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A total of 218 wines from 19 wine regions in Hungary were submitted by 93 wineries, from which the professional jury selected this year’s winners of the Wine of the Parliament title in nine categories.
According to the national tradition, the very first act of Hungarian history in the Carpathian Basin, the blood oath, is linked to wine, the speaker of parliament recalled in his welcome speech before the awards ceremony.
László Kövér, President of the National Assembly, stressed that the relationship between Hungarians and wine goes far beyond the cultivation of agriculture. “Wine and viticulture have always been with us throughout the glorious and turbulent centuries of our history, as they have been in the past two years,” he said. The president said he was particularly grateful that despite the unexpected difficulties of the pandemic period, a large number of producers had entered the Parliament Wine Competition this year. The Hungarian legislature must contribute to the success of Hungarian wine production by creating the right legal environment, especially in times of transport and economic difficulties in world trade, the politician added.
“The objective of the Parliament Wine Competition remains unchanged: to offer high-quality Hungarian wines to our official parliamentary guests and to enhance the reputation of the winners, also through the press,” said László Kövér.
Miklós Kállay, honorary president of the Hungarian Wine Academy and chairman of the jury of the competition, noted that the competition was held for the fifth time. It is difficult to define the concept of good wine, he admitted, adding that parliament had therefore launched its own wine competition for a professional jury to decide on the best lots.
Once again, three professional committees judged the submitted wines through blind taste tests, and in case of a close result, tasting them again to decide the ranking, reported Miklós Kállay on the judging process.
In the Italian Riesling category, Fodorvin Family Winery won first place with its 2020 Aszófő Italian Riesling, while the best wine in the Furmint category this year was Béres Vineyard and Winery’s 2017 Béres Tokaji Lőcse Furmint.
The first prize in the category of other white wines for indigenous grape varieties such as hárslevelű, ezerjó, and kéknyelű went to Tornai Winery’s 2019 Somlói Top Selection Aranyhegy Juhfark, while the jury awarded first place in the rosé category to Koch Winery’s 2020 Danube–Tisza Interfluve Néró from Hajós-Baja.
Among the red wines, the first place in the category of Kékfrankos was won by Tamás Lelovits’s winery with its Villányi Kékfrankos of the 2020 vintage, while the Bikavér category was won by János Németh’s winery from Szekszárd with its 2019 Könnyű Szél Bikavér.
This year’s best Kadarka was Eszterbauer Winery’s 2019 Nagyapám Szekszárdi Kadarka, while Tamás Lelovits Winery took first place in the Cabernet Franc category with its 2017 Villányi Franc.
In the Tokaji Aszú category, the title of Wine of the Parliament was won by Patricius Wine House with its 2016 vintage, Patricius Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos.
Featured image: Béres Vineyard and Winery’s 2017 Béres Tokaji Lőcse Furmint; via Zoltán Balogh/MTI
