This year’s edition Vinalies International French wine contest ended with 16 Hungarian medals, 9 gold and 7 silver medals. The 25th edition of the competition took place in Paris at in the first week of March. Looking at the list of medal winners, one would draw the consequence that Hungary is a wine whitecountry: all the gold winners are white except one. Among silver winners there is another red wine and a rosé, so altogether 13 of the 16 winners are white. And indeed, Hungary produces more white wines, but the country is capable of stunning red wines as well, and one wonderful example is the gold winner Vylyan Dunennium Cuvée from Villány.

All Hungarian medal winners

The symbol of eternity

Duennium is the ’flagship’ of Vylyan, it is produced only in the best vintages from carefully selected grapes of the best vineyards. The flower on the label, Gingko Biloba stands for eternity, the meeting point of past, present and future. 2012 vintage is made of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. The wine was aged in barrique for 17 months, and then the best barrels were selected, blended and aged for another year in large barrel. „Christmas spices on the nose with ripe blackberry, chocolate and raisin on the palate. Hints of cedarwood and tobacco box in the aftertaste with a touch of musk. Full body, complexity, long finish – a respectable wine personality.” At the moment 2011 vintage is available, 2012 vintage will be available from the middle of April from Vylyan webshop.

Wine inspired art in redesigned Vylyan labels

Vylyan and art have always been closely related, what is more, inseparable. Barrels painted by contemporary artists, cross cultural festival with novelists and poets on Vylyan terrace in August and now the new labels of Vylyan premium wines. The estate director, Mónika Debreczeni asked 7 contemporary poets and novelists to create a poem or short story inspired by one of the Vylyan premium wines. The poems and novels were then given to Tamás Veress graphic artist, who created the labels inspired by the texts. The resulting labels are wonderful! The stories and poems come to life at Vylyan events, where an actor will read the text, and participants can taste the wines. These programmes are in Hungarian, and the label inspiring poems and novellas have not been not translated into English yet, but most of the artists have books availablein English. We highly recommend György Dragomán, his The White King has been translated into more than 30 languages. All the other six artists are worth searching for: András Cserna-Szabó, Krisztián Grecsó, János Háy, Lajos Parti Nagy, Anna Szabó T. and Csaba Székely. Some of the new labelled Vylyan wines are already available from Vylyan webshop, for example Montenuovo Cuvée 2015. Enjoy the books and the wines together!