wine frontier is haunted by a hangover Cold War image that simply doesn’t fit the Hungary of the new millennium, so Isabelle sets the record straight.
Isabelle ends her Hungarian journey in the uplands of the north west of the country. Here she visits the home of Bull’s Blood and makes tracks for Hungary’s most famous wine region, Tokaj. This luscious nectar of a wine was a favourite with the Great and the Good of ages past. Louis XIV claimed it was the king of wines and the wine of kings, while Catherine the Great is said to have particularly treasured it for its reputation as a latter day Viagra! Isabelle learns how years of communism were tough on Tokaj’s wines but today the tipple is back with a vengeance.
Isabelle’s journey into Central and Eastern European wine takes her to the beautiful Bulgaria, the heart of the heart of the Balkans. Here yoghurt, salad and grape spirit feed the country’s maverick mettle that produces wines as wild as the people themselves. This is the country that gave the world the ancient God of Wine in whose honour Bacchanalian orgies were thrown. It is also the ancient land of Thrace whose wine exports were legendary and coveted by the ancient Greeks. Isabelle unearths this rich history and sees where wine is at today. She tastes her way round the same local varietals that graced the tables of Homer and Churchill alike, and pays a visit to one of the world’s most famous Bordeaux producers who’s decided to set up shop in Bulgaria as well!
Isabelle’s journey comes to an end in Romania; where vine covered slopes meet the Black Sea. Having only recently joined the EU, the valleys of times past remain as yet undisturbed and Isabelle gets stuck right in, taking to the road in a horse and cart! What she finds is a real surprise. This is a country that adopted both its name and its love of wine from the Romans; where every Tom, Dick and Harry cultivates a vine and makes wine in his backyard. And yet, for all this lengthy history and affinity with all things grape, it wasn’t until 2000 that Romania actually made its first dry wine! As Isabelle finds out on this curious journey, modern winemaking here is in its infancy and yet has managed to produce some rather precocious wine.