Ellie Bauwens and Imre Halász - [HOLASS]

[HOLASS] was born out of the passion of Ellie Bauwens and Imre Halász for low-intervention wines with a strong identity of their origin. Previously, we both gathered experiences in the wine business, Ellie in the fine wine distribution in Belgium, while Imre worked for a boutique winery in Burgenland, Austria.

Since 2015, we have been producing wine in historically highly esteemed wine regions in Hungary and Burgenland, Austria.  While Burgenland has been officially part of Austria since 1921, because of its shared history and cultural similarities with Hungary, we consider it part of the broader Hungarian wine heritage. The driving principle behind our Wine Collective is to present wines under our [HOLASS] label from different regions that can show the unique character of their respective origin.

We have no cellar or vineyards, instead our production is based on close collaborations with winemakers we are friends with. They are providing us with their knowledge, grapes and the use of their cellars in each region.

We work exclusively with local grape varieties grown organically. Decision on the harvest based on taste rather than analysis. Picking carried out manually following a careful selection in the vineyard. In the cellar all processes are naturally occurring, without using intrusive machinery or any additives apart from small quantities of SO2. Each of our wines are single vineyard, small batch bottlings.

[HOLASS] is the phonetic writing of Imre’s last name, Halász.