Hungarian article shortlisted at Jancis Robinson’s wine writing contest

There were altogether 63 entries this year for the prestigious wine writing contest, and the 20 shortlisted writings have just been announced. Gergely Somogyi, owner and editor of Tokaj Today made an excellent piece in the given topic – which was not easy –: regeneration of vineyards. Gergely gives several detailed examples of renewed vineyards in Tokaj, one of them – probably the most picturesque – is Barta’s Öreg Király Vineyard in the cover photo above.

Excerpt from the article:

“The spectacular set of terraces in the south-facing, trapezoid-shaped plot of Király Hill of Mád is one of the region’s most photographed vineyard sites. Steeped in history, this tract of land has been in cultivation since the 13th century, yet, the vines up there are all fairly young. They were planted in 2004 and 2005, right after Károly Barta and Ervin Demeter had bought the overgrown stretch of mountainside. 

The renewal was a huge undertaking with trees having had to be cut to reclaim the top part of the dűlő from nature. Despite some five decades of neglect, the terrace walls were in surprisingly good condition. Apart from these terraces, Barta bought and replanted another close to six high-elevation hectares in the south-southeast of the hill and another three in the west to own almost 10 out of the 13.3 hectares currently in production in what is called the Öreg Király today.“

Read Gergely Somogyi’s astonishing article here

Voting closes at 9 am UK time on Wednesday 21 September.

Vote here

More about Barta Winery

Fun fact: Gergely Somogy has just won the Hárslevelű category of our own writing contest! He won the respect of both the jury and the readers: he received the most points from the jury and the most votes from the audience. Double congrats to him!