Greeting
Dear Reader,
Our wine regions are hallmarks that also convey cultural and historical heritage.
The Wine of the House competition is dedicated to supporting the flourishing of Hungary’s fine winemaking, to extending the professional networks of our winemakers, and to consolidating the international reputation of our wines. Over recent years, we have seen that visitors to the House of Parliament are interested not only in the taste of the wines but also in the regions that nurture the grapes, the winemakers who fill the bottles, and the stories surrounding the vintages. The atmosphere created by these anecdotes, local customs, values and culinary traditions makes a profound impression on those enjoying these wines.
One of the aims of our event is therefore to support the connection that exists between wine culture and tourism. We believe that with the prestige of our competition, its professional networks and the quality of our awardwinning wines, we can contribute to the development of our wine regions, and to their growing appeal as tourist destinations, while bolstering local economies and their capacity to create jobs.
László Kövér
Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly
The Wine of the Hungarian Parliament competition
Being one of Hungary’s trademarks, high quality Hungarian wine has been a worthy emissary for our country for centuries now. The Wine of the Hungarian Parliament competition was established to select wines of outstanding quality, suitable to represent the Hungarian National Assembly at parliamentary receptions. Keeping the highest quality requirements at the forefront, we welcome entries from wineries located in one of Hungary’s historical wine regions and focussing on Hungarian wine-making tradition. Candidates can enter with bottled quality wines and bottled wines with special attributes which comply with Hungarian regulations and are commercially distributed in Hungary.
The categories of wine grape varieties and blends are as follows: olaszrizling, furmint, other whites, kékfrankos, bikavér, cabernet franc, kadarka, tokaji aszú.
The Wine of the Hungarian Parliament competition debuted in 2017 with the aim of starting a tradition, and was held with the participation of wineries from 13 historical wine regions of Hungary, as well as a nominee from Arad-hegyalja. In its first year a total of 147 entries from 81 wineries competed in the eight announced categories, while 160 bottles of 90 wineries from 17 wine regions entered the competition in 2018. In 2019, 19 of 22 wine regions applied, while 113 wineries with 203 entries took part in the competition for the honorary title of Wine of the Hungarian Parliament 2019. In 2020 231 wines from 18 wine regions were judged by the jury. In 2021 218 wines of 93 wineries from 19 wine regions competed for the title. In 2022 19 wine regions applied, 89 wineries with 181 wines.
The statuette awarded to the grand prix winner of The Wine of the Hungarian Parliament competition features one of the female figures of the sculptural ensemble of viticulture found in the old Upper House lounge. The three-figural composition made i
The Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly established the prize to honour those who win this prominent title with their excellent wines.
Legislative background
During the 19th century, the Hungarian National Assembly passed two pieces of legislation that laid the legal foundation for traditional wine production. Act XXIII of 1893 was the first regulation by which the state protected the interests of Hungarian winemakers against wine doctoring. Then, stipulated by Act XII of 1894, the national council of hill communities was formed and then became the cornerstone of high quality wine production in Hungary. Thanks to these legislative measures, the Hungarian state consolidated domestic viniculture.
