Clear Libations

These apricots have a famous PDO. Definitely an A-list apricot. Accordingly, this is Bestillo's flagship product.

Nose A good start. Apricot is up front, fairly rich and round but a rather perfumed expression of apricot. It's fruity first, but with a definite floral tint, let's say apricot blossom (though truthfully it's not a smell I know well). A touch of cream, play-doh, plasticine, hint of cat pee. There's some tension, between alcohol, effervescence, minerality, and a little salt. Pretty elegant, although lacking a bit of power.

Palate Quite a light body, lighter than expected. Apart from that, it mostly follows the nose albeit with less expressivity. Floral leaning, fuzzy apricots, a bit of fizz and salt, and quite a short finish. Feels a bit diluted, and somewhat disappointing compared to the nose.

Comments It's a shame that the palate couldn't meet the nose. The score meets them in the middle. Water kills it pretty fast, unsurprisingly. Hungarians tend to say that homemade pálinka can't hold a candle to commercial products. I wonder how much of that comes down to overly aggressive dilution (which is less '40% bad', than 'cutting to an arbitrary point bad', in my view).

Price around €43 per 70cl.

Score^?6/10

Interestingly, the apricots used here are known as Ungarische Beste – Hungarian Best. According to Gölles, Wachau is amongst the other names for this varietal. So we are really in the shadow of Hungary across the board here.

Nose This one is a bit more assertive than [the Bestillo], slightly louder and presenting a slightly more underripe fruit, and less florality. There's still a lot of ripe fruit in there too, but there is a more acid. There is a slight rubber note that reminds me of the Gölles Kriecherl, but it's not unpleasant (Ed: yep, this is the Gölles indeed). It's even a touch petrolic too, in a good way.

Palate Good grip now, powerful delivery. There is a good balance of mild sweetness and acid. It delivers the apricot similarly to the nose, leaning underripe, perhaps a bit more blossom, and that hint of rubber again (but it works). Rather mineralic finish, with tension remaining. This is great.

Comments It's not the best expression of apricot, but that's not how we judge things here necessarily.

Price around €80 per 70cl.

Score^?7/10

The last two we tasted from Savanya were a little underwhelming, even while the beetroot was pretty fun. So I thought this one would stand out, and it did - in the opposite way! Batch variation may be an issue here, as another tasting did not like this expression.

Nose This is a touch rawer still, but not in a bad way. Actually I'm primarily getting physalis and starfruit, followed by a lot of apricot tea (a mix of light black tea and dried apricot perhaps). Nice acidity. Apricot stones too. Not a lot of notes, but not simple either - nice to nose.

Palate Very elegant delivery, there is a lot of grip seemlessly transitioning into a rather luscious mouthfeel. This one is rather powerful and mouth-coating, but again not super 'apricot' driven. I find starfruit again certainly, blossom, perhaps handcream? It transitions into quite a powerfully mineralic, long finish, with hints of that apricot tea. The balance here is great, it is dry, but with a great texture and just enough sweetness. Takes some water, but perhaps best at strength.

Comments Wow! I'm glad Savanya could redeem itself after that rather lackluster cherry. Not a very classical expression of apricot, but who cares? Texture will always win me over, by the way. What a value too.

Price around €22 per 50cl.

Score^?7+/10

Another famous PDO, and as we said above, actually an Hungarian varietal in disguise. Going by the lot code, this should be the 2014 vintage, aged 7 years.

Nose This one is fairly similar to [the Bestillo] at first nose. Apricot blossom, a little high quality jam, a tiny bit of that "apricot tea". Clay, buttery croissant (with jam). A touch of earth and salt, bergamot, slightly gin-like. It's definitely a bit more fruit forward than [the Bestillo], and probably the best expression of apricot here.

Palate Another ballpark from [the Bestillo] here. The delivery is elegant. Here now I am getting a complete expression of apricot, including a bit of stone. The mouthfeel is rather large. It's delightfully ripe, but balanced by touches of greenness, and a bit of stem. Effervescent. Fine-boned yet riveting. I believe this is the Rochelt (full discloure: I've tasted before). It takes water, giving everything more space, but be sparing. The finish is quite long, and slightly botanical.

Comments A masterclass! This really captured the heart of the fruit. Also ten times the price of the Savanya. Very different profiles, mind.

Price around €300 per 70cl.

Score^?8/10

The cream of Italy's crop? I tried to find out if Vesuvius apricots are also secretly Hungarian, but it seems not.

Nose Perhaps my least favourite nose on first contact, but not by far. I'm getting apricot gum, mixed tinned fruit and cream, some honey even. A little cardboard. Feels a touch closed. Water does help, revealing some lime zest, tea tannin and a little more sweetness.

Palate More interesting here for sure. Definitely on that 'juicy fruit' gum vibe, more candied apricot if anything. Quite a green element too, there is grass, lime peel, angelica. Candy puffed rice, and then lots of sweet limes in the medium finish. Water less beneficial here, but it takes a drop.

Comments Again, not very apricot-y but pretty interesting. Love those limes, less so the more candied, artificial fruit vibes. I hear the standard apricot at 60% is the one to go for.

Price around €131 per 50cl.

Score^?7-/10