28. Festival Europe’s most beautiful wine festival returns between 5 and 8 September, organized on the terraces of the Royal Palace of Buda

Held at one of the city’s most imposing locations, Budapest Wine Festival awaits wine-loving visitors for the 28th consecutive time, surrounded by the stately buildings of the Royal Palace. Guests are welcome to sip on more than a thousand from close to 200 Hungarian and foreign exhibitors, while enjoying the mesmerizing views over the city, be it day or night. This year’s festival pays special attention to the wine region and its famous Bull’s Blood and Egri Csillag varieties, as well as to local culinary delights and the cultural values of the area. You can not only sample Bull’s Blood, but also learn the truth about the legends surrounding the red blend. A rich assortment of musical acts and a range of gastronomy offerings ensure another unforgettable festival at this confluence of culture and wine!

Traditionally, the Wine University is the first professional program preceding the Wine Festival: It will be organized at the MOM Cultural Center on Monday, 2 September. As part of the „The Eger Wine Now” program, the event will host the produces of the Eger wine region this year. Explore the present of Egri Csillag and Bull’s Blood through ten delicious wines from the region, learn about the current regulations, find out how the best vineyards shape the particular wine styles, and meet the brand new region-specific bottle, titled „1552 Eger”.

A Couple of Wine Couples – playful wine tasting program at the Budapest Wine Festival. Available throughout the whole duration of the event, guests can master the art of wine tasting through interesting wine pairings (announced in advance) and professional help. The wine pairs of this „two for the price of one”-style promotion only differ in one crucial characteristic, allowing participants to get a clear understanding of how the peculiarities of a vineyard and vintage, or the length and type of aging can shape the taste of wine. Among the wine pairings the produces of the Eger wine region have a prominent role.

VinAgora Taste of Hungary – Give Hungary a taste! The main goal of this special professional event is to draw attention to the delicious diversity of Hungarian wines, and the characteristics of local grape varieties and wine styles through a number of carefully selected items. The more than 150 Hungarian wineries present at the festival cover all of the wine regions in the country, showcasing almost all grape varieties and types of wine. The Taste of Hungary selection helps you navigate this astoundingly rich assortment of wines by presenting the cream of each category – items that have earned a medal at the VinAgora International Wine Competition. These excellent wines capture all that we love about a great Welschriesling, Bläufrankisch, Bull’s Blood, rosé, Villány franc, or Aszú wine. The wines of Eger are the highlights of this year’s VinAgora selection.

A cool elegance, crisp, fruity wines, traditions and modernity – Eger Wine Now at the Budapest Wine Festival! Renowned for its legendary blends, this historic Hungarian wine region is a state of constant change: Besides the Bull’s Blood of Eger regaining its once- prominent role, it has also been proven that Eger has much more to offer than its flagship red wine. Available at the festival will be the Grand Superior wines, featuring the diversity of the best vineyards in the region, meanwhile a new Eger-specific wine bottle will also make its first public appearance.

The Budapest Wine Festival will host a row of talented artists and performers during its four- day run. Here’s a little sneak peek from the colorful lineup: On the first day, Dánielfy Gergő és az Utazók will take the stage, whose genre-bending music will surely sweep you off your feet. The highlight of the evening will be the concert of Kiscsillag, complete with a special surprise guest this year. On Friday, the classical music performers of Cziffra Fesztivál will be bringing festival-goers an accessible, exciting show. Lajos Sárközy, the finalist of Kamara Virtuózok and his orchestra are best known for their classical virtuosity, a talent which they’ll showcase at the Wine Festival. On Saturday, thanks to the Hungarian Jazz Federation, visitors can take part in a true Jazz Gallop – performers include László Dés, Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, Csaba Deseő, Kálmán Oláh, Elemér Balázs, János Egri, Imre Kőszegi, Tamás Berki, Kornél Fekete-Kovács, and László Gőz. On Sunday, everything will revolve around folk music: After the Harvest Parade, the Wine Festival will be closed by the tunes of ethno-beat band Aurevoir in the evening.

