Hungarian wineries at Warsaw Wine Experience – more than ever!

The friendship between the Polish and Hungarian peoples has a long history, but this legendary relationship was overshadowed by the former Hungarian regime. Those dark days are over; Hungary has a new government, and hopefully our Polish friends will once again welcome us with open arms. Polish importers 2Bratanki, Kociolek i Vino and WinaWulkaniczne have joined forces and will be presenting the widest selection of Hungarian wines to date at the Warsaw Wine Experience on 22 and 23 November 2026. Let’s introduce seven of the confirmed participating wineries!

The wines featured in the cover photo – made by 7 of the confirmed wineries

– Tóth Ferenc Winery, Eger: Egri Csillag Superior 2025 – gold winner at the latest edition of Berliner Wine Trophy
More about Tóth Ferenc Winery

– Etyeki Kúria, Etyek: Blanc de Noirs and Brut NV bottle fermented sparkling wines – gold and silver from the latest edition of Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships
More about Etyeki Kúria

– Tornai Winery, Somló: Orange Wine – a new release of the 80-year-old winery, an orange wine made of Hárslevelű
More about Tornai Winery

– Fehérvári Wine Estate, Somló: Blanc de Blanc Grand Reserve 2020 – a stunning new release, traditional method sparkling wine from the volcanic Somló
More about Fehérvári Wine Estate

– A.Gere Winery, Villány: Gere Solus 2023 – the icon Villány Merlot has just received 100 points from Stuart Pigott independent wine expert, former wine writer of James Suckling
More about A.Gere Winery

– Steigler Cellar, Sopron: Fusion 2023 – a gold winner white blend at Berliner Wine Trophy 2026 winter tasting, made of Zöldveltelini (Grüner Veltliner), Furmint and Muscat Ottonel
More about Steigler Cellar

– Sauska, Tokaj: Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2017 – grand gold winner at the latest edition of Berliner Wine Trophy
More about Sauska

The list is still growing, we will update our readers soon, and see you, Polish friends in Warsaw!

More about Warsaw Wine Experience

More about 2Bratanki

More about Kociolek i Vino

More about WinaWulkaniczne

15 wineries await at Tornai Winery

The 11th edition of ‘Juhfark Ünnep ‘ (‘Juhfark Celebration’) will take place again at Tornai, the winery celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. Tickets are available at early bird price until the end of September. Let us celebrate the fruit of this unique volcanic terroir!

“The only way I can describe it is that this is a grape born angry. Tasting Juhfark for the first time is like meeting a little Celtic warrior, stone spear and rough pewter blade thrust in your face with the smell of woad and clay and rain and cold and sulphur up your nostrils.”
Tamlyn Currin wine writer, JancisRobinson.com
Read more about Juhfark grape variety below

Date and time: 17 October 2026, 11.00–20.00
Venue: Tornai Winery, Somló
How to get to Somló? By car it takes about 2 hours via M7. By public transport it takes much longer, 3.5 hours, including a longer walk. Free transfer is available from the town of Devecser, to avoid the long walk, but prior registration is needed via email until the 10th of October.
Tickets: 13 900 HUF (until the end of September)
The ticket includes the tasting of 31 wines from 15 wineries and some wine bites (pita, cheese, olives, fried nuts)
Get your ticket here (in Hungarian, but google can help)
Cellar tour is also available at 4.30 pm, the 60-minute cellar walk includes tasting from the barrel and costs 2900 HUF, get your ticket here (in Hungarian…)
Exhibiting wineries: 5 Ház, Baráth, Barcza, Csordás-Fodor, Fehérvári, Fekete, Hegedűs-Szabó, Kabor, Kancellár, Kolonics, Kőfejtő, Kreinbacher, Somlói Vándor, Szalai, Tornai
More information (in Hungarian)
You can also contact Hungarianwines.eu, we are here to help you.

Juhfark, the sheep’s tail

Juhfark takes its name from the sheep’s tail, as the long cylindrical shape of the bunches resemble the sheep’s tail. It is often cited as the ‘wines of the wedding-night’, since it was believed to help when a couple had been longing for a son. (The myth is debunked, see below.)
Juhfark is grown almost exclusively in the small volcanic hill of Somló, a small amount in Balatonfüred.
Rather neutral, restrained nose with some flowers and green apples. High, sometimes brutal acidity. It is really difficult to tame this variety, but there are amazing examples of it in history! If you are not afraid of straightforward acidity, take a chance on it. In Somló, the minerality paired with high acidity results some outstanding wines with great ageing potential.

Read Eric Danch’s (Danch & Granger Selection, US) about his Somló tour and about his Juhfark experiences

The myth is debunked, but Juhfark is forever!

