He is the best Hungarian Winemaker of 2020!

Károly Áts, the owner of the Áts Family Winery in the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region, won the 2020 Winemaker of the winemakers award. The award was established by Pál Rókusfalvy for the winemakers of the Carpathian Basin, and it is considered to be the most prestigious one by many experts because the winner is selected by the 50 best winemakers in the country each year.

At the opening of the award ceremony, Minister of Agriculture István Nagy emphasised that since the wine sector had to tackle the hardships brought about by the coronavirus crisis, the Ministry had to adjust the support system accordingly, Origo reported. Therefore, using EU and national resources,

Hungarian winemakers will receive more than 9 billion forints (EUR 25.3 million) to alleviate the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

István Nagy added that in the framework of compensation, the Ministry also supports the reduction of stocks of wine products that wineries were unable to sell. The total value of this support is 2.5 billion forints (EUR 7 million).

For many years, Károly Áts was the chief oenologist of Royal Tokaj, and in 2012, he won the title of “Winemaker of the Year”. Since 2013, he has been the chief oenologist of Grand Tokaj. Born and bred in Tokaj-Hegyalja, grapes and wine have always played a part in his life through his father. He founded his family winery in 2012.