Eger, Villány and Tokaj gold winning wines

The results of the largest and oldest French wine compettion have just been announced. Hungary did well: we won 41 medals altogether, out of which 21 medals are gold! When taking a closer look at the list of gold winning wines, we can see that though there are 22 wine regions in Hungary, only a couple of them reached the top. Tokaj is a usual player and noble sweet wines from Tokaj are regularly among the best ones at competitions.Villány with its powerful yet elegant red wines is also a frequent name at the top of the charts. Balaton region is represented with only one wine, however Eger wine region has proved to be the best of this competition with 16 medals of the 41, and 8 gold medals out of the 21 (Tokaj won 9 medals altogether and Villány won 7 medals).

7 gold winners you must taste

• Tóth Ferenc Winery „Várvédő” 2013, Eger

The flagship wine of the winery. They produce this blend only in the best years. The name “Várvédő” (meaning: defender of the fortress) reminds us of the heroes of the Eger Fortress, who defended the Fortress against the Turkish Army and as a result, had stopped them for 40 years from entering further in Europe. Ferenc Tóth produced this wine at the first time for the 450th anniversary of the defence of the Eger Fortress.

• Thummerer Egri Cabernet Sauvignon Superior, 2013, Eger

Dark ruby colour, flavour is rich in spices and the smell reminds the consumer of well ripen raspberry. Nice acids, full bodied and rounded wine. It developed smooth tannins while aged in oak barrels.

• Patricius Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos, 2008, Tokaj

2008 vintage aszú factsheet is not uploaded yet, but you can read about Patricius and their devotion to aszú making. „Nicest aromas of botrytized berries followed by enormous, high structure and full body. Long, smooth, endless taste and exceptional deepness of peach, apricot and fig character. Full of Tokaj.”

• Béres Tokaji Sárgamuskotály (Yellow Muscat) Late Harvest, 2013, Tokaj

Intense nose with the typical characteristics of Yellow Muscat accompanied by botrytis notes. Rounded, full bodied, playful wine with perfect balance of acid and sugar. Long finish with the juicy aromas of Muscat.

• Grand Tokaj Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos, Szarvas Vineyard, 2013

2013 vintage was an outstanding vintage when berries were fully infected by the noble botrytis. The nose is full of aromas: notes of loess based soil, pear, dried chamomile, candied orange peel and a touch of smokiness from the new barrel. Pear compote and ripened orange on the palate with honey and chamomile tea. Creamy texture, the blessing of sunshine, amazing structure!

• Koch Csanád Cuvée, 2012, Villány

The first impression is that of punch and vanilla waking up a series of associations of the taster. Besides them we can smell several fruits like blueberry and blackberry. On the palate vanilla is still dominant accompanied by sweet, dark berry fruits and spices. Significant body, relatively high alcohol, integrated tannins, soft acidy form the wonderful composition of this wine.

• Vylyan Syrah, 2015, Villány

This vintage factsheet is not uploaded yet, you can read about 2013, which was superb with generous spices and silky tannins, creamy coffee and forest fruits. 2015 is even better than ’13! „The Syrah variety is a real mysterious mediterranean character with the elegance of a gentleman, representing strength and silkiness.”