My time in western Ukraine continued in one of its most beautiful regions, Transcarpathia, near the Polish, Hungarian, and Slovakian borders. Come with me as I take you to experience authentic Transcarpathian food and wine in Berehove, Ukraine!
My day began with my friend and guide Diana from Tours by Locals at Chateau Chizay in Berehove, the wine capital of Transcarpathia in Ukraine. We were right on the Hungarian border, and Chateau Chizay is the best winery in the area.
Inside, I met everyone and saw the gift shop, where they sell 25 types of wine, including kosher wines, pinot blanc, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, and many others. They also have a big, old-school barrel that used to be used to press the grapes. It’s now used for leaving tips!
Next, we saw the Chateau Chizay Museum, where you can learn about the history of the wine-making practices in the region. I loved the giant barrels! The museum was one large room with four different sections. The first shows the different wines produced in the area and the second shows the process of making wine. The third showed the history of wine-making in the region, and finally, you have the evolution of the locals.
I could see the older wines as well as the barrels they used. Then, we headed past the vines outside to the wine cellar.
They have 272 hectares of private vineyards in Berehove, Ukraine. Everything there is produced locally. From there, we saw their massive tanks, which are 48 tons each! They store and age the wine there, bottle it, and then ship it.
Then, we headed to the wine-tasting room. It costs 145 hryvnia/roughly $6 USD for a Classics tasting and $10 USD for a Premium tasting, which also includes cheese, crackers, chocolates, nuts, and 8 different wines.
We started with a dry, white 2020 Chersegi. It was clean and easy to drink and not too fruity. Next was Sakura Transcarpatia, a dry rose. It was very young and pink and had a strong, fruity, strawberry flavor. The dry red cabernet came from their best wine year ever and was smooth and bold. It would be great with a big steak! We followed that with a semi-sweet white called Moscato Ottonel, which I loved. It was so good!
Their semi-sweet red blend was dry and fruity but also easy to drink. Next was pinot grigio with lime and mint, which was semi-sweet. It’s the first wine they ever exported to the U.S. It had such a unique flavor!
The Troyanda dessert rose is served in a small glass and smelled like port and cognac. I loved it so much! It costs only $15 and took me back to my time in Portugal! Their grape white blend was also excellent! I loved the flavor of the indigenous grapes!
Then, we drove 5 minutes through the historical center of Berehove, Ukraine, past the city hall, cathedrals, and more. This area is also the thermal bath capital of Ukraine. There are thermal bath hotels here! We arrived at Chizay Mala Hora, which looked like another chateau with vineyards behind it. We could see the vineyards from the dining hall. The menu was all in Cyrillic, but they have lots of local dishes like Hungarian fish soup, snails from the vineyards, and more local wine!
In the kitchen, I saw the snails, which they freeze stuffed with butter. Then, they bake them. They also made some stews, mushroom soup, beetroot salads, and more. The cooks here put so much love into the food!
Back at our table, we started with the snails from the vineyard. They were amazing with the garlic butter. They were small but phenomenal! I followed it with a beetroot salad with pork, cabbage, and greens. I loved the honey-mustard dressing. The salad was so good and fresh!
Next was the mushroom soup, which was so creamy. The entire Transcarpathia region is famous for its mushrooms. The soup was earthy and oily and would be the perfect hangover cure! It contained more mushrooms than cream!
After that, we dove into the turkey and white mushroom sauce with mashed potatoes and some pinot noir. It felt like a Thanksgiving dish! The turkey was so fresh and the mashed potatoes were nice and creamy. It was a nice, heavy dish and one of my favorite dishes of my trip so far. The pinot noir was light, dry, fruity, and not too sweet.
Finally, I tried the deruny, a type of potato pancake with sour cream, avocado, arugula, and trout. It was thick, creamy, fatty, and so fresh! Everything was phenomenal! Then, I finished with some espresso. I loved this restaurant!
I hope you liked coming with me as I continue exploring the Transcarpathian Region, and its food and wine, in Berehove, Ukraine! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment below. Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the notification bell so you don’t miss any of my travel/food adventures around the world!
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