Love & Juhfark

Our earlier article about the new release Tornai Orange Wine made of Hárslevelű

New release orange wine from Somló

Tornai Winery celebrates 80th anniversary

This year is a special one for Tornai, the celebration goes on all year long. It started with the release of the first traditional method sparkling wines of the estate, and in the summer the orange wine made of Hárslevelű has hit the shelves. 100% Hárslevelű, 100% flavours!

Orange wine boom still continues, as Decanter wine writer Gosia Young in her article analysing the results of the 17th Decanter World Wine Award. Hungarian producers are also eager to try themselves making the long macerated, amber colour wine, and adventurous wine connoisseurs greet their efforts.

Tornai Narancsbor 2025 (‘Narancsbor’ means ‘Orange wine’) is made of 100% Hárslevelű grape with prolonged skin maceration. “The dry sip on the palate is reminiscent of figs, but there is no hint of sweetness. A tight sense of acidity and a clean, unique flavour. Notes of oily seeds and herbs, earl grey tea and dried peach alternate. A long, complex and particularly likeable finish, with a slight phenolic character, rounded off by a nutty oil flavour.”
Recommended food pairing: pumpkin cream soup with artisan pumpkin seed oil. (In the west of Hungary, in “Őrség” region, there are several traditional small pumpkin seed oil producers.)
It costs 3600 HUF / 10 EUR on the webshop of the winery.

More about Tornai Winery

Tornai wines are available in several countries, for example in the United Kingdom, imported by Astrum Wine Cellars. If you are interested in importing, contact the export manager.

Our earlier article about the new sparkling wines

New release by Tornai: Sparkling made of Csomorika

More than 30 wineries – and a lot of sparklings!

The Nagyerdő (‘Great Forest’ city park) is always atmospheric, but it is best on summer evenings, with great music and a glass in hand. For three days, performers will pass the microphone to each other on three stages, and the exhibitors will constantly offer their wines. Among them will be Béres Vineyard from Tokaj, Bock Winery from Villány, Garamvári Vineyard from Balaton, Steigler Cellar from Sopron, Thummerer Winery from Eger and the Tornai Winery from Somló – they all have sparkling wines to sparkle the summer nights!

Did you know, that Debrecen is the 2nd largest city of Hungary?

Visit Debrecen, enjoy the zoo and the museums, the vibrant squares and parks.
Discover Debrecen – more information here

Date and time: 6–8 August 2026, evenings (from about 5 pm)
Venue: Nagyerdő (‘Great Forest’), Debrecen
Tickets: An entrance ticket is required for the event, which costs 5,000 HUF / person on Thursday, 6,000 HUF on Friday and Saturday, and a three-day pass is 13,000 HUF. Admission is free for children under 12.
Wines must be paid for at the exhibitors.
More information

Wineries mentioned in the introduction

Béres Winery

Bock Estate

Garamvári Vineyard

Steigler Cellar

Thummerer Winery

Tornai Winery

Savages y Suefo is one of the many bands to play, listen to them here:

Winelovers River Night on 23 July in Budapest

Unlimited tasting for 4 hours, including a 2 hours’ river cruise with breath-taking sights all around with the top attraczions of Budapest. Don’t miss the 150 wines by 31 wineries, including the brand new Tornai sparkling wines made of the rare Csomorika grape, the new releases of Kancellár Estate, the creator of SomlAI, the “AI wine”, the best non-Austrian sparkling by Falstaff magazine: Etyeki Kúria Rose Brut (with 92 points).

Date and time: 23 July, 18.00–22.00
Venue: Europa Boat / Jégverem Street Port, Budapest, Hungary
Tickets: 19 900 HUF / person (until 22 July)
VIP tickets are available in limited number for 36 900 HUF, it includes dinner and extra samplings.
See all the exhibitors and get your ticket here

More about the new tradtiotional method sparkling wines made by Tornai Winery

New release by Tornai: Sparkling made of Csomorika

More about the international success of Kancellár SomlAI 2021

(Sold out, but the estate has many other great wines worth tasting)

Breaking news: the Best White Wine of CMB is Hungarian!

More about the recent debut of Etyeki Kúria traditional method sparkling wines

World sensation: sabrage with an airplane

Wine & Painting at Tornai Winery

Zsuzsanna Kővári artist will share her passion of creation with joy at Tornai Winery on 11 April. Wine, wine bites and paint will be provided, guests only need to bring their heart. Plus: do not miss the chance to stock some of the 4 recent gold medal winner Tornai wines!

