Berliner Wine Trophy results announced

At the latest edition of Berliner Wine Trophy Hungary wins 85 gold medals, out of them are 3 grand gold medals. And the 2 of the 3 grand golds are red wines from Szekszárd! Altogether 40 Hungarian red wines received gold medals, which means that that the success of Hungarian red wines is not a dream any more…

Berliner Wine Trophy claims to be the largest wine contest under OIV patronage with 14 000 samples a year. Only winners are published, thus we can only estimate that raughly 7000 wines entered the winter edition (judged in February, out of which 2439 wines received gold medals, 48 of them grand gold. 32 countries participated in the latest edition. Italy, Spain, France and Germany are the leaders with the most gold medals folowed by Portugal and Austria (both 144 gold medals), Greece won 86 medals and Hungary is the 8th best performing country with 85 medals. Moldova won 60, the Checz Republic 34, Romania 33, Switzerland 23, the rest of the European countries won only a few medals (though Australia is there with 39 and China with 36 gold medals).

Tokaj among the best – as usual

At international wine contests it is usually Tokaj the best performing region of our 22 wine regions, since Tokaji Aszú keeps astonishing judges. At Berliner Wine Trophy Tokaj collected 12 gold medals, one of them is grand gold (Gróf Degenfeld 6 puttonyos Aszú Selection 2017). We are happy to see dry Tokaj wines on the top list, for example Holdvölgy Meditation 2019, a dry Furmint aged partially in oak.

Szekszárd rules!

At this Berliner Wine Trophy the southern Szekszárd could confirm its powerful role on the wine map of Hungary. A land of exciting red wines with balance and elegance. 2 of the grang gold winners are from Szekszárd: Alpha 2017 by Vesztergombi Cellar and Patina 2018 by Scheiber. Alpha is an exciting story – we, Hungarianwines contributed in the selection of the name for the wine, we released a call for being a godfather, and one of our readers, Michał B. Paradowski suggested the name Alpha for this special wine. As Csaba Vesztergombi said about 2017 vintage: “Every winemakers deserves a once in a lifetime vintage, 2017 is the one for us.”. Several of his 2017 wines won international accolades, and Alpha, the essence of this vintage has started its glorious marching. (At Berliner Wine Trophy won another gold with Bodzás Cabernet Sauvignon 2017.

Lajver Wine House is another great performing winery of Szekszárd with double gold, one for Lajver Cabernet Sauvignon Limited and one for Lajver Kékfrankos.

Villány – a red, velvety flow of wines

Our southernmost wine region, Villány is the 3rd best performing wine region at Berliner Wine Trophy with 11 gold medals. Csányi Winery (Teleki Wines) won 4 gold medals with wines: Csányi Kővilla Válogatás Cabernet Franc, Chateau Teleki Villányi Cabernet Sauvignon, Teleki Tradíció 1881 Villányi Franc and Csányi Villányi Cabernet Franc. The winery proved again its potential to great great wines in different price segments. Vylyan Vineyard and Winery is also highly successful with 3 gold medals: Vylyan Kékfrankos,Vylyan Merlot and Vylyan Montenuovo Cuvée. Gere A Winery enetered its iconic Merlot called Solus – and it has collected its “usual” gold medal.

Balaton – gold all around the lake

Balaton broader wine region includes 6 wine regions, altogether they collected 25 medals. Balatonfüred has collected 10 gold, 2 of them wend to Feind Winery, a cellar with significal recent improvement. Feind Choice 2018 is a late harvest wine, while Feind The Reason 2019 is a Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc blend.
Somló, the volcanic mountain belongs to Balaton as well with Tornai Winery, a stabile winner of international wine contest, now with Somlói Top Selection Grófi Hárslevelű.

Colourful country

Eger collected 7 gold medals, one of them is Tóth Ferenc Egri Kékfrankos Superior, a superb example of Hungary’s most planted black variety.
Our people like drinking aromatic wines, Frittmann Winery in Kunság is one of the most important producers of grapes like Cserszegi Fűszeres, Irsai Olivér and rather unknown ones like Generosa. The Frittmann’s wone a gold with Hajnal (Sunrise), a Cserszegi and Gererosa blend, and another one with a varietal Generosa.
Rosé wines are also iportant, younger generations prefer this style as their summer drink. Koch Winery from Hajós–Baja wine region won gold medal with Koch Frisch Rosé – a refreshing, yet complex rosé.

Sopron is coming back: after years of less publicity, Steigler, and organic wine cellar appeared and started its success story with 2 gold medals now: Steigler Syrah Premium and Steigler Cabernet Franc Premium. Plus the cellar has been chosen the “Organic Producer of Hungary”!

Etyek, the “vineyard of Budapest” cannot be missing from the top list: Etyeki Kúria Merlot 2018 won a gold as well.

Congratulation to all the winners!

See the complete list of Hungarian gold medal winners