Magazine: Wine festival in Buda Castle

This year the 27th Budapest Wine Festival was organised in Buda Castle. Visitors had the opportunity to taste thousands of wines made by 200 wineries. There were entertainment and professional programmes as well. As for the food selection, the representatives of traditional festival cooking, modern street food and gourmet cuisine were all present.

Live music was played on the main stage and three smaller stages. On the first day pop music was in the limelight, on the second day world music took the stage, the third day was Hungarian Jazz Day and the fourth day was dedicated to folk music and dance. One of the festival’s biggest spectacles was the traditional Grape Harvest Procession, organised in cooperation with Fonó Buda Music House.

This year the special guest of the festival was the Lake Balaton wine region, with more than 20 winemakers from the region being present. The goal of the VinAgora Taste of Hungary programme was to call attention to the diversity of Hungarian wines and the special characteristics of local grapes and wine styles. Wine Pair tasting sessions also took place: winemakers presented very interesting choices to tasters, who could try the wine pairs in a ‘two for the price of one’ system. A special leaflet informed tasters about where they could find the wine pairs, and at the stand the winemaker himself or an expert led the tasting.

In the House of Medal Winner Wines on the Savoy terrace festival visitors could taste the wines that won medals at the 19th VinAgora International Wine Competition: 545 wines of 12 countries were competing, and Hungarian winemakers walked away with 6 Champion grand prizes, 4 grand gold medals, 73 gold medals and 87 silver medals.

Zoltán Zilai
managing director
Magyar Szőlő- és Borkultúra

Zoltán Zilai, managing director of the festival organiser Magyar Szőlő- és Borkultúra Nonprofit Kft. informed our magazine that this year 45,000 people visited the Budapest Wine Festival and at 160 stands 200 wineries showcased their products. The event’s main sponsor was SPAR and the organisers concentrated on Hungarian wines – only those foreign wines were served at the stands which are available in Hungarian shops.

The managing director added that services surpassed even last year’s level, everything was squeaky clean and there were lots of plants and flowers. We learned that the organisers are proud of the fact that Minister of Agriculture István Nagy paid a visit and the representatives of other ministries also went to the Budapest Wine Festival. Hungarian president János Áder also comes every year. //