Triple success for Hungarian sparkling wines

The Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) were held this year for the third time in Kent, England. The Törley Fortuna won a silver medal, while the Kreinbacher Estate’s Somló furmint sparkling wines, the Prestige Brut and the Brut Classic Magnum were both gold medallists, origo.hu reports.

The Törley Fortuna was awarded a silver medal. The complex, sweet sparkling wine, fermented in a tank, is made of Moscato, Cserszegi Fűszeres and Csabagyöngye.

The Kreinbacher Estate from Somló, NW Hungary participated in the competition for the second time. Both their Prestige Brut and their Brut Classic 2011 Magnum were awarded gold medals.

“The competition was another opportunity for us to receive feedback from international judges on what Somló and furmint, as a traditional sparkling wine are capable of,” said Zoltán Prisztavok, sales and marketing manager of the estate.

In Somló, every sparkling wine is made with méthode traditionnelle, fermented in the bottle, with 18-22 months of storage on the lees. The Prestige Brut is a 100% furmint sparkling wine, while the unique thing about the Brut Classic 2011 Magnum is that it is fermented for over 3 years.

„We hope that the results of the championship can direct the attention of experts and sparkling wine enthusiasts to this exciting wine region and this Hungarian grape variety. Likewise, we value the jury’s judgement a great deal and wish to learn more about many of the awarded sparkling wines ourselves” added Zoltán Prisztavok.

According to origo.hu, the CSWWC is unique among international wine competitions in that only sparkling wines compete and the jury comprises of experts on this field as well, including writer Tom Stevenson, Essi Avellan, Master of Wine, and Dr Tony Jordan, chemical physicist and lecturer on oenology. The jury also had a Hungarian member, György Márkus, expert on Champagne and Burgundy.

The competing wines were evaluated by countries, regions and styles, and medals were awarded only in the case of a unanimous decision by the judges.

Copy editor: bm

Source: origo.hu