Balatan Region Wine Festival

So no pictures to post, as sadly this event caught me by surprise.  In fact, I'd simply called to meet Alessandro at a park near his apartment.  As I was walking to the park, I was surprised to hear loud music coming.  "Is there an outdoor club near the park?" I thought.  But no, in fact, it was a (loud, pretty rocking) concert in the park itself, with the entire place fenced off and a long queue to get in.  I would have figured it just a concert and moved on, until I saw the big sign:  Balatan Region Wine Festival:
http://www.balatonborfeszt.hu/english-version/
Ok, this I had to check out

It turned out to be a ton of fun.  1700forint (less than $10) got you into the park plus a free wineglass (which was, apparently ours to keep!).  A few dozen wineries had set up booths offering very reasonably prices glasses of wine--some as cheap as 200ft, most 300-400, and only a few in the 700-800 range.  In addition, we got ourselves a tasty plate of cheese to share (oh man there was this once cheese that was like glowstick-colored green, but it was delicious)

So in other words, I spent at least an hour, probably more, wandering around with Alessandro and Bek trying different wines (Bek doesn't drink for religious reasons, but he was amused enough watching Ale and I--plus since he wasn't drinking, I think he ate the lion's share of the cheese!).  Yes, I did sample more wines than I actually purchased--I don't claim to be an expert on wine, but I'm familiar enough to recognize the strongest characteristic of a wine and say "oh it's a little too ____" as an excuse not to buy the whole glass XD
All in all it was a fantastic surprise way to spend Friday night.  Plus, I gotta say, I tasted some pretty fantastic wines.  This winery in particular had an excellent dessert wine:  http://www.dobosipinceszet.hu/ . . . which would be much more easy to locate if a) they had an English website and b) I remember what the wine was called.  Ahh well, that's just how it goes sometimes

Noah out