Magazine: Freshness bottled

In Hungary many people still don’t know that according to European Union legislation, only the sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France can be called champagne. What we call ‘pezsgő’ in Hungarian (sparkling wine, vino spumante, Schaumwein, vin mousseux) is very often mistakenly translated as ‘habzó bor’ by importers, which isn’t in line with EU regulations – Zoltán Báló, marketing director of Törley told our magazine. He explained that the latter is a different category referring to products made with added carbon dioxide. Sparkling wine (gyöngyöző bor) is made in Hungary too and there are two different types: 1. natural, 2. made with added carbon dioxide. Most Hungarian sparkling wine producers make products that belong to the second category. Its price varies from a few hundred to many thousand forints, depending on product quality and brand name, and it is important to know that there is no excise duty on sparkling wine in Hungary. Mr Báló informed us that the sparkling wine segment is rather small in the ‘bubbly’ market. Törley is market leader in the pezsgő category. Champagne and sparkling wine expert György Kovács told our magazine that the main driver of rising international sparkling wine sales is prosecco: last year sales were worth EUR 480 million. There are three prosecco varieties: tranquillo, frizzante and spumante – as a matter of fact, the first one is a still wine, the production of which might be discontinued. It is very important to know that frizzante and spumante are made without adding carbon dioxide.