Hungarian wine production on the edge

The Hungarian wine production is in disastrous situation: obsolete vineyards, illegal markets, cheap import wines, the atrocious weather of the last three years and the regulatory environment, projects a dark future ahead. In the lower wine categories more foreign wines are consumed than Hungarian.

The unpredictable weather also affected the harvests badly. “2010 was a tragic year in the point of view of the industry. The vineyards of the Great Plains were under water for several months. In some areas the bad weather caused 50 percent production loss, even though already 15 to 20 percent loss can be considered as dramatic. Hungary’s wine production was below 2 million hectoliters” – said Varga Péter, owner of the Varga winery.  (JM, Index)