Egervin 2005 Bull's Blood

Friday Josh and I hit up the Baltimore Aquarium, compliments of one of my besties from my summer internship, Allison. Her fiance works for the aquarium and hooked us up with free tickets. After we'd explored the sea animals (jellyfish twice), we did happy hour with Allison and her fiance, then headed to dinner at a cute little Eastern European restaurant called Ze Mean Bean. Allison's fiance said we HAD to get the Bull's Blood; mostly because of the $16 price tag but also because it was pretty good. The restaurant was super quaint, and there was a singer playing his acoustic guitar on a mini stage. You wouldn't think this could be a recipe for disaster, but it nearly was.

Egri Bikaver is a famous Hungarian wine that got its name from the historical lore of the 1500's, when the Turks invaded Eger. In a classic David vs. Goliath fashion, 2000 soldiers of Eger defeated 150,000 Turk invaders, effectively thwarting the Ottomon empire's conquest of Western Europe. The victory is attributed to the Hungarians drinking plenty of red wine for sustenance, which spilled onto their clothes and armor. A rumor started among the Turk soldiers that the Hungarians were drinking actual bulls' blood for strength, and the Turks were demoralized into defeat. Now, the wine is still made in the tradition of that time, to honor the history. There are eleven different varietals that can be in Bull's Blood (by regulation), so long as there are at least three and none make up more than 50% of the mix. Bull's Blood is classically cheap and a little rough, so the bottle usually includes directions to let the wine breathe for an hour before drinking and serve at 60 degrees.

I honestly can't say much about this wine, other than that it was drinkable. Josh and I made mental notes that were subsequently erased by naty bo. I do remember that it was on the drier side, but not too harsh. It wasn't too interesting or complex, but it also didn't taste obviously cheap. Allison recommended we try perogies for an appetizer, and the Bull's blood paired really well with those.

There might have been something to that legend about Bull's Blood fueling some sort of war winning rage. When Josh and I sat down at the restaurant, we noticed immediately that the singer was using a microphone. Considering the size of the restaurant, it was complete overkill and as we worked out way through the Bull's Blood, Josh got more and more annoyed. He started with comments at normal volume, and by the end of the bottle, he was literally yelling insults at the singer about how loud and awful he was. Thank goodness we managed to finish the bottle before anyone asked us to leave. Blame it on the wine?