The Success of Hungarian wines at recent International Wine Competitions, such as the Effervescents du Monde competition in France, and the British Decanter World wine awards has had an additional benefit, an increase in wine tourism. Hungary came in 10th place in a list of the 26 world’s top wine tourism destinations.
The list, created by Bounce, is based upon scoring factors such as wine consumption and production, the number of vineyards and wineries, and the average price per bottle of wine. Before the list was compiled, 26 countries were visited, where consumption, production, exports, the number of vineyards, the number of wine cellars, and the average price of a bottle of wine were also assessed. Much of the data collected and analyzed in the study were taken from the OIV’s State of the World Vitivinicultural Sector in 2020 report.
According to Bounce, 18.5 million hectoliters of wine is consumed and 28 million hectoliters per 100,000 people are produced on 67,000 hectares in Hungary. There are 667 wine tastings per 100,000 people in Hungary, and the average price of a bottle of wine is USD 4.32 (HUF 1,400).
The wines achieving the greatest success, come from those wine regions to the North-East of Debrecen at Tokaj and Eger, wines which can be conveniently sampled in Debrecen at several locations.
Why Debrecen?
Debrecen holds their own “Wine of Debrecen” competition and several large events each year, designed to bring the producers in Hungary together for the convenience of connoisseurs.
The city provides the most convenient access to these wine regions, with the benefit of having the nearest international airport. The city also has a great road and rail network, and so from the capital, Budapest, – Debrecen is an easy journey, and the ideal location to base your stay prior to taking excursions to the vineyards.
In recent times, and since the Soviet era, Hungary has progressively moved back to producing the quality wines that it was once famous for, switching from producing high-volume average quality wines to quality award-winning vintages of today that are exported worldwide. This returning to the skills of the past, which are handed down through the generations of family vineyard owners, in combination with new technologies has brought Hungarian producers incredible success in recent years, as reflected by the many prestigious awards received.
Visit Debrecen to experience Hungarian wine and the Wine of Debrecen competition winners, and to explore Vitriculture of North-Eastern Hungary.
