A Hungarian Egri Bikavér was chosen as one of the world’s top 50 wines.
Hungary is quite good at producing delicious quality drinks. Just think about pálinka or unicum. These two hungaricums are acknowledged and loved by many.
Another Hungarian Pálinka receives protected geographical indication
If you belong to the solid base of our regular readers, you also know about the best Hungarian wines the country adores, which are also quite famous in the world. Yesterday, one of these refreshing drinks was chosen as one of the best.
The Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), the world’s largest wine competition is organised every year. In 2021, it saw its biggest year to date, with 18,094 wines tasted from 56 countries. “Over 15 consecutive days in June, almost 170 expert wine judges… awarded over 14,000 medals”, as we can read on their official website.
The results were announced yesterday, making Wednesday a proud day for Hungarian wines, as
a bottle of 2017 Egri Bikavér won the title “Best in Show”,
making it one of the 50 best wines of the world.
Moreover,
all 92 competing Hungarian wines received a medal,
which is an astonishing accomplishment.
Index.hu talked to Zsuzsa Toronyi, wine expert and manager of Wines of Hungary UK, who was also part of the jury.
She says that every jury member had to taste almost 100 wines every single day during the two weeks. Wines are aggrouped based on their place of origin and the type of the grapes. Everyone gives his points individually, which are then summarized by the panel chair of every panel, made up of 4 experts.
Those wines that received a Gold medal were tasted once again on the last day of the competition by all panel chairs. That is when they decided whether the wine was good enough to receive a Platinum medal or to be included in the Best in Show elite list.
“We had a Best in Show title. It means that the jury of Decanter chooses the 50 best wines in the world every year. This year,
the St.Andrea Nagy-Eged Grand Superior 2017 “bikavér” of Eger is one of them.
This is a huge accomplishment!”, says Zsuzsa.
Apart from this absolute winner bottle, 4 further Hungarian wines received the Platinum medal:
- Grand Tokaj Eszencia 2013. – 97 pont
- Grand Tokaj 5 Puttonyos Aszú 2014. – 97 pont
- Juliet Victor Aszú 2017. – 97 pont
- Patricius Tokaji 6 Puttonyos Aszú 2017. – 98 pont
The points might not say much to us, amateur wine lovers, so Zsuzsa makes it clear: there was no point higher than 98 among all international wines competing!
Furthermore, Hungary won 15 Gold medals.
As Zsuzsa highlights, this year’s competition was especially important because apart from the sweet Tokaji, Hungarian wines are not particularly known on the international field. The country has “good products, so we only need to show our wines”. London, where the competition was held, is one of the best scenes to do so since it is one of the biggest wine markets out there.
She says that Hungary is on the right track but she urges other wineries to enter these types of competitions, as the ingredients and the final products are very good, the country only needs to show what it has got to offer.
Source: index.hu, decanter.com
2 comments
As a non drinker I was repeatedly & rudely forced to drink unicum & other alcohols by relatives when back home visiting. I simply choose to spend my money more wisely…. I eat/drink to live not live to eat/drink….since i love to travel & buy real estate every dollar makes a different choice. HAD I been an alcoholic their acts could have killed me.
Hungarians I’m ashamed to say are dinosaurs when it comes to the etiquette of entertaining and self regulation.
Wow Kate, talk about tarring everyone with the same brush!
Just because your in-laws feel compelled to make you try different alcohols doesn’t mean all Hungarians will do the same.
I am astonished that you managed to get ‘Hungarians are dinosaurs when it comes to ettitquete and self regulation’ from being made to try something you didn’t want and/or like.
What is abundantly clear is your lack of respect for your in laws and their culture!