The “travelling circus”, the ever-moving Concours Mondial de Bruxelles is an amazing venture, and it has been a rigorous and impartial guide for wine consumers for 28 years now. I am honoured to be a regular judge and now I have double pride: Hungary won 8 gold and 2 silver medals. On the 9 days of the contest 300 jury members tasted 10 000 wines from 46 countries.

Why is CMB so special?

The Bruxelles based contest travels to a different country every year. It might sound simple, but in fact they pack every single accessory and tool, from the tablets to the tasting tables, from glasses to technical equipment, and move it to China or Bulgaria or wherever the contest takes place. While DWWA or IWC in London just opens the door – the city is full of wine experts and the contest is held in the same place –, CMB puts a lot of effort into logistics not only to move their gadgets, but the jury members as well. This year the contest took place in the beautiful Luxembourg City.

Red reign this year

Hungary is first and foremost famous for its white wines, sweet Tokaj and recently more and more dry Furmint, not only from Tokaj. We grow more white grapes, yet at this contest this year all the Hungarian medal winners are red wines! We can state that the majority of Hungarian winemakers are over the “Oak Age” and elegance and balance are more important now than weight and body. Let us introduce 3 gold winner wines.

Bock – 3 gold medals!

Bock Winery in Villány is the one of the two most successful estates of the contest: they won 3 gold medals. The winners are: Bock Libra Cuvée 2017 (grand gold), Bock 70+ 2018 (we wrote about it recently) and Bock Cuvée 2015. Bock Libra refers to the balance of the wine, and seemingly this blend of Cabernet Franc 50%, Cabernet Sauvignon 25% and Merlot 25% has achieved the aimed balance and harmony. “A full-bodied, concentrated wine with an incredible wealth of aroma and depth of flavour. It is characterized by a deeply intense colour verging on black in which tobacco and milk chocolate appear alongside overripe fruit. Alongside the dried fruits, chocolate is a dominant element of its flavour.”
More about Bock wines

Heumann Terra Tartaro 2015 – powerful yet elegant

Heumann Winery is run by a Swiss–German couple, Erhard and Evelyne Heumann. They work passionately and their aim is to reflect the different types of terroirs of Villány wine region. Their gold winner is another Bordeaux blend from Villány with slightly different proportion than that of Bock Libra: Cabernet-sauvignon 45%, Merlot 30%, Cabernet franc 25%. “Deep dark ruby colour. In the nose intense aromas, sweet spices, black truffles, mocha, dark chocolate, ripe black berries, and cassis. Velvety structure with fine acidity, very well balanced with integrated tannins, a powerful yet elegant wine. Black berries again plus chocolate and spices. Very long lasting.”
More about Heumann wines

Etyeki Kúria – the proper Pinot

Life is full of coincidences. A few days ago I participated in a quite spontaneous tasting and a representative of Etyeki Kúria suddenly stepped in front of me with a bottle of their Pinot Noir 2018. She made me really happy. A wine writer should be impartial of course, but this wine from the cool climate Etyek is one of my favourite wines. And I am not the only one, recently Caroline Gilby MW praised 2017 vintage of this Pinot, naming it “the proper Pinot”. „The rolling limestone hills of the closest wine region to Budapest are great for producing elegant wines with fine acidity. This is proper Pinot Noir, thanks to a delicate hand in the winemaking, so just 30% new barrels for 10 months. It has a lovely inviting scent of raspberry, woodland berries and a touch of violets, then elegant structure, fine fruit and beautiful integration supported by a silky tannin backbone.” Etyeki Kúria Red 2018 received a silver medal.

More about Etyeki Kúria wines

See the full results of CMB2021