Date and time: 11 April 2026, 13.00
Venue: Tornai Winery, Somló hegy 1242., Somlojeno, Hungary, 8478
Participation fee: 12 000 HUF (approximately 30 EUR)
It includes: refreshing wines from Tornai, some wine bites, guided painting
Booking: +36 70 663 6641 / rendezveny@tornaipince.hu
More about Tornai Winery

Tornai Winery celebrates its 80th anniversary this year with several events all year long.

Painting with heart

Vivid colours, different techniques, several styles – Zsuzsanna “Zsanna” Kővári does not want to stay in her comfort zone, she wants to try herself in new techniques and genres to evolve. She grew up in Balaton Uplands, her love of the lake district is reflected in many of her paintings.
11 April is the Day of Poetry in Hungary, commemorating one of our most famous poets, Attila József, who was born on this day. Then why a painter? First of all, why not, secondly, Zsanna’s painting is poetry. She often reads poems for inspiration, because, as she says: “good things inspire me the most”. She “paints with heart”, and she can transfer this passion through a workshop like the one at Tornai Winery.

More about Zsuzsanna Kővári

Does it give you a boy?

Spoiler: no. The myth has been debunked. The wine of the indigenous grape of Juhfark from volcanic Somló does not give you a baby boy, but it gives you pleasure, so enjoy it, even today, on Valentine’s Day.
Background photo of the cover: Pexels / Foundertips
Author: Ágnes Németh

The following article of mine was written 10 years ago, I won Millesima Blog Awards in Wine Reporter category with this article in 2017, so it might be worth republishing it. The wines are different from the ones in th original article.

Make love and drink Juhfark – does it help if you want a baby boy?

Well, the first action definitely does. The most important indigenous grape variety of Hungary’s smallest wine region, the volcanic soiled Somló is said to have a positive effect on women who long for a son. The legend goes back to the XVIII. century, when Maria Theresa, Habsburg archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary ordered the young Habsburg archdukes to drink Juhfark wine from Somló on their wedding night so that they would have an heir as a fruit of the night. The argument was backed by the local observation, that four times more baby boys were born then girls around the hill of Somló.

Endre Czeizel, Hungary’s most famous geneticist, who has passed away recently, commented the belief. ‘Stomach is very far from the womb’ – said he undermining the myth immediately. The professor claimed that certain diets might influence the sex of the baby, but these researches still lack evidence, and some of them are too long and hard to keep. Intimate irrigation may have significant influence, however, if the irrigation liquid is acidic, it helps to find their way for X chromosomes, which are for girls, and alkaline environment helps Y chromosomes, and therefore the boys. The grape Juhfark is highly acidic, thus if it has an influence, it has a reverse one: it might enable women to give birth to girls! It is enough to look at Maria Theresia’s family: she had 16 children, and 11 of them were girls! The message of the story is that one should enjoy Juhfark for its own merit, not for family planning.

Juhfark takes its name from the sheep’s tail, as the long cylindrical shape of the bunches resemble the sheep’s tail. Juhfark has a rather neutral, restrained nose with some flowers and green apples. High, sometimes brutal acidity. It is really difficult to tame this variety, but there are amazing examples of it in history! If you are not afraid of straightforward acidity, take a chance on it. In Somló, the minerality paired with high acidity results some outstanding wines with great aging potential.

More than 60 exhibitors

Taste Furmint wines from at least 60 wineries in one place, with one ticket. Certainly, Tokaj wine region will be represented with the most wineries, like Béres Vineyards in our cover photo, but participants can taste Furmint wines from other regions as well. Steigler Cellar will be there from Sopron, Kovács Nimród Winery from Eger,Borbély Family Winery from Badacsony and Tornai Winery from Somló.

Date and time: 26 February 2026 (Thursday), 16.00–21.00
Venue: Hungarian Heritage House, 1011 Budapest, Corvin tér 8
Tickets purchased in advance: 21 900 HUF / approximately 58 EUR
Tickets on the spot: 25 000 HUF / approximately 66 EUR
For the full list of exhibitors scroll down
Get your ticket here (at the bottom, page is in Hungarian, but google can help or you can contact the organiser here)

Furmint in a nutshell

– Furmint is one of the few grapes allowed to use under the appellation of Tokaj, it is the main grape of aszú wines along with Hárslevelű.
– Tokaj winemakers answered with stunning dry Furmint wines to the decrease of sweet wine consumption.
– Furmint is grown all over Hungary, marvellous Furmint wines are made in Somló, Badacsony, Balatonfüred–Csopak, Mátra and Eger.
– It ripens late and has a nose of fresh fruits, often compared to ripe pear. Its significant acidity and alcohol produce characterful wines sometimes with a touch of tartness.
– Furmint originates from Tokaj, and there are several evidences to prove that, one of them is the mention of the variety as early as 1611 in a document from Erdőbénye, Tokaj region.

