This year’s vintage expected to be outstanding in Hungary

Hungarian winemakers are likely to produce a similar quantity this year to last year’s output of 2.8 million hectolitres but the quality is expected to be outstanding, a farm ministry official said on Tuesday.

Ministry commissioner in charge of wine-related tasks Eliza Kiss said in a statement that various stages of inclement weather since April will have influenced the harvest in terms of quantity but not of quality.

“2017 is one of the best vintages of the past period,” she said.

Winemakers from the country’s notable wine regions — where in many cases the harvest is under way depending on the grape variety — confirmed that based on their experiences so far, this year’s would be an exceptional vintage.

In Tokaj, producers have already harvested 70-80 percent of early varieties such as furmint and hárslevelű.

Miklós Prácser, chairman of the Tokaji Wine Region Council, told MTI that the processing of the famous sweet Tokaji aszu variety had just begun and if the weather is favourable, then this year’s harvest would be both great in terms of quantity and quality.

As we wrote before, the famous Tokaj wines have been one of the most popular products on the British market this year, and they are frequently referred to as the “Hungarian wonder” in London. The characteristic flavours can be found in restaurants, hotels, pubs and supermarkets.

Also we wrote, 2017 marks the 15th anniversary of UNESCO awarding the Tokaj wine region with a World Heritage membership, in the category of cultural regions.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI