Wine makers storming

Bacchanalia will be the order of the day in the picturesque Castle District for five days from Wednesday as it plays host to the 19th Budapest International Wine Festival. Some 250 wine makers from 15 countries are slated to participate, but the festival is primarily intended to showcase what Hungarians can do with their indigenous and international grapes. Visitors will be able to sample wines from Hungary’s 22 wine regions, a perfect opportunity to discover the perhaps surprising variety of styles and flavours produced in this small Central European country.

Wine and song

As a backdrop to the tippling, organisers are laying on music and dance on two stages. Tattooed Hungarian noise merchants Hooligans will play the festival stage on Wednesday evening, while on Thursday and Friday respectively the more laid-back Ghymes – a folk-tinged ethnic Hungarian band from southern Slovakia – and the Benkõ Dixieland Band will entertain. The Vivat Bacchus singers will play the smaller port.hu stage every night. Demonstrations of traditional Hungarian dance – an energetic affair with much slapping of thighs and stamping of boots – will be going on throughout the five-day event. The programme can be had (in English) on the festival’s website (see also our 21-Day guide starting on page 19).

Better with age, experience

Wine-making has developed rapidly since 1990, when the industry emerged from a debased communist approach that favoured quantity over quality. Serious vineyard owners have gradually succeeded in putting the famous wine regions such as Tokaj, Eger and Villány back on the world wine map, winning medals at major international competitions along the way. The Budapest International Wine Festival takes the approach that appreciation of fine wine – not forgetting quaffable mid-range stuff – is not limited to an elite band of cognoscenti.

Sniff, snort and swish

In the VinAgora tent, the people behind Hungary’s largest professional wine competition will be inviting members of the public to try their hands at wine criticism. Experts will be on hand to guide amateur vinophiles through the tasting of a variety of wines. Awards for “Wine of the Festival” will be handed out in six categories based on the verdict of the public. Far from creating a rarefied atmosphere of serious wine snobbery, the festival often achieves the easy-going, laid-back vibe of a beer festival. There is no obligation to forget that all-important property of the drink that prompted the Romans to start producing wine centuries ago in the land they knew as Pannonia.
With palates wetted and appetites whetted, visitors will appreciate the various opportunities to line their stomachs with something solid. And in Hungarian cuisine, solid abounds. Besides the standard giant, salty pretzels (perec) and savoury scones (pogácsa), hungry punters need only follow their noses to find imposing sausages frying al fresco. Domestic producers will be offering a range of Hungarian cheeses and hams, while the Bacchus Restaurant and Csülök Csárda will provide those seriously in need with substantial portions of local staples, from stewed tripe via bean soup to steaming chunks of roast pork hewn from Hungary’s famous woolly pig, the mangalica.

Transylvania focus

Last year, the special guest exhibitor at the festival was Argentina. This year, from closer to home, ethnic Hungarian wine makers from neighbouring countries will have the opportunity to showcase their produce. Cellars from Transylvania (known as Erdély to Hungarians), northern Serbia (Vajdaság), southern Slovakia (Felvidék) and eastern Slovenia (Muravidék) will all be present. Gyula Szarka of Slovak-Hungarian folk band Ghymes knows what the festival is all about: “We can’t wait to storm the Buda Castle again this September, to occupy it for five days and take hold of all we can find at the 19th Buda Castle Wine Festival. And there are things worth seizing. All you can wish for and all that our national culture represents: tradition, music, dance, poetry and, of course, wine. Wine, faithful companion of the Hungarian people both in good times and bad for many long centuries.”

19th Budapest International Wine Festival Buda Castle, 8-12 Sept.

– A day ticket costs HUF 2,300, which includes a wine glass and a handy pouch in which to hang it from your neck. Children under 12 get in for free in the company of an adult.

– Tasting tickets cost HUF 100. These tokens can be bought at the entrance and points around the festival and are exchanged for a taster of wine at the participants’ stalls.

– Basic wines can be tasted for one ticket, but it is worth pushing the boat out because the quality tends to rise exponentially and a three- or four-ticket glass is often a better bet. If a particular wine takes your fancy, you can buy a bottle to take home, often at a good price.

– A pass for the whole five days costs HUF 6,300.