Guilty Pleasure Blog Portugieser du Monde 2016

Portugieser du Monde 2016, 1-2 April, Pecs, Hungary

by stasa cafuta trcek (text and photo)

The vibrant ruby colour, quite high acidity and cherry to ripe raspberry and of course a good vintage are conditions for perfect Portugieser

The 4th Portugieser Du Monde wine competition and festival took place in April 1th and 2nd, mostly at the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter in the city of Pécs, European Capital of Culture in 2010. The competition was on 1 th April. Wines were submitted in the following three categories: young Portugiesers (vintage of 2015); vintage Portugiesers (vintages 2014 or earlier); blends with a min. 25 percent Portugieser-content. Jury of twenty from nine countries judge 96 samples of wine. This was my forth judging in Pecs and I could say after so many years that Portugieser is fantastic red variety. Either for young wine or for ageing Portugieser. The vibrant ruby colour, quite high acidity and cherry to ripe raspberry and of course a good vintage are conditions for ageing Portugieser.

After the competition the jury visited the Portugieser capital of Hungary, that is Villány, where Günzer Tamás Winery hosted a dinner, and several other wineries introduced themselves (Bock Pince, Gere Tamás és Zsolt Pincészete, Polgár Pince, Csányi Pincészet, Mokos Pince, Wassmann Bormanufaktúra, Jackfall Borászat). The jury was accompanied by the delegacy of the Croatian Plesivica wine region, who took part in the event for the first time, thanks to the Zagreb Tourist Board.

The award ceremony on April 2 in Zsolnay Cultural Quarter turned into an open wine tasting event. Guests and competitors were greeted by Pécs major Zsolt Páva, and jury chairman József Kosarka evaluated the results. After the ceremony 250 participants tasted the Portugiesers and other exciting wines offered by 34 wineries. Excellent live music was brought to the audience by Pécs band Jazzimpair. Organizers already picked the date for the next Portugieser du Monde competition, so you can highlight April 21.-22. 2017 in your calendar.

The Portugieser du Monde International Jury 2016: Ivan Dropuljić, Ivo Kozarčanin, Vito Andrić (Croatia); Wolfgang Junglas (Germany); Csilla Sebestyén, András Horkay, József Kosárka /president of the jury/, Susann Hanauer, Róbert Tamás, Richárd Labancz (Hungary); Pier Paolo Lorieri (Italy); Maria Joao Almeida (Portugal); Igor Luković, Robert Csevari (Serbia); Jože Rozman, Milan Stojičević, Staša Cafuta Trček, Drago Vovk (Slovenia); Baek Nan Young (South Korea) and Mar Galván (Spain).

The category winners are: