Excellent Quality Harvest in Villány Wine Region

The harvest of typical blue grape varieties in the Villány wine-growing region, where the harvest is currently in full swing until the end of October, has been of average quantity and excellent quality, the secretary of the 2,350-hectare vineyard district council told MTI.

Gergely Nagy reported that the harvesting of white grape varieties, which make up barely 20% of the area, has been completed almost everywhere, but the blue grape bunches for rosé and siller have also been removed from the vines. “Harvesting of the blue grapes that produce the red wine Portugieser, which is a specialty of the region, is still in progress, but the merlot variety is also being harvested. By mid-October, or at the latest by the end of October, the largest cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc vines will be harvested," he said.

The expert added that this summer there have been several prolonged periods of rain and humidity in the wine-growing region, which has meant that farmers have had to pay close attention to plant protection. Although some vineyards suffered damage from Peronospora infestation, the vast majority were able to control it.

According to the analyses carried out so far, the quantity of the harvest is expected to be average, but the quality is expected to be excellent, provided that the weather in the coming weeks is at or above the long-term average.

Gergely Nagy also stressed that there are about 6,000 hectares of vines in the wine-growing region, and that the actual area planted varies only slightly from year to year. Most of the current 2,350 hectares of vineyards - 390 and 341 hectares respectively - are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, while Merlot is grown on 308 hectares, kékfrankos on 303 hectares and kékoportó on 294 hectares.

The expert said that a third of the harvest is now carried out with combine harvesters because of the increasing difficulty of finding human labor, and that more and more vineyards are being mechanized. He added that in addition to harvesting, some green work, such as cutting back shoots and pre-harvest leaf pruning, is now also done by machines in many vineyards.

Gergely Nagy also pointed out that the wine sector worldwide, and not only in Hungary, is constantly affected by negative external factors such as epidemics, energy crises and changes in solvent demand, which improve the prospects of efficient, creative, flexible and large-scale winegrowers.

Although Villány wines are of high quality, popular and sellable, “local wineries are also having to make an increasing effort, investing more and more in marketing, entering new sales channels and new products, and trying to keep up with changing consumer habits," he said.