Gourmet Festival, the feast of all fine wine lovers and foody geeks take place on 16–19 May in Budapest with great wineries like Bock, Garamvári, Grand Tokaj, Kreinbacher or Sauska– just to mention a few of them. The main theme of the festival this year is the paprika.

If it is Hungary, then it is authentic, picant, high quality paprika. Though in the past decades many restaurants offered too greasy and dull dishes, the reputation of our cuisine has managed to climb back and even surpass previous golden ages. We have the most Michelin stars in Eastern Europe, we have superb results from Bocuse d’Or and we have an annual event dedicated to top gastronomy. Gourmet Festival is an event of international standard, visitors have the chance to enjoy the most sophisticated and most creative dishes at reasonable prices. Paprika will appear in many versions in countless creations, and we can guarantee that none of them will be neither too greasy, nor dull. Besides top restaurant exhibitors, several quality wineries will exhibit as well, here we will recommend a handful of them.

Bock Cellar – a winery full of gold

József Bock is an iconic figure of Villány, but also a person with a constant drive to make better and better wines. The latest evidence of this is the number of gold medals the winery has received just within the past 30 days: at regional Villány wine contest they won 6 great gold and 2 gold medals plus 2 extra prizes– with this amazing number of gold Bock has been announced to win The Most Succesful Winery title of the contest.

Garamvári Winery – the widest portfolio of sparkling wines

Vencel Garamvári’s winery has two cellars: a sparkling manufacture in Budafok (near Budapest) and a winery on South Balaton. As a result, the winery has a portfolio to offer wine for every palate. Do not miss their complex and elegant Garamvári Tokaji Furmint Brut single varietal bottle fermented sparkling wine.

Grand Tokaj – the sweetest thing

The largest winery of Tokaj wine region has other superlatives apart from their size. Their chief winemaker is for example Áts Károly, who has had 100 points at Wine & Spirits Magazine twice! (Though at that time he worked for Royal Tokaji.) The winery’s single vineyard Szarvas Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2013 won great gold at Mundus Vini (besides many other acknowledgements).

Kreinbacher Estate – the pearl of Somló

The state-of-art winery is first and foremost famous for its bottle fermented sparkling wines. The latest amazing result from CSWWC (Champagne and Sparkling Wine Competition), London: Kreinbacher Prestige Brut Magnum 2013 was not only a gold winner, but also the Best Hungarian Sparkling Wine and on top of that it was chosen the World Champion Classic Brut from a Non-Traditional Grape! If you visit their booth, do not miss their aged Juhfark and other still wines. If you are lucky, you can taste a real rarity: a Shiraz from volcanic Somló!

Sauska – the thousand colours of black & white

The estate has two wineries: one in Tokaj obviously with white wines and one in Villány obviously with black grapes, red wines. But still, how much versatility, how much creativity! In Tokaj for example they make wine out of non-Tokaj varieties (e. g. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc) with great results, and they even produce a bottle fermented sparkling rosé made of Pinot Noir from Tokaj (blended with white Tokaj varieties)! Outstanding quality, the constant aim to achieve perfection, spotless harmony and superpure flavours. An unmissable winery.

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