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Winelovers Wine Awards 2022

Shortly after I returned from Puglia and Radici del Sud, I turned around and went back to the airport. This time, back to one of my favorite cities on the planet earth…Budapest. Unlike last summer when I won the Wines of Hungary writing competition (thank you for your votes!), this year I went not as a contestant, but as a judge.

Winelovers Wine Awards

After several years of success with the Winelovers 100 – 100 best Hungarian wines competition, István Tábor (competition director) and László Bálint (competition president) created a new companion competition, the Winelovers Wine Awards. 2022 was the inaugural year for this new event. As a companion competition, it has a different mandate – one that is open to both Hungarian and international wines of all colors and styles. Tábor and Bálint have a few goals – and not small ones! They aim to make the Winelovers Wine Awards the most influential wine competition in Central and Eastern Europe, and be among the world’s leading contests.

Like the wine entries, the jury was also international (including yours truly!). Specialists included master sommeliers and masters of wine who focus on different wine styles. Other jury members included industry professionals (buyers, sellers, sommeliers, writers, etc.). True to the competition name, each jury table also included someone who doesn’t necessarily work in the industry, but is a wine lover. In total, 58 wine experts from 19 countries evaluated 623 wines from 14 countries.

Judging 

I was thrilled to be asked to participate by one of the organizers, Ágnes Németh of Hungarian Wines.EU. And even more delighted to discover that the competition included jury member’s national flags on our IDs; and that they gave me both the US and Turkey! Then the day just got better when I saw that my own Hungarian wine guru, advanced sommelier Sebastián Giraldo Makovej, would be judging at the same table.

LOL, I got cut out of the photo-should be on the far right

Each table of judges received a different style of wine. On day one, my group had flight upon flight of sweet wines. Both a blessing and a curse for me. I love sweet wines so, having to spit so many of them felt painful! Day two we tackled light-bodied white wines. Both days of judging were eye-opening for me. Unlike my experience at Radici del Sud, we had no information available to us about the wines except what we could see, smell, and taste. No clue about grape variety, country, nothing. It made for a very different approach for me.

I’d tried to recruit some Turkish entries for the competition. Sadly, I failed. A pity though because, based on a lot of the wines I tried, many of the producers here I approached would have shown really well in comparison!

We won’t find out the results of the competition until September. I’ll be keeping my eye out! I really would like to see a list of entries and countries and see if I can figure out what I was tasting!

Szamorodni Master Class

Masterclasses 

In addition to the judging and a later walk around tasting, the Winelovers Wine Awards distinguished itself by offering a series of masterclasses. Open not only to the jury but to the public, as well. Classes included:

• Wines of Greece by Lenka Sedlackova MW
• Szepsy Winery, Tokaj by István Szepsy junior
• Malatinszky Kúria – Great red wines from Villány by Csaba Malatinszky
• Champagne Palmer & Co by Essi Avellan MW
• Jammertal Wine Estate, Villány by Zsófia Kövesdi head winemaker
• Champagne Drappier by Essi Avellan MW
• Sweet Tokaj Szamorodni in the map of the world of wines – by the winemakers
• Villányi Franc TOP 12 by Rose Murray Brown MW

I got to participate in several of these. I felt pretty proud of myself/mildly superior that I already knew 90% of the wine in the Greek master class. The Szepsy tasting was mind blowing. I got to do one of the Champagne classes (Palmer) and it was both fascinating and delicious. I totally drank all pours I got. Because, come on! The sweet Tokaj Szamorodni took place in the morning just after breakfast…and a) yes I drank all those too and b) all mornings should begin thusly.

And the results?

Of the 623 wines submitted, somewhat unbelievably, 555 received medals, including 63 golds and 137 silvers. Twenty-two special awards were given including Best of Country awards (for countries that submitted at least 10 wines. The winners there included:

– Best of Hungary: Pauleczky Vin Eszencia 1968, Tokaj, Hungary
– Best of Italy: Incaltalupi Sileno Negroamaro 2018, Puglia
– Best of Romania: Domeniile Prince Matei Prince Matei 2016, Muntenia
– Best of Slovakia: Pivnica Szeifert Breslava Orange 2021, Kürt
– Best of Ukraine: Sass Winery Zweigelt 2019

See all the rewards here.

Maybe next year I’ll be able to convince Turkish wineries to patriciate! Hint hint y’all.