Harvest 2024
Record harvest in Hungary? Or no?
Some of our favourite photos and some comments from the winemakers
A Drink Business journalist contacted us to ask for more information about the record harvest in Hungary. As the OIV report states, 2024 vintage produced the smallest global output since 1961. Except for Hungary, celebrating the highest production since 2010! Is that true? No, it isn’t, as we explain it below. But the main objective of this post is to give a picture of this year’s harvest in Hungary through the photos and the words of the people, who are behind the figures. Just look at our cover picture: the creativity of the winemakers is indeed outstanding!
Photos of the cover picture by Csetvei Cellar, Fehérvári Wine Estate, Zsirai Winery
What happened to the numbers?
When the British journalist contacted us, we called a representative of the Council of the National Wine Communities to ask about the reason behind the strange and false positive harvest figure. She checked, the 2024 estimates are correct, but as she spotted out, the figures of the earlier years are incorrect. They are available on the website of the Council here. (In Hungarian, but it is easy to understand, the bottom line is the national wine production.)
However, in the OIV report (page 6) the numbers are different, they are much lower regarding the previous years.
See the OIV report here.
As it turned out from the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, they supplied improper data earlier, while the 2024 estimate is correct, this is why there seems to be an increase though there was not. The head of department explained that they had used the data of the Central Office of Statistics. It is still a mystery why the two offices have so different numbers…
But it is enough of the numbers, let’s see the people behind the figures!
Some comments from Hungarian winemakers about the harvest
Kurt István Taschner, Taschner Winery and Sparkling Wine House, Sopron
I have mixed feelings regarding this vintage, because there are some outstanding wines, but the fermentation of some red wines are rather complicated, actually we are still struggling with one of the red lots, the volatile acidity is too high and we are just guessing the reasons behind.
From grape growing point of view it was a good year with sufficient rainfall – occasionally there was too much, but at least the deeper layers of the soil received rainfall as well. We had to spray 7 times, with that we could protect 98% of the crop, which was healthy, and the quantity was slightly more than last year.
More about Taschner Winery
Tamás Borbély, Borbély Family Winery, Badacsony
Harvest 2024 was unusual due to the early ripening. In Badacsony wine region we started picking one month earlier than normally, at the beginning of August. The hot and dry summer was challenging, but with thoughtful planning of the harvest serious quality musts of great flavours arrived in our vats and barrels. Now we are working hard to present the fresh, new vintage wines as soon as possible.
The quantity of the crop was less in our estate – just like in the whole country –, however, the quality is great, on some cases outstanding.
Ákos Kamocsay, Fehérvári Wine Estate, Somló
This harvest was the earliest ever, regarding both the beginning and the finish. Due to the hot and dry summer, the sugar level rose quickly, and acidity disappeared rapidly. For the sparkling wine base wine, we picked the grapes in the middle of July with ideal qualities. After that practically everything ripened at the same time. As for the aromatic varieties, in some cases we lost some of the intense aromas, but with the other varieties we managed to pick perfectly ripened grapes. All in all, it was a very early and very quick, but good harvest.
More about Fehérvári Wine Estate
Andrea Gere, Gere A Winery, Villány
The estate gives a detailed vintage report every year, here are some excerpts: “Due to the intense ripening, this year’s harvest started on the 1st of August, 2-3 weeks earlier than in previous years. There were no breaks between picking the raw material for the white, rosé and light red wines, so we had a continuous and dynamic harvest. In keeping with tradition, we finished the harvest on 26 September with grapes for the full-bodied red wines.
The warm summer weather concentrated the grapes, the musts were very ripe and a serious, characterful base is now developing in the cellar. When we asked our winemaker, Csillag Bankó, about her favourite grape of the year, she replied: “Every year a different grape is my favourite. This year my favourite is Cabernet Sauvignon. We harvested beautiful grapes at full ripeness and the measurements showed excellent parameters. But what really tipped the scales was how delicious it was.” All in all, we had a fast and intense season and the dynamics of the harvest reflected this. The quality and quantity of the harvest were in line with our expectations. The 2024 vintage will certainly offer wine lovers beautiful, full-bodied wines.
Read full vintage report by Gere A Winery
Zoltán Heimann Jr, Szekszárd
“We have Olimpic Games every year… The harvest started with Kadarka on 21 August, and we picked 2/3 of all the grapes within two weeks. We had expected an early vintage, but we had not expected such a quick and intense harvest.”
László Romsics, Csányi Winery (Teleki Wines), Villány
Regarding the quantity, on average the crop is 10-20% less than normally, mainly due to the drought. However, the quality is above the average, especially in case of black grapes. Outstanding red wines will be released from the vintage 2024.
More about Csányi Winery / Teleki Wines
Kata Zsirai, Zsirai Winery, Tokaj
“I usually start harvest totally stressed, and older winemakers of the neighbourhood would comfort me with a piece of wisdom: Time heals everything. By now it has become my favourite saying, but no one has said that this time span can be like ten years! Anyway, I don’t say that it has been an easy vintage, but at least we could harvest and we have new vintage wines in the barrels. Dry and sweet as well, not too much, but at least many different types.”
Do you know what ‘csiger’ is? Kata explains. “We have been thinking of ‘csiger’ for a while. It is a low alcohol drink made by soaking the marc of the grape in water). This we have been able to produce it, because we had time. Usually, we don’t. Mainly because an important vineyard of us was killed by the August hail (actually for the third time), so we did not harvest there. But the good news is that we have a little ‘csiger’ in the house, already bottled!”
Ágnes Dunai, Dubicz Vineyard and Winery, Mátra
“2024 was a very challenging vintage first because of the drought, and then due to the extreme heat all the varieties got ripened at the same time so we had to pick everything together. While in many estates the quantity decreased by 20-30%, we harvested the same amount as earlier due to the careful management of the vineyards.”
More about Dubicz Vineyard and Winery
Krisztina Csetvei, Csetvei Cellar, Mór
“In Mór wine region we started the harvest on 25 August, three weeks earlier than last year. We had a dry, drought-stricken summer, as a result with organic viticulture we have had nice, healthy crop, better than last year both in quality and quantity. Harvest season was extra hot, picking was exhausting. Due to the early morning heat, we had to pick early and very quickly, and we had to process the grapes extremely fast as well. We finished harvesting very early, on 12 September, and now I believe that it would have been better to finish it even earlier than that. I would have liked to ferment all my wines to dry, but I can already see that the wine of the last harvest day from our Somló vineyard will not ferment spontaneously. Fans of our Drágakő wine will be happy – we are going to have a barrel aged Olaszrizling from Somló rich in residual sugar again! Sweet and salty:)”
More about Csetvei Cellar
Attila Götz vineyard manager and Járos Jarecsni estate manager / chief winemaker of Béres Vineyards, Tokaj
The vineyard manager explained that the year 2024 was difficult and there was a constant threat of mildew. The protection of the plants had special importance this year. The chief winemaker was sort of worried about low acidity and too fast ripening, as it can happen in extremely hot and dry vintages. This is why they decided to start harvesting early and they did not regret it at all. “We kept analysing the mock-harvest results, and we did start harvesting early to avoid extremely elevated must grades and to preserve the crispy acidity of the wines. Regarding quantity, we are somewhat behind the expectations, but quality-wise we consider it a really good vintage.”
A more detailed harvest report of Béres Vinyeards
