Zsolt Liptai became the winemaker of the year

They wrote: the award is not a recognition of the excellent quality of a wine, but can be awarded for the winning wine producer’s outstanding performance over several years, the constant, excellent quality of his wines, their domestic and international successes, and his efforts for the wine profession.

The winner of the most prestigious domestic award that Hungarian winemakers can receive was announced on Tuesday. As a sign of respect, Gundel Restaurant and Wine Cellar, which hosted the event, will dedicate one of the Gundel Wine Cellar’s rooms to the current Wine Producer of the Year for one year.

This is the first time a winemaker from the Pannonhalma wine region has won the title of Wine Producer of the Year, the announcement highlighted.

They wrote that under the management of Zsolt Liptai, the Pannonhalma Abbey Winery cultivates grapes on an area of ​​50 hectares, in six larger vineyards, the selection of which was dominated by a terroir-based approach. Thanks to the grape planting work carried out between 2001 and 2010, quality raw materials now come to the cellar exclusively from newly planted plantations in the entire area.

In cultivating the plantations, they try to create the optimal balance of modern mechanization and demanding manual labor – they wrote, adding that the winery produces 400 thousand bottles of wine annually.

The announcement highlighted that the award winner firmly believes that good quality wine can only be made from excellent raw materials. Since winemaking technology has developed more in the past five decades than in the previous five hundred years, in his opinion, he would make a big mistake if he excluded himself from the present era. They continue to work with classic gravity technology, like our ancestors did centuries ago, but they try to smuggle the 21st century into everyday work in small technological elements, depending on the year – the announcement reads.