ROVINHUD Wine Show, Timișoara, Romania

ROVINHUD is one of the best wine events of Europe, for sure! You can believe me, I was there at the first one, and also last year, ten years later – and keep following it. At the walk-around tasting visitors can taste superb Romanian and Hungarian wines from 22 exhibitors, plus there will be fabulous masterclasses of international topics (for instance Champagne or Bordeaux), including a masterclass called “Skin, Orange, Amber. Wines to remember” by Imre Szakács-Orha DipWSET (in the photo).
And all the profit goes to improve the quality of life of disabled young people – your money goes to the best place.
If you scroll down, you will find a detailed article of mine about the greatness of this event.
By Ágnes Németh

Date and time: 7–8 November 2025, see detailed programme and opening hours here.
Venue: Timișoara Convention Center and restaurants
More information and tickets

A masterclass we highly recommend: Skin, Orange, Amber. Wines to remember

Speaker: Imre Szakács-Orha DipWSET

1. Recas – Sole Orange 2024
2. Purcari – Nocturne Rkatsiteli Orange 2023
3. Guerila – Malvazija 2021
4. Csetvei – Raw/ka Ezerjó Narancs 2024
5. Breitenbach – Orange Furmint 2015
6. Movia – Lunar Ribolla 2021 7. Nachbil – Grandpa 2020
8. Danieli – Kisi Qvevri Premium 2022
9. Breitenbach – Esszencia 2013

Csetvei – Raw/ka Ezerjó Narancs 2024 – the wine from our cover photo

Amber wine made of Ezerjó variety, picked from one single plot. The grape was soaked on the skins for 16 days, fermented, and then pressed with a small wooden basket press. The hand-harvested and selected grapes fermented simultaneously in the vat. After gentle pressing, fermentation was completed in the tank. Unclarified, unfiltered, bottled wine without the addition of sulphur. Very rich, slightly vermouth-like, spicy, long-lasting wine, with a wonderful amber color.
More about Csetvei Cellar

Let’s go blind dating in Timișoara!

(This article of mine below was published on Pécsi Borozó on 3 December 2024)

Here are five reasons why you should be in Timișoara on November 7–9.

Zoltán Szövérdfi-Szép, the creator and driving force behind the 10-year-old RoVinHud event, wanted to throw a great party where wine lovers like himself could learn and marvel at the beauty of the world, and where he could raise some money for his disabled protégés.He succeeded, but not only that—RoVinHud has become an event where you have to decide when to eat between master classes because you don’t want to miss any of them, and of course you want to taste your way through the entire exhibition space. I know, because I was there at its “birth,” and even at its “conception,” and I’m still there now. The arguments in brief, up front:
1. “Save as” – how can a copy be better?
2. Three days of professionalism
3. Timișoara is cool
4. Something that really makes sense
5. The absolute blind date – the most bizarre and at the same time coolest idea in the northern hemisphere.

The article continues under the photos.

1. “Save as” – how can a copy be better?

I was editor-in-chief of Vince magazine for 12 years, and I still write today, but mostly in English. However, I would like to share this with you, and I am confident that Pécsi Borozó is a good forum for what I have to say. I also organized the Vince Budapest Wine Show for eight years, dreaming of something grandiose and working myself to the bone – but happily – to make it a legend. Everyone who matters has been to our event, and even now, many people come up to me and say that it was there that their eyes were opened and they tasted wonders. Zoltán Szövérdfi-Szép, or Zoli, was a regular guest, and he brought more and more guests from Romania, sometimes even a busload of people. Once he wrote to me to talk, and of course I wrote back, but in the rush I forgot about it. He, however, did not forget, he came, and I sat with him in one of the smallest meeting rooms between two grueling meetings, watching my watch, desperately lamenting the wasted minutes. What does this man want? An event like Vince, but over there, across the border, in Romania? I didn’t really take him seriously, but as he talked and talked, he became more and more convincing, and ultimately, what kind of Christian am I if I don’t help those who turn to me? So I helped in any way I could, with information, advice, experience, and connections. He wanted Jancis Robinson as the star speaker for the first year, which I could only laugh sadly at, but he was right, so I wrote to the grande dame of wine experts, who immediately replied that she would of course be there, because this was an exciting initiative with a noble goal—it was her place to help. And there she was, not only asking for no star fee, but not even a penny.

