winner Archives - Hungarianwines

The absolute winner of Villány Regional Wine Contest

Hungarianwines.eu — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 13:54:13 +0000

308 wines entered the 59th annual Villány Wine Contest and 81 gold medals were given. The results have just been announced. Only 6 of the gold medal winners received the highest prize – the Great Gold Medal. Bock Cabernet Franc 2015 was selected the Best Villányi Franc, and the absolute winner of the competition with 96.2 points is Duennium Cuvée 2012 by Vylyan Vineyard and Winery. Duennium is the ’flagship’ of Vylyan, it is produced only in the best vintages from carefully selected grapes of the best vineyards. The flower on the label, Gingko Biloba stands for eternity, the meeting point of past, present and future. 2012 vintage is made of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. The wine was aged in barrique for 17 months, and then the best barrels were selected, blended and aged for another year in large barrel. „Christmas spices on the nose with ripe blackberry, chocolate and raisin on the palate. Hints of cedarwood and tobacco box in the aftertaste with a touch of musk. Full body, complexity, long finish – a respectable wine personality.” The same wine won gold medal at Vinalies International in 2019 and at AWC Vienna in 2018.

More about Vylyan and Duennium

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Winemaker of the Year is announced!

Hungarianwines.eu — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 14:36:13 +0000

The most prestigious title of Hungarian wine life is given out annually at the end of the year. The process of the election begins with the nomination period: influencers, wine writers are asked to name the winemaker of their choice and then members of Hungarian Wine Academy vote for one of the 6 candidates (the canditates are those who receive the most nominations). The 6 candidates this year: Tamás Borbély (Badacsony), Mihály Figula (Balatonfüred), Tamás Günzer (Villány), Csaba Koch (Hajós–Baja) Zsolt Liptai (Pannonhalma), dr. Beáta Nyúlné Pühra (Etyek–Buda). And the winner is Csaba Koch, owner of Koch Winery! Csaba is one of the most ambitious winemaker, and his talent, his creativity and his stamina at work is rewarding indeed: Koch was selected the Winery of the Year in 2014, The Most Beautiful Vineyard in 2017, Best European Winery by CUECO this year, and now on top of them (and dozens of gold medals from national and international contests) he is the Winemaker of the Year in 2019 in Hungary! Congratulations to Csaba Koch and all his team!

More about Koch Winery

Previous Winemakers of the Year

Dowload Hajós–Baja wine region free map

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Fabulous result: best value red wine from Villány

Hungarianwines.eu — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 09:21:50 +0000

Top 100 wines is a publication with a unique concept: the entered wines are not nominated by the wineries, but supplied by Bortársaság (the most important wine store chain) and Auchan hypermarket. The aim is to rank the reasonable priced wines – thus to give a useful guide for every winelover. The winner red wine is Chateau Teleki Villányi Merlot 2015. László Romsics, executive manager of Csányi Winery answers our questions regarding the fabulous result.

„Whispering marketing is not enough for us”

„Dark ruby. Intense nose with red fruits and mild, refined toasty notes coming the smartly used barrel ageing. Vibrant, fruity palate, great structure, silky tannins, balance. Long finish.”

This evaluation of Chateau Teleki Villányi Merlot 2015 came from the jury of „Top 100 magyar bor 2019”. All the experts are top sommeliers (like Máté Horváth Hungarian champion) or DipWSET wine experts like Attila Fiath, president of the jury. The wines were selected by the above mentioned two retail chains, and the concept was to rank the most sold wines in each category. The advantage of this publication is that all the showcased wines are approachable wines with reasonable price. To put it in another way: you can find the top 100 best value Hungarian wines on the pages.

– Did you know about the nomination of Chateau Teleki Merlot?

– No, I didn’t.

– What was your first reaction when you heard about the No1 position?

– I was very very glad, because I could feel that this acknowledment is the fruit of all the travelling, learning, faith and team work at the cellar. It is a great achievement of the whole team, the success of our winery and our winemaker, Zoltán Szakál as well. And this No1 ranking is another evidence to prove that when it comes to quality winemaking, large wineries have the same concept as that of the small, artisan cellars. What’s more, customers expect even more from us. We have to emphasise what we do, how we think about winemaking. The so called „whispering marketing” is not enough for a large winery like ours.

– Why do you think this Merlot is so successful?

– It is very simple: it’s popular, because it is lovely to drink. And of course because it is a high quality wine from Villány at reasonable price. We make wines which are balanced and easy to drink. This result also makes it clear, that a complex, but approachable wine can get high evaluation even at strict wine contests, if made with care and knowledge. If every ingredient of a wine is at its right place, then its price and quality will find its place as well. We sold more than 15.000 bottles of this wine, so it is not a „micro label”.

– What kind of marketing helps the sales of this wine?

– We have placed promotion in the publication of Auchan, and we have also placed a joint advertisement with Auchan in VinCE Magazine, Hungary’s market leading wine magazine.

– How dou you see hypermarket sales in general?

– Hypermarkets are important partners to us, and we have exceptionally good partnership with Auchan. I think they trust our wines, trust the quality of our wines and their potential for top sales. And in return we count on them, and these facts are key elements for long term successful business for both of us.

More about Teleki wines and Csányi Winery

Top 100 wines story is to be continued!

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Csetvei Olaszrizling medal winner at US TEXSOM contest!

Hungarianwines.eu — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 10:16:26 +0000

Hungarian wines frequently achieve significant results at Europen wine competitions, oversea medals however are much less usual.Travis Smith from Rooted Selection, Csetvei Cellar importer to the US entered Csetvei Olaszrizling at TEXSOM International Wine Awards, because, as Travis says, this contest is really respectable, most of the jury members are master sommeliers with „quite a bit of influence in the industry”. Altogether 3 Hungarian wines were awarded medals: 2 Tokaj wines from Royal Tokaj (a silver and a bronze medal), and Csetvei Kő-Papír-Olló Olaszrizling won another bronze medal from the small Mór wine region. Kő-Papír-Olló (’Rock–Paper–Scissors’) is a wine family of three wines, all made of Olaszrizling grape with different vinification. The medal winner wine is Kő, which stands for ’Stone’. The wine was fermented and aged in small barrel on fine lees. „Spiciness, charm and lusciousness in the bottle!”

More about the wine from Rooted Selection

More about TEXSOM

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PAR Awards – between new and old world

Hungarianwines.eu — Sun, 25 Mar 2018 10:07:30 +0000

PAR Awards – between new and old world

In 2016 a new wine contest was launched with the principal objective „to highlight the diversity of the products native to the well-known and upcoming wine-growing nations in the Eastern Europe, Eastern Mediterranean area and the Black Sea region.” The highest award, „top gold” has been given only to three wines: Lotem Vivace Cabernet Sauvignn, Israel, 2016 (red wine), Domaine Papakonstantinou Retsina, Greece, 2017 (white wine), Binekhi Saperavi, Kakheti, Georgia, 2015 (qvevri category). Altogether 27 gold medals were awarded, and 6 of them went to Hungary! Sauska Birsalmás Furmint 2015 is a stunning, complex, long lasting, super elegant white wine from Tokaj, one of the gold winners. Koch Winery has received three gold medals, one for a reductive, aromatic white called Frisch Cserszegi Fűszeres 2017 from Hajós–Baja region, and two for reds: Merlot Premium 2015 and Cabernet Sauvignon Premium 2015, both from Villány. Grand Tokaj won two gold medals in sweet category: Grand Selection Késői Arany 2016 and Tokaji Aszú 5 puttonyos, 2013.

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