Hungarian Circle of Winewriters’ Super 12 lists announced

The news of national and international wine competitions are all over the place, and perhaps even the non-wine-geeks have learned that winning a gold medal in a wine competition is not like winning a gold medal in sport. While only one swimmer can win the 200 backstroke, a wine competition can produce more than a hundred gold medals, none of them shines more than the others. By contrast, the Circle of Hungarian Winewriters’ top list each year includes 12 white and 12 red wines – no more, no less – and these are blind-tasted to award the Hungarian Wine Grand Prix in white and red. Plus, the top of the top is called the Kosárka Memorial Award, which goes to Kovács Nimród Winery of Eger this year – their wine in the Super 12 list is the legendary Sky Furmint.
The full list is below, and the awards ceremony will take place at the Grand Fehérvár Tasting on 11 January.

Pannon and Balaton wines take the lead

Hungary’s 22 wine regions are grouped in 6 broader wine regions. This year, the winewriters selected the most wines from the Pannon broader wine region (Villány, Szekszárd, Tolna and Pécs) and the Balaton broader wine region (6 wine regions around Lake Balaton), six from each region. Next is the Upper Pannon wine region (Sopron, Mór, Etyek, Neszmély and Pannonhalma) with 5 wines, followed by Tokaj with 4. The Upper Hungary wine region (Eger, Mátra and Bükk) is represented with 3 wines.

The winners of the 2024 top list, the legends:
– White wine: Bott Pince Csontos 2021, Tokaj
– Red wine: St. Andrea Vineyard Agapé 2019, Eger
Dr. József Kosárka was the founder and president of the Hungarian Wine Writers’ Association until his death in 2022. The prize, established in his memory, is awarded to the winery with the most entries from winewriters. This year there were several wineries with the same number of nominations, so after the blind tasting, the Circle held another vote and the 2024 Kosárka Memorial Award went to the Kovács Nimród Winery from Eger.
This is the third time in the history of the award that a winery from Eger has won the prize, after Thummerer Winery in 2022 and St. Andrea Vineyard in 2023.
More about Kovács Nimród Winery

Super 12 white wines

To see how the wines are selected, scroll down

• Balassa Kakas Furmint 2022, Tokaj
• Bott Csontos 2021, Tokaj
• Cseri VI. Sextus Rajnai Rizling Selection 2022, Pannonhalma
• Dóka Éva Zalai Hárslevelű Késői Szüret 2021, Zalai borvidék
• Figula Sóskút Olaszrizling 2023, Balatonfüred–Csopak
• Gilvesy Tarányi Rajnai Rizling 2020, Badacsony
• Gizella Barát Hárslevelű 2023, Tokaj
• Holdvölgy Vision 2020, Tokaj
• Kovács Nimród Winery Sky Furmint 2021, Eger
• Miklóscsabi Csoda Ezerjó 2023, Mór
• Spiegelberg Nagy-Somlói Hárslevelű 2021, Somló
• Zelna Farkó-kő Olaszrizling 2021, Balatonfüred–Csopak

Winewriters’ choice

The 8th selection of the Circle of Hungarian Winewriters took place in December. The conclusion is that more of the lighter, easy to drink wines made it to the Super 12 list, with varieties like Olaszrizling and Grüner Veltliner. Figula Sóskút Olaszrizling 2022 (Balatonfüred) received the Grand Prix in the white category. Three more “Super” wines of the latest selection (in the cover photo): Csetvei RawKa Ezerjó Amfora 2022 (Mór), Holdvölgy Intuition No. 3 Furmint 2018 (Tokaj), Steigler Zöldveltelini Bio 2022 (Sopron). See the full list below.

About the Super 12 selection

It is the 8th edition of the white and red Super 12 lists selected by the Circle of Hungarian Winewriters. The wines are nominated by the member writers and they vote for all the nominees in several rounds. The final part is a blind tasting to choose the Grand Prix winners.

Last year the winewriters founded a special award to commemorate the recently deceased Dr. József Kosárka, a great friend, an enthusiast wine writer and founder and president of the Circle of Hungarian Wine Writers. The award goes to the winery whose wines receive the most nominations – this year the winner is St. Andrea Vineyard in Eger with 5 wines nominated by the members.
See the members of the Circle here

Super 12 White 2023

Czurda Henrik, Riesling „Ha szárazon szereted” 2021, Pannonhalma
Csetvei, RawKa Ezerjó Amfora 2022, Mór

Figula, Öreghegy Olaszrizling 2018, Balatonfüred–Csopak
Figula, Sóskút Olaszrizling 2022, Balatonfüred–Csopak
Gilvesy, Rhine Riesling „Tarányi” 2020, Badacsony
Györgykovács, Olaszrizling 2020, Somló
Holdvölgy, Intuition No. 3 Furmint 2018, Tokaj
Pálffy, Olivin 2020, Balaton Uplands
Planina, Csencsevár Olaszrizling 2022, Pécs
St. Andrea, Mária 2021, Eger
Steigler, Zöldveltelini Bio 2022, Sopron
Zelna, Farkó-Kő Olaszrizling 2020, Balatonfüred–Csopak

Come back to see the Super 12 Red Wines list tomorrow!

