Prestige Reserve celebrates 10 years of excellence

Recipients of the ‘Prestige Award’ given to a winery, a wine bar, a wine shop and a restaurant, who all play a significant role in the world of wines, have been honored at a ceremony at the Kárpátia Restaurant in Budapest earlier this month.

The Prestige Reserve Club was founded in 2004 by László Doszpod, with the intent to raise the awareness of wine consumers to the best that Hungarian wines have to offer. Given his many years of viniculture experience László developed a trademarked system to give recognition to wines in different quality classifications.

Based on an annual evaluation, by a jury of experts, exceptional wine varieties received the 2014 ‘seal of excellence’ at a ceremony on December 10 at the Kárpátia restaurant. The awards were granted in two categories. The ‘Vinum Bonum’, the seal of good wines and ‘Prestige Reserve Medallion d’Or’ for excellent wines. Both will be found on the bottles of the awarded winemakers. The complete list of awarded wines can be found on www.prestigereserve.hu

Another expert panel was made up of the representatives of wine and gastronomy journalists and experts for the purpose of selecting the recipients of the ‘Prestige Award’ given to a winery, a wine bar, a wine shop and a restaurant.

In 2014 its members awarded the Doblo Wine & Bar (Budapest), Bortársaság shop (Hegyvidék center-Budapest) and Gusteau’s Culinary Experience Workshop (Mád). They all play a significant role in the world of wines, where demanding consumers can get to know the subtleties of different wine types via their expert knowledge.

In 2014 the special ‘travelling’ Prestige Award was given to the Jásdi wine cellar. István Jásdi’s achievements were lauded by László Doszpod, András Csizmadia, dr. Lõrincz György and  Mihály Figula(jr.) but his view on wine and life may be best understood in his book ‘Szerenád a szõlõben’ (Serenade in the vineyard).

István Jásdi is a worthy successor of István Szepsy, dr. György Lõrincz and Ferenc Takler, the previous winners of the award. This very special award is accompanied by the Bacchus statue by the renowned sculptor Géza Gáspár and can be viewed at the Jásdi wine cellar throughout 2015.

The Caprice Diamond Award

Over the past 5 years of testing and honoring wines of quality the question arises as to whether or not the wines have met the test of time and if the members of the various juries came to proper conclusions.

Based on accumulated results of the past 5 years, the Prestige Reserve club in cooperation with Caprice diamonds granted awards to the three best wines in each of 7 categories, rosé, late harvest, aszú, white single varietal, white cuvee, red single varietal and red cuvee. Each selected winery has received a diamond jeweled pin along with a certificate of excellence.

Vintners, journalists and wine lovers filled the Karpatia restaurant to view the award ceremony and were rewarded with the opportunity to taste many of these excellent wines. We were there! Cheers.