8 Hungarian Vinalies medals

8 Hungarian wines won medals at the latest edition of Vinalies Internationales du Vin. Gold medals went to 3
– a sweet wine: Vinonovi Tokaj Excellence Late Harvest Cuveé 2018,
– a dry white: Gál Cserszegi Fűszeres 2021
– and a rosé: Szentpéteri Néró 2021.
Teleki Tradíció 1881 Villányi Franc Kopár 2017 super premium wine is the only awarded red wine from our country.
(Cover photo: @k_grafia)

Villányi Franc is “a thing”

It was not long ago when British wine magazine Decanter published a fairly comprehensive article about varietal Cabernet Franc wines around the world, and Villány was not even mentioned. Loire valley, California, North of Italy, New Zealand, South Africa – but not a single world about Hungary, even though late Michael Broadbent made his famous comment more than two decades ago: “Cabernet Franc has found its natural home in Villány”. However, step by step the world is getting acquainted with Villányi Franc, the strictly controlled Cabernet Franc from Villány, and this silver is another evidence to prove the greatness of this grape in Villány.

Kopár – a bleak and barren land of wonders

Kopár is one of the most famous “crus” of Villány, a vineyard indeed bleak and barren (the word ‘kopár’ means barren), visible from the road from Villány to Siklós. The name became famous with Villány icon wine Gere Kopar, however, the grape for Gere wine does not come only from this vineyard, therefore they changed the name slightly (the letter ‘a’ is without accent). On the contrary, for Teleki Kopár the grape comes exclusively from Kopár vineyard.

More about Teleki wines (Csányi Winery)

More about Kopár vineyard

It is known as one of the best vineyard in Villány lying between Villány and Nagyharsány, on the southern slopes of Szársomlyó mountain (442 m). The entire area is 63 hectares, the southernmost vineyards of Hungary are situated here at an altitude of 120–130 meters above sea level. From the feet of the mountain towards the peak the soil gets thinner and thinner, on the highest places the limestone bedrock gets visible – that is what the mountain is named after, since Kopár means ’Bare’. The vines grow smaller, but more concentrated clusters rich in minerals. Grapes harvested here ripen two weeks earlier compared to other vineyards and are always fully ripened. The huge rock mass of Szársomlyó mountain creates an entirely unique microclimate in this vineyard. The heat taken from the sunlight during daytime is reflected back at night, therefore the area lacks major temperature fluctuations between day and night. The highest amount of solar energy arrives to this very area in Hungary, and as a consequence of southern exposure, the number of sunny hours is the highest here in our country (2100 hours). The bunches of grapes are embraced by sunlight almost from every direction. The grape varieties planted here are Cabernet Sauvignon (10 ha) and Cabernet Franc (4 ha). The training system is mainly mid-wire (70 cm) cordon, single curtain and guyot with 5435 vines / hectare.

Excerpt from Teleki website