Three reasons why you shouldn’t miss the Gere Jazz Festival

The Gere Jazz Festival is back again for the 7th consecutive year taking place June 8-9, 2018 in Villány at the Gere Estate. You can enjoy the spirit of dolce vita as the theme this year in Italy and we are offering three reasons why you shouldn’t miss one of the most vibrant exclusive events of the summer.

The southernmost wine region of Hungary offers a real Mediterranean atmosphere and is one of the tourist hotspots both for domestic and foreign visitors. The freshly modernized Gere Attila Winery, the garden with its amazing view of Szársomlyó Hill and the adjacent vineyards provide a magical backdrop for the event and promises an experience very much like a private gathering of friends. The atmosphere of a garden party complete with the artists of the Festival and members of the Gere Family sipping wine is guaranteed. And for those feeling weary after a whole day’s entertainment brand new MINIs are lined up to take them to their lodgings.

1. The World’s Favourite: Italian Cuisine

Everybody loves Italian food, it’s so easy to find your favourite dish in the rich diversity of regions and colourful styles. The menu will include Trippa alla Fiorentina with tomato puree, Parmigiano-Reggiano and pesto, pulled lamb with focaccia and ruccola, shrimp risotto with herbs, osso bucco, vegetarian lasagne, roasted fish, chicken, saltimbocca and shoulder of lamb on the BBQ served with fresh salad. The desserts will also represent the Italian dolce vita feeling with tiramisu, apricot panna cotta with cantuccini and ricotta rum baba that will surely delight guests with sweet tooth.

Kindly accepting the invitation of the Gere Family the culinary guest star of the Festival is the Michelin-starred La Subida Restaurant and the Bagatto family will provide a selection of cheese, San Daniele ham and olive oil from their native Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.

2. The Unmissable Wines

Villány is of course a wine region and the Gere Family is one of the best known Hungarian families in wine so the festival is a great opportunity to taste their wide-ranging selection. The choice of frizzante for this weekend is the Gere Frici sparkling wine on ice, a perennial favourite among visitors of the Gere Jazz Festivals. In the summer heat nothing could be more welcome than a refreshing White or Rosé Frici which this year will also be served with Campari to provide an exciting alternative to Aperol Spritz. Fruity whites and rosés are great to quench your thirst and it is no sacrilege to have a spritzer or two either.

If red is your thing even in summer heat than our recommendations are Portugieser, Athus Cuvée and Merlot with the added benefit that these wines thanks to their racier acidity are great accompaniments to dishes with tomatoes and Italian spices.

You can also sample the top of the range wines like Kopár or Solus whose original inspiration came from an Italian winery: Ornellaia in Tuscany.

3. Jazz for everyone

Jazz fans are in for a real treat for the two days of the Festival with some big names among the participating artists. The revamped Rákfogó band is going to perform not only their jazz-rock evergreens but the latest compositions of Béla Szakcsi Lakatos who is celebrating his 75th birthday and 60 years of playing on stage. With its unique line-up, the Kéknyúl band plays its own individual brand of „entertaining organ-based jazz-funk-blues”. The Balázs Elemér Group has toured with great success both in Hungary and abroad and has won numerous awards. The invigorating music of the Barabás Lőrinc Quartet evokes the free spirit of the improvisatory jazz-rock style of the 1970s reinterpreted through the modern sensibilities of four young 21st century cosmopolitan musicians.

The Italian star of the Festival is Nicola Conte the inventor of the most jazz-oriented dance music and also of the most dance oriented jazz music.

He is going to perform compositions from his soon to be released new record.

Photo: Péter Wendl