The Winery of Pannonhalma Abbey has won the “Winery of the Year” award for 2023. The award was presented on 24 August 2023 in Pannonhalma by Archabbot Cyril T. Hortobágyi and the Chief Winemaker Zsolt Liptai. The award, founded by the Hungarian Wine Academy, the Hegyközségek Tanácsa (National Council of Mountain Districts), and the Association of Hungarian Grape and Wine Producers, is presented every year to a leading and representative winery in the Hungarian wine industry. This is the second time Pannonhalma Abbey Winery has been awarded.
Past of Pannonhalma Abbey Winery
The award ceremony was held at the Viator Event Centre of the Pannonhalma Abbey on 24 August, attended by prominent representatives of the wine industry, supporters, and journalists. Archabbot Cyril T. Hortobágyi welcomed the guests, recalling that the first monks were settled on Mount Saint Martin (Pannonhalma) by the Grand Duke Géza in 996. On their arrival, the Benedictine monks founded a church and a school and brought with them the agricultural and craft culture necessary for settled life. They strove to become self-sufficient. This included cultivating vines and wine, so the Abbey had vineyards on the surrounding hills from its very foundation.
Speaking about the past, he said that by the early 1900s, the size of the Abbey’s vineyard had grown to about 100 hectares, and already, at that time, the monastery was selling its white and red wines in bottled form.
However, after the Second World War, the vineyards and the winery were nationalized. He recalled with pride that, as a result of the Abbey’s search for a new way forward, which began in 1998, the foundation stone of the current winery was laid on 25 October 2002, the feast of St. Moritz (St. Mór) of Pannonhalma, and a year later, on 6 November 2003, as part of St. Martin’s Day, the new cellar was inaugurated and blessed.
The present of Pannonhalma Winery
With a thousand-year tradition, the Pannonhalma Winery, revived twenty years ago, produced 40,000 bottles of wine a year in its early days. However, this has increased tenfold, exceeding the originally planned capacity. Two-thirds of the 50-hectare estate is covered by white grapes, including both world varieties – mainly Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay – and Carpathian varieties – Welschriesling and Királyleányka. The ideal growing conditions for blue grapes, which occupy a third of the area, have also proved to be excellent, with Pinot Noir proving the most successful so far.
The Archabbot also added that the result of the work during the past 20 years is that today when one thinks of Pannonhalma Archabbey, a World Heritage Site, it is not just the early medieval basilica, the lower church with the relic of St Martin sharing his cloak with a beggar and the urn of the heart of Otto Habsburg, the Porta Speciosa’s red marble ornamental gate and the Gothic cloister, not only the neoclassical library, the Pannonhalma charter with the initials of our King St Stephen or the charter of the Tihany Abbey, our oldest written language monument, and we could go on, not only does this appear before your eyes, but the winery appears too! The wines of the Abbey appear, with the signature of Saint Stephen, engravings of the Abbey, or even former monks of the house
The Winery of the Year Award
Since 2002, the Hungarian Wine Academy, the National Council of Mountain Districts (Hegyközségek Nemzeti Tanácsa) and the Association of Hungarian Grape and Wine Producers have given the award of “Winery of the Year” in every year. The award is given to the collective achievements of a wine-producing company that has done the most to promote Hungarian wine, wine culture, and the cultivated consumption of wine in Hungary and abroad in the year in question.
In 2010, the Pannonhalma Abbey winery won the “Winery of the Year” award for the first time. Hundreds of nominations were received this year and in the end Pannonhalma Abbey Winery got this prize again.
The Technology and Wines of Pannohalma Winery
Built in 2003, the cellar and wine house, which covers an area of around 2,200 square meters and is located at the foot of the Pannonhalma Abbey, uses innovative technology perfectly adapted to the varietal structure while respecting the tradition. An unconventional winemaking technology based on gravitational handling, introduced at the beginning, is constantly being improved, supporting classic winemaking techniques with modern advances for efficient processing and quality winemaking.
Each year, the winery’s varietal wines and blends, born from a unique concept, carry the characteristics of the vintage year after year, promising an exciting tasting experience while maintaining the high quality that wins consumers’ trust, regardless of the vintage.
The winery’s product lines are well arranged and well structured. The Tricollis blends are a solid base in the product pyramid, well-priced and very well matched to everyday Hungarian food. The choice of varieties perfectly reflects the winemaker’s vision. Pinot noir, Sauvignon blanc and Riesling are the varieties that have found their place and have gained local and national fame.
Hemina red and white blends have become a household name among those who want reliable, high quality wines at an affordable price.
And at the top level, nothing reflects the winery’s success better than the fact that Infusio and Red Prior (premium Pinot Noir) are usually in short supply months after release.
On the cover photo: Pannonhalma Abbey Winery with the tasing tables.