February 16, 2010

Significant Hungarian presence at the Washington, DC International Wine and Food Festival 2010

The main hall of the Reagan Center

The 2010 International Wine and Food Festival took place in Washington, DC at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center on Saturday and Sunday, February 13^th and 14^th. Hungary’s participation, organized by the Embassy of Hungary in close cooperation with ITD Hungary, the Hungarian Investment and Trade Development agency is a tradition. This year the focus was on the wines of Tokaj, one of the most historic wine regions in Northeast Hungary.

The Hungarian stand

On both Saturday and Sunday, the exhibition was open to professionals to taste and discuss in detail the wines of all the exhibition stands. The wine-loving public of DC and surroundings also came in great numbers to participate in the Grand Tasting event and have a sip of the world’s best wines.

The Saturday staff (from right to left): András Németh, Allison Tonkin, Rita Rakaczki, Ilona Volter de Thier, Béla Gedeon

The Tokaj wine region, officially called Tokaj-Hegyalja, was declared a world heritage site in 2002. Producing the world’s oldest botrytized wines it has a number of unparalleled assets:

– incomparable soil and microclimate: clay or loess soil on top off volcanic subsoil, a microclimate determined by the sunny, south-facing slopes and the proximity of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers, conducive to the proliferation of Botrytis Cinerea and the subsequent shriveling of the grapes (leading to the development of aszú);

– indigenous grape varieties that have been cultivated here for centuries: Furmint, Hárslevelû, and Sárga Muskotály;

– a vast network of cellars carved out of solid rock, providing a constant temperature of around 12°C (55 Fahrenheit) and high humidity of around 95% that is ideal for the aging of the wines.