Today: Eger hosts the first round of the Hungarian Sommelier Championship

On 2 March Eger hosts the first round of the Hungarian Sommelier Championship. The event is organized by the Hungarian Sommelier Association and their strategic partner is the Egri Borműhely (Eger Wine Workshop), while the main sponsor is Törley Pezsgőmanufaktúra. The top 3 competitors will gain access to the final to be held in Budapest the next day.

According to the organizers the goal of the Championship is to provide a high level opportunity for domestic sommeliers to showcase their skills and expertise. This is the third year of a new way of running the competition. The finals are held in Budapest, while the first rounds are hosted by various Hungarian wine regions. The obvious advantage of this modus operandi is that winemakers have an easier access to the competition and can acquaint themselves with the strategically important work that sommeliers do but also employees whose job is to conduct tastings at the wineries and therefore are in immediate contact with customers.

Representing the Association Miklós Schneider said: „I’m looking forward to the first round in Eger. This is a wine region that embodies the reliance on tradition through Egri Bikavér but at the same time also the ability to reinvent itself through Egri Csillag. I also love kadarka from Eger, a most exciting speciality of the region.

There is a wide selection of wines made there: ranging from easy drinking, refreshing wines to top quality single vineyard bottlings with high levels of complexity.”

„We are happy to host the event. The quality of entertaining guests is of the utmost importance for tourism and specifically wine tourism; we hope that a competition like this provides inspiration to the local professionals working with wine in restaurants or wineries”, said Attila Petrény, owner of Petrény Winery and member of Eger Wine Workshop.