Best of Budapest & Hungary

Budapest Airport held its second wine competition, where an exclusive tasting of nearly 300 Hungarian wines was held with the participation of the company’s key partners and renowned wine experts, to select the quality drinks that will represent Hungary’s gateway for a year.

    Last spring, the airport operator organized its first wine competition, intending to create a new tradition, as part of which Budapest Airport’s wines were selected from more than 300 entries. The winning wines represented the airport for a year at various prestigious events and as business gifts. This year, the company again gave Hungarian wineries the opportunity to compete for the title with their best wines.

    At the exclusive event in Terminal 1, Budapest Airport’s management, staff and partners selected, through blind tasting, according to specific criteria and under the guidance of wine experts, the premium, gastro and, as a new category, natural wines that will represent the high quality of the best airport in the region for the next year. Budapest Airport’s aim with this program is to find the drinks that are worthy of representing the gateway to Hungary, and in doing so, to support the famous Hungarian wine culture and wineries that represent Hungarian cultural values.

    Wineries competed for the BUD Wine title in five categories: premium red wine, premium white wine, gastro red wine, gastro white wine and natural wine. The number of entries was even higher than last year; a total of 87 wineries entered 288 wines, representing 19 wine regions during the evening. András Horkay, president of the National Wine Expert Commission and one of Hungary’s best-known wine experts, was the main patron of the evening.

    Among the winners of the BUD Wine title, in the premium white wine category, Veszprém Archdiocese Winery's Mandorla Rajnai rizling claimed the award, while in the premium red wine category, Sauska's Cuvée 7 proved to be the outstanding choice. Tűzkő Estate's Gewürztraminer emerged victorious in the gastro white wine category, whereas in the gastro red wine category, Koch Winery's Kadarka stood out. Among the natural wines, produced organically without biological intervention, Gróf Degenfeld Wine Estate's Hárslevelű won the BUD Wine title.

    The winners of Budapest Airport’s first wine competition last year were the Béres Vineyards and Winery, the Szekretár Wine Estate, the Angyal Winery and the Bolyki Winery. In the past year, several hundred bottles of the selected drinks represented Budapest Airport as business gifts at prestigious partner events and employee events.