With the support of the government, the administration of the grape and wine sector rests on a stable foundation

(Photo: AM/Csaba Pelsőczi)

Imre Hubai explained that the Hungarian grape and wine culture is built on a thousand-year-old tradition, and the mountain village system – with the exception of the socialist era – has always been the natural and traditional administrative framework of the wine sector. The 2012 Act on Mountain Villages is a milestone that transformed the system of interest representation and control of producers, laying the foundations for the operation of the professional mountain judge network. According to the Secretary of State, the key to the survival of Hungarian grape and wine production is how and to what extent winegrowers and winemakers can cooperate in protecting vineyards, in production and in sales. The National Council of Mountain Villages, with its interprofessional rights since 2014, has proven that it is able to coordinate the common interests of grape growers and wineries, promoting sustainable income distribution and the organization of the sector.

Imre Hubai highlighted that the government has regulated the level of mountain judges’ salaries and has also adjusted the previously low state support of the organizational system to this end.

The mountain judges’ faculty represents a stable foundation on which the government can build a one-stop administrative system for the sector. The next step in this direction was the new 2020 Wine Act, which transformed the entire wine administration. The one-stop shop has been extended to additional official procedures, so that grape growers and wine producers only have to contact the mountain judge in more and more cases. He also mentioned that digitalization and the introduction of a unified winemaking IT system are essential to reduce administration. At the same time, this requires a proactive, helpful and positive attitude from both the HNT and all mountain judges. In order to support smaller wineries and small producers, the HNT can provide assistance as a service provider in the application of the latest rules, contributing to the balanced operation of the sector.

AM