There is more to Hungarian wine than Tokaji, as a London tasting on 6 October will prove to the British trade.

Wines of Hungary is journeying to London in October, as a day of tasting demonstrates how much the varied Central European country has to offer. The tasting, at BRIX LDN in London Bridge, will survey the breadth of Hungarian production, under the title ‘Experience Hungarian Wine: a journey through the volcanic landscape that shaped their wines’.

The day’s walkaround tasting will run from 11am–5pm, offering visitors a chance to taste wines from all over the country. Excitingly, a number of winemakers will be on hand to guide attendees through the selection. It will be a rare opportunity for the UK trade to discover the nation’s underappreciated wines with those who make them.

The day will also feature Patrick Schmitt MW leading a masterclass session. Running from 11am–12:30pm, it will see him explore the excellence that underpins wine production in Hungary.

Huge variety to be uncovered

Hungary is best known in the wine world for the Tokaj region, whose sweet wines (and, increasingly, whose dry wines) have an international reputation. Yet that region in the country’s northeast is just one of Hungary’s premium winemaking regions. In fact, wine production spans the entire length of the country.

Hungary’s wineries are split into six broad regions, as well as 22 districts that each has its own identity. With the exception of the Danube region – a plain between two rivers in the south – each of the six regions is substantially influenced by hills and mountains. With many of these being extinct volcanoes, geology has a powerful influence on winemaking in Hungary.

Sweet wines from Hungary are rightly lauded, but they are not the end of the story.

To the north, winemaking spans from the Tokaj wine region in the west, moving eastward along the North Hungarian Mountains, to the Upper Hungary wine region and then the Upper Pannon wine region.

In the east, it has two further mountain-influenced regions. The slopes around the country’s largest body of water form the Balaton wine region, while the Pannon wine region is Hungary’s southernmost and warmest zone.

To match its particular terroir, Hungary has a wealth of local grapes at its disposal. National specialities such as Furmint, Hárslevelű and Irsai Olivér rub shoulders with Central European wine stalwarts Kékfrankos (also known as Blaufränkisch) and Kadarka. There are also plenty of the usual international suspects, such as Cabernet Franc, which find unique expressions in Hungary.

It amounts to a remarkable country which, despite its situation close to many of the wine world’s powerhouses, has unique combinations of terroir, variety and winemaking excellence to explore. The London tasting promises to be the perfect chance to explore Hungary’s under-the-radar wine scene and the experts crafting it.

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