Decanter World Wine AwardsEU event to serve Hungarian wines only
- Wednesday 3 August 2011
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hands over a ceremonial barrel of 2002 Tokaji Szamorodni to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Image: eu2011.hu
September's Eastern Partnership Summit hosts the leaders of the 27 EU member states plus the heads of state of the six European Partnership states which include Georgia and Moldova. Hungarian wines will be served at the event as well as at all high level meetings during Poland's EU Presidency, which lasts until December.
János Martonyi, the Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs and his Polish counterpart Radosław Sikorski signed a letter of intent, which agreed to promote Hungarian wines with the aim of improving the cultural image of Central Europe.
Judit József, Hungary’s Permanent Representative before the Council of Europe in Strasbourg told Decanter.com, ’Hungarian wines have always played a key role in promoting the favourable image of not just Hungary, but the Central European region as a whole, so we are really enthusiastic about this chance to serve our wines throughout 2011'.
Polish organisers chose 20 Hungarian wines, according to Helga Gál, sommelier to the Hungarian presidency.
Whites include Bujdosó Pince és Étterem Aranyhíd 2007 and Disznókő Tokaji Aszú 5 puttonyos 2002, while reds include Thummerer Pince Vili papa cuvée Eger 2006 and Takler Pince Kft. Kékfrankos reserve Szekszárd 2007.
- An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Hungarian wines would be served at all EU events during the Polish presidency. We apologise for this error.
Have your say!
Jestem Winoholikiem
August 04 22:54
Indeed,luckily for us Poles,the article above is lacking some fundamental information.Polish wines will be served during the Polish presidency of the EU.We can be absolutely proud of that fact.However,without going into any details, our Minister of Foreign Affairs and his actions leave a lot to be desired...
Wojciech Bo?kowski
August 03 19:39
This is incorrect information, and it's a pity you didn't confirm the Hungarian version with anybody from Poland.
A letter of intent has indeed been signed but the 'exclusivity' of Hungarian wines will be limited to the Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw in late Sep (the summit itself was moved from its initial date in May in Budapest, which is the background behind the letter of intent). The remaining 300 meetings during Polish EU presidency will see various European wines served, including Hungarian but also Polish and from other countries.
Moreover, wine supplies for presidency meetings are purchased through tenders and the Foreign Office can't just decide to cover this with only Hungarian wines.
The matter has been hotly debated in Poland; details are here: http://t.co/U8ZLhJo
F Chaillou
August 03 17:15
So much for building Europe...
These central European countries seem to forget very quickly that Europe is being built with German and French money... The least they could do when they get the presidency is unite instead of divide.
Agata Andrzejczak
August 03 16:55
Hi - there will be Polish wine served. This issue has been widely publicised in Poland a copule of weeks ago. As a result wine from many countries will be served.