Perhaps Hungarian wine isn�t known around the world, but the truth is that it has little to envy from the wines from more famous wining countries and the rest of Europe. The capital of Hungary holds many places where you can enjoy a nice glass of wine after work or during dinner with friends. It�s a social activity in itself and so that the wine doesn�t go to the head so quick, they usually add some soda to it.

It�s not unusual to see how conversations flow in bars in Budapest around a good bottle of red, white or rosé wine, wine for all tastes. And since this is about tastes, I can tell you that my favourite wine of the region is Tokay, which comes from close to the Ukrainian and Slovakian border. This is a legendary wine of Austrian-Hungarian origin that has been made since the mid-16th century in the same way. The elixir of Tokay or Tokaij was the first one elaborated in Hungary and they said that it had medicinal properties. In the time of king Louis XIV, it was the one consumed the most in the whole of Europe. Today, it�s a fruity wine with a sweet twist, although it does have a bit more wine than the rest of the wines, with 14º. Also, Tokay wine takes a year more or less to ferment since the procedure is just drying out part of the collected grapes (like if they were raisins) to press them afterwards.

Here are some tips if you want to enjoy a nice glass of wine in Budapest. The wine map starts here.

DiVino Wine Budapest

The best thing about this place, as well as its huge variety in wines, is its location, with magnificent views of St Stephen�s Basilica, especially at nightfall. On its menu it offers 200 different wines and sandwiches and crisps to eat, as well as wine, a lot of wine. The prices are quite affordable since it�s managed by the Association of Young Hungarian Winemakers. You�ll find it at Szent Istvan ter 3.

Great Market Hall (Nagycsarnok)

Another of the places where you�ll find excellent Hungarian wine is in the Great Market Hall, the biggest covered market in the city. This market has a retro atmosphere and has become a landmark for tourists and bystanders. There, as well as doing your shopping, you can enjoy typical Hungarian food, beer and wine. And there�s also plenty of wine in this market hall. You�ll find it at the end of the pedestrian street Váci utca, with two floors filled with stores that sells jewellery, toys, clothes, food and páprika on every corner. And all of this, accompanied by live music. Highly recommended. 

Kadarka Wine Bar

Located on Karaly utca 42, in the 5th district, is where this bar that�s specialized in wine tasting is located. The waiters will give you advice on which wine to choose, depending on your tastes. If you just want one glass, it will cost you between 2 and 3 euros. It�s a very elegant and intimate place, a meeting point of Hungarian youth.

Ördögárok pince y Új és Öreghegy

And to finish off the visit to Budapest wine tasting, it�s advisable to walk around the Ördög-árok vineyards (which means Devil�s Pit Cellar) and Új és Öreghegy (which means Old and New Hill). It�s a trip that requires a whole afternoon, where you can sample wines and where tourists leave more than happy. 

It�s going to be one big tribute to Bacchus, the god of wine. 

DianaRPretel

Enjoy a nice Hungarian wine tasting when you book accommodation in Budapest. What are you waiting for?

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If you like wine, this event is for you. From the 12th to the 16th of September the well-known Budapest International Wine Festival will take place in the beautiful capital of Hungary. Once again this popular festival returns to Budapest to entertain locals and visitors.

The International Wine Festival is held in Buda Castle, a venue considered as a World Heritage by UNESCO. All its rooms and courtyards will showcase over 5000 different wines coming from all around the world; in total there will be 220 wineries from 15 countries. Visitors will have the chance to sample wines produced by the most prestigious and famous winemakers in the world, as well as by young innovators that have come to the market with plenty of new ideas and energy.

This festival offers all kind of activities related to wine tasting, as well as grape cultivation and wine production. You will also have the chance to attend seminars about new production techniques.

There are courses for beginners and professionals related to wine tasting. You can learn to differentiate the color, aroma and flavor of different wines.

Gastronomy is inevitably linked to the world of wine. That is why; you’ll also be delighted different types of Hungarian cheeses and meats, while tasting the best wines in the world.

Some of the most representative Hungarian folk and jazz bands will extend the great cultural offerings of the event. Dance groups will also entertain the audience with traditional Budapest dances, which will make this wine festival an unforgettable event.

The Budapest International Wine Festival also has activities planned for those traveling with their family. There is a playground full of activities and attractions for the younger members of the family; ideal for parents to enjoy a day of fun without worrying about their children.

Apart of all the above mentioned, the festival will host, once again, its well-known Charity Auction. On the 14^th of September, you will be able to buy some wine and contribute your bit to help the needy.

If you want to know more about times, locations and wineries visit the official website of the event at http://www.aborfesztival.hu/index.php?lang=en

If you love wine, you can’t miss this event. The Budapest International Wine Festival is one of the most important in Eastern Europe. If you are planning to come to Hungary, keep in mind that the event will take place from the 12th to the 16th of September 2012.

