Kata Zsirai

The Climb

Since 2011, the co-runner/owner and chief winemaker role at Zsirai Winery has sat with Kata Zsirai as a practice of stewardship rather than display. The job is less about assertion than about keeping fruit, cellar, and region in a direct line, with clarity and restraint doing most of the work. In Tokaj, where expectation is part of the terrain, that kind of discipline carries its own weight.

Today

“We only produce wine from the grape we grow” is the boundary that defines the house style for Zsirai. With Kata Zsirai, that rule keeps each vintage tied to the fruit under direct care, without outside material diluting the process. The result is a method that stays close to the vineyard and leaves little room for accident. That directness also supports a stated style of food-friendly, pure, elegant and complex wines. “We try to interfere in nature’s business as less as possible” is the cellar logic behind it: a restrained approach that protects texture, energy, and nuance instead of pushing them aside. The aim is not to decorate the wine, but to keep its structure legible. “This barrel is our 2024 Középhegy vintage. It’s made from Furmint grapes — and my soul” places the emotional register inside a very specific object. The barrel is not presented as a symbol standing apart from the work; it is the work, named at the level of vintage and grape. That balance of intimacy and control runs through the rest of the cellar as well. “We experiment with native — but almost forgotten — grape varieties” sets experimentation inside a local frame. For Zsirai, the point is not novelty for its own sake, but the use of materials already rooted in the region and still open to renewed attention. The work stays tied to place even as it tests what that place can still yield.

Signature

Kata's signature wines include 2024 Középhegy vintage, Tokaj Dry by Zsirai, Tokaji Furmint Szent Tamas, and Nagy-Somlói Olaszrizling dry.

In Their Words “This barrel is our 2024 Középhegy vintage. It’s made from Furmint grapes — and my soul.” “We experiment with native — but almost forgotten — grape varieties.”