Grape Harvest Begins In Hungary

Grape harvesting has begun in most wine regions of the country. The chaotic weather that has lasted for years has posed great challenges to winegrowers and winemakers this year as well.

Climate change is also having an impact on Hungarian wine regions. Although Hungarian wines have had outstandingly good years in the last ten years, the changing weather has constantly put the experts of the wineries to the test, napi.hu reports

In the most famous wine region of the country, Tokaj-Hegyalja, for example, the dry spring was followed by an extremely rainy period. From mid-May to mid-July, nearly 500 millimeters of rain fell, so the ripening of the grapes was delayed. However, this is the first time in a long time that the harvest began at the traditional time, mid-September.

"The first eight months of the year in the vineyards were complicated and difficult due to the chaotic weather, but we have been used to this for the last ten years. From the point of view of viticulture, however, the excellent September weather was very favorable for the fruit. Thanks to this, the harvest could have started at the traditional time, in the middle of September, so we expect a good vintage this year," the winemaker of Balassa Winery, István Balassa, told the news site.