Celebration of grape and wine, spinning skirts, slapping boots and great festivity! Traditional Harvest Parade in Buda Castle, followed by a folk music and folk dance gala on the main stage and two podium stages. One of the most spectacular program elements will be organized jointly with the Fonó Budai Zeneház: Prepare for a real whirl of music and colors, brought to you by the Muzsikás Folk Ensemble, the National Dance Company, and a host of other dance groups, solo dancers, and musicians. The parade consists of the representatives of Hungary’s wine regions, traditionalists, Hungarian Wine Orders, as well as folk dance groups and folk musicians. The fun cavalcade starts at Szentháromság square on Sunday, 8 September, 12 AM sharp.

As wine is an integral part of gastronomy, so are culinary delights inseparable from the Budapest wine Festival. The event has been offering a varied, constantly renewed, quality gastronomy selection, where traditional festival cuisine, modern street food items and gourmet specialties fit together wonderfully well. The Wine Festival welcomes once again one of the biggest success stories of recent years, PizzaMe (whose delicious pizzas are made with only the finest Italian ingredients), the forest mushroom and truffle specialties of Terra Tuffola, and the legendary Lithuanian matured cheese creations of Dziugas at a stand-alone booth. Cheese lovers have even more reasons to rejoice, as Szega Market will be also bringing its premium quality Hungarian cheese varieties to the festival. Furnace-baked delicacies and extraordinary toppings will be brought to you by Szittya Pita Kenyérlángosozó and Szittya Buci, while SPAR’s Grill Terrace will also amaze you with their new grilled cheese platter, Hungarian pork chop plate, and home-made bio syrups. For gourmet specialty lovers this year, Füst és Buborék (Smoke and Bubble) offers delicacies made from Eger ingredients and wild rye, while Gleda Restaurant will be preparing Hungarian dishes dressed in modern robes. Given the success of its top quality street food fare, Monor’s Ami Burger returns with its home-made burgers, hot dogs and wraps, made from 100% natural ingredients. The premium cheese snacks of Snock and the hand-made chutneys and vegetable creams of Kanálka will make a perfect pairing with any wine, but the sweet and savory, meaty strudels of Antik Rétes or the surprising wine snacks of Péter Szabó oyster sommelier can also provide you with excellent sources of energy.

The premium coffee experience will be provided by Julius Meinl and Fresh Corner, while your sweet moments will be supplied by Gerbeaud Confectionery, Vitéz Kürtős, and Bolka Bonbon. Courtesy of Országkonyha (XXL Catering), Chef Krisztián Huszár will prepare special, yeast-based dishes, but don’t forget to taste the fish snacks of Agrár Marketing Centrum, offered as part of the Kapj rá! campaign.

An essential part of the Wine Festival is the NÉBIH Wine Quiz Bar interactive tent, where you can find countless wine-related attractions. Anti-counterfeiting and knowledge sharing to increase consumer awareness are high on the agenda of NÉBIH’s Directorate for Wine and Alcoholic Beverages. To this end, they prepare a number of playful tasks to educate and entertain festival-goers. Learn about the aroma and flavor characteristics of the Bull’s Blood and Egri Csillag varieties of the Eger wine region through blind tastings, complete with an interesting scent recognition game. Quizzes, blank maps and other surprise activities make the experience even more colorful. At the end of the game, the acquired knowledge can be tested, and gifts are guaranteed. Anyone who registers with a valid e-mail address on the site can participate in the game. The event is supported by NÉBIH.

The House of Award-Winning Wines – Meet new wines and new wineries. At the VinAgora House of Award-Winning Wines, festival-goers can meet in person with the Hungarian medalists of this year’s VinAgora International Wine Competition at the Savoya terrace. More than 643 wines competed against each other from Hungary and 16 other countries: Hungary’s winemakers took home 6 Champion prizes, 5 grand gold-, 83 gold-, and 111 silver medals, as well as 26 special prizes.