The latest discovery about furmint, announced yesterday:

Turkish Kolorko grape variety is identified as Hungary’s Furmint

A Turkish grape is actually Furmint!

Béres Lőcse Furmint is available in magnum format!

“This wine was made from the selected harvest of Furmint vines from the Lőcse vineyard. The must, gently pressed with a maximum pressure of 1 bar, was settled for one night. The clarified must was fermented in new wooden barrels. After fermentation, it was aged for 6 months in barrels of various sizes (2 and 5 hectolitres) with different toasts. During aging, the wine developed its harmonious, rounded, mineral character due to constant lees stirring and micro-oxygenation processes. After the aging process, we crafted the final blend by skilfully marrying the best barrels.”
More about the wine and Béres Tokaj

Exhibitors of Furmint February Grand Tasting 2026

Angyal (Tokaj)
ÁTS (Tokaj)
Babits (Tokaj)
Bardon (Tokaj)
Béres (Tokaj)
Bodrog Borműhely  (Tokaj)
Boldog Balaton (Balaton)
Borbély (Badacsony)
Bott (Tokaj)
Dénes (Somló)
Dereszla (Tokaj)
Disznókő (Tokaj)
Dobogó (Tokaj)
Dorogi (Tokaj)
Emerencia (Tokaj)
Erzsébet (Tokaj)
Eskol (Tokaj)
Espák (Tokaj)
Frikker (Tokaj)
Füleky (Tokaj)
Gapa (Tokaj)
Gizella (Tokaj)
Grand Tokaj (Tokaj)
Gróf Degenfeld (Tokaj)
H-négyzet (Mátra)
Heidrich (Tokaj)
Holdvölgy (Tokaj)
IN Borok
Kálvária (the organiser’s own cellar in Budakalász, near Budapest)
Kikelet (Tokaj)
Kolonics (Somló)
Kovács Nimród Winery (Eger)
Kvaszinger (Tokaj)
Lenkey (Tokaj)
Mádi A (Tokaj)
Maison aux Pois (Tokaj)
Mariasy (Tokaj)
Montium (Tokaj)
Naár (Tokaj)
Napvirág (Badacsony)
P.A.N.K. (Badacsony)
Pálffy (Balaton Uplands)
Patricius (Tokaj)
Paunoch (Tokaj)
Pelle (Tokaj)
Pendits (Tokaj)
Préselő (Tokaj)
Rózsa (Tokaj)
Samuel Tinon (Tokaj)
Sanzon Tokaj (Tokaj)
Sauska (Tokaj)
Serpens Wine (Tokaj)
Somlói Vándor (Somló)
Steigler Pince (Sopron)
Szűcs (Tokaj)
T3 (Tokaj)
Tokaj Drei (Tokaj)
Tokaj-Hétszőlő Organic Vineyards (Tokaj)
Tokaj-Oremus  (Tokaj)
Tokajicum (Tokaj)
Tornai (Somló)
TóthBorbirtok (Pannonhalma)

Trifecta Wines (Tokaj)
Wine Mission

Zsirai (Tokaj)

 

Importer of the month: Hundert Weinhaus

Wineries attend exhibitions to network and secure orders, but this is hard work and extremely costly, and sometimes an exhibition yields no results but costs a lot of money. However, this is not the case with the Weinfestival Basel. The Swiss go there to taste and then order, so in addition to fruitful connections, there is also immediate success. Last November was a success for the Villány wineries exhibiting, and István Bicsek and Marietta, the owners of the Hundert Weinhaus wine shop, played a major role in this.
Author: Ágnes Németh

Contact

Hundert Weinhaus
Address: Leuenallee 8A, CH-4702 Oensingen, Switzerland
Email: info@hundertweinhaus.com
Tel: +41 (0)79 555 99 15
https://hundertweinhaus.com/

Wineries in the Hundert Weinhaus portfolio

A Gere Winery (Villány), Árvai Family Winery (Tokaj), Bock Winery (Villány), Bodri Winery (Szekszárd), Erzsébet Cellar (Tokaj), Eszterbauer Winery (Szekszárd), Fritz Cellar (Szekszárd), Gróf Degenfeld Estate (Tokaj), Günzer Winery (Villány), Heumann Winery (Villány), Hétszőlő (Tokaj), Jammertal Wine Estate (Villány), Kikelet Winery (Tokaj), Koch Winery (Hajós–Baja / Villány), Mészáros Winery (Szekszárd), Pajzos (Tokaj), Ruppert Winery (Villány), Teleki Wines (Villány), Thummerer Winery (Eger), Törley Winery (Etyek–Buda), Tornai Winery (Somló), Vylyan Vineyard and Winery (Villány)