2. Three days of professionalism

If you loved the atmosphere at Vince Budapest, bumping into internationally renowned experts in the hallway, washing your hands next to a star winemaker in the bathroom, and tasting wines that you wanted to take notes on, even if you’re not a wine snob, then you’re definitely missing this now. There are a few events, but they are short, with small tastings, or the themes are not exciting, and we can’t find such large-scale events in neighboring countries either, or if we do, follow me. I keep an eye on everything, and I know there are exciting events—such as the German magazine Falstaff’s sufficiently professional and hedonistic party—but we don’t have many such pleasures nearby. Meanwhile, RoVinHud has been bringing the best in an increasingly professional manner for ten years. The glasses are flawless, every masterclass starts right on time, the technique is perfect, and I could go on and on, I couldn’t find a single fault. The only thing missing is interpretation, but even that is a positive: in Timișoara, the 100-150 masterclass guests have no problem listening to the lectures in English, because everyone speaks English.

3. Timișoara is cool

Romania’s second or third largest city (alternating with Cluj-Napoca) has developed significantly over the past ten years. As Zoli’s partner Erika said, they owe a lot to the mayor, as historic buildings are being renovated one after another, less central parts of the city are being revitalized, and even the tram service is becoming more reliable. Over the weekend, I visited two really cool restaurants, one of which was Zaza, a bistro-style restaurant serving impeccable food, and the other was Ferment, a fine dining restaurant serving bold and surprising dishes (dill-fermented cabbage juice in borscht with cabbage leaves and carrot rice – would you believe it was super delicious? It was!). And Timișoara was the city where a large crowd (150 people) started the Romanian revolution on December 15, 1989, which ended 10 days later with the execution of Ceaușescu. During the so-called Revolution Tour, a representative of Timisoara City Tours takes you along the route torn apart by machine gun fire, while showing original footage taken at the scene – quite moving…

And the result of all this, which I find most appealing, is the multicultural nature of Timișoara. Zoli is Hungarian from Timișoara, his partner is German, but there are also Serbs and, of course, Romanians. And everyone understands all the other languages and speaks a little of the other nationalities’ languages, in addition to the aforementioned “obvious” knowledge of English. The nationalities have been living in peace with each other for centuries, which is why the planned dismissal of the Hungarian Reformed pastor sparked a revolution, because Romanians, Germans, and Serbs stood up for the Hungarians, just as Hungarians would have done in the opposite situation.

4. Something that really makes sense

RoVinHud is a 100% charity event, with all proceeds going to the Ceva de Spus association, which, under Zoli’s leadership, works to enable people with disabilities to live full lives. The proceeds from the first year were enough to purchase a van that can easily transport wheelchair users. Most of the people working at the event are volunteers with disabilities, but there are also family members. Julia, who is in a wheelchair, traveled all the way from Constanța to Timișoara to work at the event. As she said, life in her hometown is very difficult in a wheelchair, but thanks to the activists of Ceva de Spus, people in Timișoara have stopped parking on the sidewalk, and the majority of the city’s residents help people with disabilities. At the end of each master class, a person with disabilities presented a gift. I was particularly touched by the little boy who presented the gift to Jakob Kripp, the owner of the Stirbey winery. This little boy came to the lecturer on his own two feet, even though he had previously been unable to sit up, which he should have been able to do at his age. The family did not have the money for therapy, so they raised the necessary funds by holding a Stirbey wine tasting. The €66,000 raised from last year’s event was enough to finance therapy for 60 children.

I really think this makes sense. Buying expensive wines and tasting them at events just for our own enjoyment or so we can say we can afford them is rather pathetic. But if every penny (or lei) helps even a little bit someone who is struggling in their daily life, then it all makes sense.

5. The absolute blind date – the most bizarre and at the same time coolest idea in the northern hemisphere

In addition to his determination, professionalism, and wonderful spirit, Zoli is also incredibly creative. Last year, he looked at the top wines landing in his many spittoons, the single-vineyard Furmints, the exciting Kadarkas, the magnificent Rieslings, and had a big idea. He collected the contents of the spittoons, had the whole lot distilled by a state-of-the-art distiller and professional distiller, and thus Very Blind Date, a wine distillate, was born. “Leave me alone with that slobber,” said Imre Szakács, one of the speakers, but of course he tasted it in the end, as did I, and the result was a very delicate, almost caressing, perfume-like, elegant distillate. About 40 bottles were made, one of which was taken home by a happy date partner at an auction for €150, and there is still some left, just as there will certainly be distillate from the leaves collected at the 2024 event. And why do I mention the northern hemisphere in the subtitle? Because, as Zoli discovered during his research, the idea had also occurred to an Australian independently, and the name of the product is quite similar: Kissing a stranger