Set Table at the Wine Festival! If you want to spend your lunch or dinner still close to the whirl of the Wine Festival, but in calm surroundings, sitting at a set table, pay a visit to the exclusive and comfortable Budapest Terrace, situated beneath the Baroque gate. Make a reservation in advance so that you won’t have to stand in line for your Wine Festival tickets or your delicious meals. After hours of walking, drinking wine and watching concerts, you can finally take a breather and eat comfortably with your friends and family. The „Set Table” ticket includes a daily admission ticket for the Wine Festival, and a two-hours long, three-course lunch or dinner menu, spent in an exclusive location, accompanied by VinAgora’s award-winning wines. Budapest Wine Festival and the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of come together again to lend the needy a helping hand. The Charity Wine Auction is a long-standing event that mobilizes a wide range of bidders and donors each year. Many wineries offer interesting, unique, and valuable items each year, the entire proceeds of which are transferred to the account of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta. All 40,000 wine glass holders of this year’s Wine Festival was made in the charity service’s Tiszabura sewing workshop. Opened in 2016, the workshop significantly boosted the economy of the village, ensuring a safe and steady income for many local families. However, the sewing workshop is more than a simple production plant: It’s also a professional training ground and a place where local school children can learn through playing and make decisions about their future career. The goal of this year’s Charity Wine Auction is to support the programs of the Tiszabura sewing workshop aimed at helping children and young adults. The Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta would like to create a new, modern sewing room, so that local children can learn about tailoring as a profession, a talent that that they could use later in their work, as a hobby, or simply as a handy skill in adulthood. Plans include the organizing of regular workshops for nursery and elementary schools, and the setting up of new adult trainings, giving a profession and new possibilities into the hands of local women.

Safe and free wireless internet access at the Budapest Wine Festival is ensured by WifiZone, provided by ACE Telecom, making it easier for exhibitors and visitors to know their way around stage shows, stay in touch with friends, and share experiences on various social media platforms. After connecting to the WifiZone SSID, users can register quickly and easily with their Facebook account or e-mail address. Thanks to the unified network, the smart devices of previously registered users will automatically connect to the WiFi of the Wine Festival, while those who register to the WifiZone for the first time at the Buda Castle will be able to enjoy the benefits of automatic connection in the future.

The official taxi partner of the Festival is 6x6 Taxi – We transport value!

The event’s main sponsor, the SPAR Magyarország Kereskedelmi Kft. prepares with special offers and games for this year’s Budapest Wine Festival. Those customers who spend 10, 000 HUF or more at SPAR, City SPAR, or INTERSPAR supermarkets between 22 August and 4 September will receive a 50% discount voucher at the cash register, which can be redeemed for a daily ticket at the cash desk of the Wine Festival, so that the day ticket will be available for them at half price. It will be worth returning to the SPAR booth several times over the course of the Wine Festival, as every fourth glass of wine will be given to visitors for free, where they can also sample the exceptional wines of the SPAR Selection. On the podium stage next to SPAR's booth such renowned winemakers will host talks on Friday and Saturday in the evening hours as Győző Dobosi (from Dobosi Winery), Barna Barabás (Zelna Winery), Gergő Makai (Tokaj Hétszőlő Vineyards), József Bock (Bock Winery), Ádám Juhász (Juhász Brothers Winery), and András Takler (Takler Wine Estate). SPAR's own meat factory, the 15-year-old Regnum Meat Factory and Training Center will be showcasing its high-quality products in the Hunyadi Courtyard in the form of various hot meals. The Regnum Grill Terrace will serve Hungarian grilled sausages, BBQ breast fillet platter, grilled cheese specialties and Hungarian pork chops. What’s more, the Wine Festival and the Hungarian wine culture will receive a strong marketing support from SPAR this year: The SPAR Wine Catalog’s special offers will be valid between 4 and 25 September, featuring award-winning VinAgora items and the wines of SPAR Selection on dedicated pages. In addition, SPAR will launch an online game, called Bormustra, between 4 and 25 September, under the auspices of the SPAR Wine Catalog, giving participants a chance to win one-night and two-night wine tasting cellar visits.

Tickets for the Budapest Wine Festival are available for 3,900 HUF on location, or in advance on the event’s web page (www.aborfesztival.hu). The daily ticket price includes a crystal tasting glass and a wine glass holder.

Save the date: „Budapest Wine Festival with friends between 5 and 8 September!”

www.aborfesztival.hu

Opening hours: 5-6 September, Thu-Fri: 14.00–24.00; 7 September, Sat: 12.00–24.00 8 September, Sun: 12.00–22.00