Hungarian Wine Grand Prix 2022

It is the 7th edition of the white and red Super 12 lists selected by the Circle of Hungarian Wine Writers. The wines are nominated by the member wne writers and they vote for all the nominees in several rounds. The final part is a blind tasting to choose the Grand Prix winners. This year the white winner is Cseri Septimus Rhine Riesling 2019 from Pannonhalma wine region and Günzer Tamás GT 50 Cuvée 2019 from Villány.
To see the full list of Super 12 white and red wines, scroll down.

Wines of the Week? Wines for a year…

Vesztergombi Cellar is a kind of mystery for me, but a most positive mystery. Improving is great, but how can a winery get still better, when they were good at the start? (With Ferenc Vesztergombi being the Winemaker of the Year in 1993). And how can they still go on collecting titles like “the best”, “the most”, “gold winner”, etc? Somehow this winery from Szekszárd has been able to raise the bet constantly, for more than three decades. Let us mention just 5 of the latest great news about the winery.

Kerékhegy Cabernet Franc: The Best Red Wine in Hungary

Winelovers 100 annual print publication lists the 100 best Hungarian wines based on a wine contest, in 2021 with 603 wines. Vesztergombi Kerékhegy Cabernet Franc 2017 was selected the best of the red wines (and also the 3rd best wine altogether, preceded by only two Tokaji Aszú wines).

“Pronounced spiciness, dried tomato, ripened red berry fruits, mainly strawberry – a unique aroma profile. Complex, spicy wine with masculine tannins. Decent, long finish with dark chocolate. Serious body, yet balanced and easy to drink.”

Kétvölgy Kékfrankos with 91 points by Decanter

A review from Decanter magazine is one of the most recent accolades for a single vineyard Kékfrankos (Blaufrankisch) wine: Kétvölgy Kékfrankos 2018

“Kékfrankos from the valleys of Hungary’s warmest region. It expresses spiced strawberry, red plum and dried cherry hints on the nose and palate. Quite Pinot-like, with lovely intensity of sweet strawberry and typical spicy notes. Refined tannins and a fresh backbone” (Decanter, Caroline Gilby MW)

Kerékhegy Shiraz – one of the Super 12

The Circle of Wine Writers have selected the so called Super 12 white and red wines for the 6th time. Vesztergombi is a “usual” player on the list of the supers, this year their Kerékhegy Shiraz 2017 was selected among the best ones. This wine also won gold medal at the latest Mundus Vini wine contest in Germany.

2017 Vesztergombi Kerékhegy Shiraz is a single vineyard wine from grapes from Kerékhegy (‘Wheel Mountain’) vineyard of 280–290 metres above sea level. The soil is mainly loess, rich in red clay and contains smaller bits of limestone. Vines were planted in 2007, 4500 vines / hectare, the training system is medium high cordon. Harvest took place at the end of September, the wine aged in 300 L and 500 L oak barrels for 24 months and 6 months in bottle.

Dessert to match a Super 12 red wine

As we reported earlier, the Super 12 lists have been announced, and one of the newcomers on the list is Sol Montis winery from Mátra wine region. Now we will share Zita Kovács’s favourite dessert recipe, which pairs perfectly with the Syrah – one of the 12 best red wines according to the Hungarian wine writers.

Sol Montis Syrah 2018

Mátra was first and foremost famous for its white wines, but black grapes gain more and more parcels in the vineyards. The winner Syrah comes from the first vintage of the vineyard. It fermented in stainless steel and then matured in barrel for 6 months. The nose is abundant in blueberries, as if we were standing in a garden full of the blue fruit.

More about Sol Montis

“Love” soufflé

This recipe appeared first in the book “Gyengébb? Nem!” by Edit Szabó, a collection of interviews with and recipes of female winemakers. In the book Zita recommends Fajzat Cuvée with the dessert, however the newly awarded Syrah can also match the chocolate dessert.

Ingredients

• 100 g dark chocolate
• 100 g butter
• 4 eggs
• 80 g flour
• 80 g castor sugar

Preparation

• Break the chocolate into smaller pieces and melt it with the butter above the steam of boiling water.
• Beat the eggs and add the gradually to the buttery chocolate. Mix it until smooth.
• Keep on stirring and add the flour and the sugar. Be careful and stir constantly to avoid lumps.
• Spread 4 soufflé molds with butter and divide the dough into the 4 molds.
• Bake them for 11 minutes at 200 C. Do not take the 11 minutes as seriously as the Bible, watch your soufflé instead and remove it when it increased significantly. A soufflé is the best when the inside is still liquid.
• Serve it with red fruits.