Foreword

I have never taken so long to write an article, and I am solely to blame for this. I usually send my questions for the Importer of the Month series by email, which is what I did in the case of Hundert Weinhaus – roughly two years ago. However, Marietta Bicsek, one half of the owner couple, was busy preparing for a pre-Christmas expo and didn’t want to bother with writing, so she called me. I was on vacation at the time, walking around Bordeaux with my children, and unfortunately, by the time I got home, my memory of our pleasant and informative phone conversation had faded. I felt ashamed about this, and that was the end of it. Until last November, when we attended the Franc & Franc conference in Villány together, picked up where we left off, talked a lot, and I got to know two wonderful people in Marietta and István.

After the first Swiss Furmint February

This Sunday, February 1, the first event promoting Furmint took place with the participation of seven Hungarian wine merchants, and of course Marietta and István were there too. “The audience was primarily professional, the masterclass led by Lilla Fülöp was a great experience, and finally, all the merchants living in Switzerland who distribute Hungarian wines were present at the same time with their excellent wines. In the evening, we had dinner at the same table to discuss the events of the day. Jörg Waldthaler, the organizer of the event, did a lot to make this happen, and we are confident that the promotion of Hungarian wines in this form will continue.”

If you have never heard of Csomorika, don’t blame yourself, this variety is a rarity even in Hungary. At the end of the year, Tornai Winery in the volcanic Somló wine region released a sparkling wine – in two versions depending on the dosage – made of this ancient, yet unknown grape.

Hungary made sparkling wines well before the Spanish

Whether it was Dom Perignon abbey in Champagne or British merchants in London, who invented sparkling wine – or who realized the bubbles appear when wines referment –, we will never know, that dispute will hang in the air forever. The Catalans also claim that an abbey in Mallorca and another one in Girona discovered bubbles in wine, well before Dom Perignon – again, there is not much evidence. However, we know that the first officially recorded sparkling wine in Spain was made in 1872.
And in Hungary? Almost 40 years earlier! The first Hungarian sparkling wine factory was founded in 1834, by Ignácz Prückner in Budapest, and the second one was founded in 1859 in the southern city of Pécs, by Lőrinc Littke. This latter was the sparkling winery that used Csomorika grape as base wine for sparkling wines.
And it was Endre Tornai, founder of Tornai Winery in Somló, the present owner’s late father, who introduced the variety in Somló winer region. And it was Tamás Tornai, present owner, who created the first Csomorika sparkling wine in Hungary, after the change of the regime (Ottó Légli also has plantations of Csomorika, but his sparkling wine is not released yet.)

Forget all other sparkling wines!

Csomorika is quite likely to have Hungarian origin, though it has a German (Swabian) name as well: Lammerschwanz. Csomorika is a wine rich in flavours and with quite high acidity, which makes it an ideal base wine for sparklings.
Borsmenta Hungarian online wine magazine published a panel tasting of Hungarian sparkling wines in December, here is their opinion about Tornai Brut: “The sparkling wine opens with a pleasant, sugary aroma, followed by white flowers, ginger, peach, pear, and finally citrus. The taste is elegant, floral, citrusy, slightly bitter, with persistent effervescence and a beautiful bubble structure. Well chilled, it makes a perfect welcome drink, but it will also go down well on summer evenings in the garden or on the terrace.”
Tornai Winery itself describes it with the following sentences:
“The bouquet bursts with lively citrus aromas, reflecting the unique character of this rare Hungarian grape variety. On the palate, delicate creamy effervescence accompanies an almost bone-dry profile, where vibrant lime and subtle grape blossom unfold beautifully across the palate. The long, graceful finish lingers with notes of grapefruit zest and hints of dried chamomile.”
We also tasted it at an event before New Year’s, we agree with both of the descriptions, but most of all with the unique character. It cannot be compared to a sparkling wine of Chardonnay, it is not only a different style, but a completely different genre. It is definitely worth trying, especially for winelovers with thirst for adventures!
Brut has 5 g dosage, while the other version, Extra Dry has 15.5 g/L sugar.
Retail price on the winery webshop: 4990 HUF (approximately 13 EUR).

More information about Tornai Winery and the sparkling wines

Tornai Wines are available in several countries, for example in the United Kingdom at Astrum Wine Cellars. If you are interested in importing, contact Éva Dományházi commercial manager.