It is time to act

Ákos  Kamocsay
chief winemaker
Hilltop

According to Ákos Kamocsay, the quality of wines is improving year after year, but their profitability is in a negative trend, so the sector is facing serious problems. The average Hungarian wine buyer is price-sensitive, so the Hilltop Neszmély winery does everything not to increase prices much – while wine production costs are rising.

Warming weather won’t jeopardise grape growing

János Eszterbauer
owner
Eszterbauer Winery

János Eszterbauer, the owner of Eszterbauer Winery, spoke to our magazine about the superb quality of grapes they harvested this year. He believes that the warming weather won’t have a catastrophic effect on grape growing. In his view the price of wine always depends on the relationship between supply and demand.

Éva Mikó
sales and marketing  director
Csányi Winery

Éva Mikó, sales and marketing director of Csányi Winery informed that because of the hot summer, they started harvesting grapes earlier than ever before. Product innovation shouldn’t be hindered by increasing costs, but in winemaking it is difficult to come up with something new.

The price increase is unavoidable

János Frittmann
co-owner
Frittmann Winery

János Frittmann, co-owner of Frittmann Winery is satisfied with this year’s grape harvest in terms of both quantity and quality. In the current situation a bigger price increase can’t be avoided from the side of winemakers, as imported material and energy prices have surged to the extreme.

Gergely Kovács
marketing manager
Grand Tokaj

Gergely Kovács, marketing manager of Grand Tokaj Zrt. reported that despite having a very dry year and then rain in the harvesting period, the quality of the grapes they processed this year is good. The winery will only increase product prices gradually.

Promoting Hungarian wine as a brand in potential export markets is inevitable

Reaction to price-sensitivity

Zalán Szittnyai
wine expert
Zwack Izabella
Wine Store

Zalán Szittnyai, wine expert of the Zwack Izabella Wine Store said they were forced to increase prices. In the present situation the key to success is finding wines with a good price-value ratio, and putting these on the shelves of wine stores. János Eszterbauer added that the consumption of white wine, semi-sparkling and sparkling wine have been growing for years.

Support and marketing

In 2020 Hilltop Neszmély launched the #Neszmély community wine initiative: five wineries teamed up and made their own #Neszmély wines. Mr Kamocsay said state subsidies and grants offer a great opportunity to the winery for staying innovative; last year the full Hilltop brand underwent a renewal. Right now they are running an educational programme for university students, called Hilltop Wine Club.

Csányi Winery not only rolls out new products, but also new product formats: besides the classic 0.75-litre bottles, they already market 0.375-litre and bag-in-box wines, and magnum sparkling wines. The winery is convinced that in addition to Hungarian consumers, winemakers must enter foreign markets too.

It is time to act

Frittmann Winery put two successful cuvées on the market, Hajnal and Olívia. János Frittmann reckons that collective marketing must be strengthened in spite of the crisis. It isn’t an easy task, but objectives must be defined with the help of marketing experts.

Grand Tokaj Zrt.’s experience is that the rosé wave of the past few years is dying down a bit, as light and fragrant white wines are coming up, such as Sárgmuskotály in the Tokaj region. Zwack Izabella Wine Store is searching for new target groups in the domestic market, so in addition to the HoReCa channel, they are now focusing more on retail sales. The company believes that the development of the wine sector will continue. //

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2022/11