Varga Winery: produced fewer grapes, but the quality is better
Varga Winery has finished its harvest, ten percent less grapes were processed this year than last year, but the quality was better than in previous years. Like last year, the winery is expected to sell 14.5 million bottles of wine this year, the company told MTI on Monday. 18.5 million kilograms of grapes were processed on the winery's two estates, ten percent less than last year, 11.5 million kilograms in Badacsony and 7 million kilograms in Eger, owner Péter Varga said. He justified the decrease with the drought of the harvest months and the exhaustion of the plantations due to the high yields of the previous two years. He added: the quality has become better than in previous years.
According to the winery, there was a lot of rain before the start of the harvest, which increased the risk of fungal infections. On the other hand, those who were able to protect the crop until the end of July were able to harvest beautiful grapes this year. The drought dried up the traces of previous infections, the freezing cold in some places created special aromas in the berries, and the heat that followed further ripened and already shriveled the clusters.
In the announcement, they also mentioned: in general, it can be said that fewer grapes than expected were produced in Hungary and in other European countries, so exports also help to reduce the Hungarian wine stocks accumulated during the last two years - due to the outstanding amount. Like last year, Varga Winery is selling 14.5 million bottles of wine this year, and expects that its exports will increase by at least 50 percent thanks to the crop failure in Europe.
Péter Varga noted: the farmers of Badacsony protested in a letter against the green harvest support provided by the National Council of Mountain Villages in order to protect the market balance, according to which the farmers received a counter value of approximately HUF 52 for the average yield of the previous two years if the bunches were harvested immaturely at the beginning of July.
However, the farmers took advantage of this option on less than eight percent of the production areas. According to Péter Varga, this was done correctly, because at the end of the harvest it became clear that, in addition to the drought and the fatigue of the plantations, the overproduction was also reduced by the unexpectedly increased foreign interest.
Founded in 1993, Varga Pincészet Kft. has 200 hectares of vineyards across the country, of which 125 hectares are in the Badacsony area, 20 hectares in Balatonaliga, and 55 in the Egri wine region. The 2018 sales revenue of the winery, which employs 186 workers, was close to HUF 5 billion, and last year they sold 14 million bottles of wine. According to public company data, the winery's exports were HUF 180 million in 2017 and HUF 222 million in 2018.
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