There are two different choices of tickets available, daily passes (€ 10) and passes that cover all days of the festival (€ 27), so you can purchase tickets that suit your needs, just keep in mind that wine tastings are for free. Come and enjoy one of the oldest pleasures in the world. Bottoms up!

Salermico

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One of the most traditional spring activities in Budapest is held every year at Óbuda square: the Spring Wine and Jazz Festival. People from all over Hungary and many tourists from around the world will enjoy two days of wine and the best Hungarian jazz bands.

Although the grape harvest in Hungary is in September, the wine festival takes place in spring, because the rolled grape juice has decanted and turned into a delicious wine or sparkling wine. It also welcomes the sun and warm longer days; they leave in oblivion the cold winter.

Wine and jazz are together in this festival as they are also intimately linked by history. Just as jazz is passion, rhythm, character and sophistication, wine is the ideal complement, because it exacerbates all the emotions and stimulates the passions. Nothing better than listening to blues and dixie in the beautiful old town square: live music and a nice glass of wine in hand.

During two days in April you will have the chance to taste the best wines in Europe, and buy some offers to enjoy it at home. But most importantly, taste the wines of the house, as Hungarian producers strive to have very good quality wines at very cheap prices.

Hungary is famous for its delicious wines that complement its culinary culture. Tokaji wine is known to come from the region of Tokaj-Hegyalja. Roumor has it that the countess Susana Lorántffy, wife of the Transylvanian Prince George Rákóczi, personally took care of the vineyards, but one year , and due to the constant wars with the Turks the harvesting was postponed until November, resulting it in a sweet and concentrate wine, which identifies the Tokaji wine.

The Bikavér is a cuvée, the bull�s blood of Hungarian wines. This wine is a real treasure among Hungarian wines that comes from Szekszárd and has a law to protect production, which is a regulation to produce wine and grapes of the kind needed to its production.

Also Szamorodni wine is produced from the grapes affected by the Botrytis cinerea fungus. When the grapes have lost water and have a greater amount of sugar, the wine is produced with a higher quantity of alcohol than normal.

Then there is also the wine manufactured with Eszencia aszú grapes, It is pretty sweet and also considered as one of the most expensive wines in the world. There is also the Fordítás, a sweet wine and wine Máslás.

This festival brings together elements that are part of the Budapest culture, that is why everyone waits for the Spring to celebrate the arrival of the spring and the beginning of a new production of fine wines.

For more information: http://visitbudapest.travel/budapest-events/budapest-spring-wine-jazz-festival/

Nancy Guzman

Rent one of the apartments in Budapest this spring, and don’t miss this outdoors celebration of jazz and wine in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

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The pleasures of wine are told from remote times. This pleasant drink has accompanied the whole world during millenniums and it�s a true traditional in a large part of the tables in the Western world. The relation of wine with culture are diverse and deep, as is its symbology that goes from the religious rituals to pagan and profane ones. It is, undoubtedly, the drink that blesses churches and turns into Christ�s blood, with the sacred elixir that encourages intoxication, poetical deliriums and sexual romance. And there�s nothing more exciting that wine to increase the temperatures at the time of making love. Many of the well-known poets have sung odes to wine and its delicacies, the chaos that it provokes, its magical power and the inspiration that it produces.

Charles Baudelaire, father of modern poetry without a shadow of a doubt, is one of the main poets that made of wine a constant subject and from which many lessons can be learned. In his poetry, wine is a powerful narcotic that not only becomes the inciter of lust and passions, the blood of the lamb that spills and drinks to reach those �Artificial Paradises� that he talked about so much and he provoked with his harmonious and melancholic writings, but at the same time, in the voluptuous condition that, in the intoxication from wine, you can reach states of illumination and sacred pronunciation. That�s how wine provokes visions, brilliant ideas, even miraculous, and it�s the drink where dark and secret poetry reside.

That�s how the ancestral ceremonies to Baccus are a type of calling to the invocation of the unseen. The stupor that wine generates makes of the body a tame machinery for the gathering of imagination and dreams. And effectively, dreaming under the influences of wine becomes an experience that is blurred and filled with images of many colours. At the same time, wine incites lust and sexual desire in men and women, and is therefore the nocturnal drink that best favours romance. Imagine what it must be like to have some wine in Budapest and in the International Wine Festival. Certainly, a favourable moment for romance and to meet beautiful people who are open to adventure. This international festival takes place every year where thousands of exhibitors from around the world participate, as well as music, meetings and, above all, the animated participation of thousands of people searching for the perfect wine, the sweetest aroma that the mind can manage, romance and, who knows, maybe love too. For more information and the timetables of events of this festival on each day, visit this webpage:  http://www.aborfesztival.hu/

Alexa Ray

What better than getting apartments in Budapest and be part of this international festival with the best wine and where you will surely find someone with who to share it with and spend a moment of sensuality, party and beauty in one of the most romantic cities in the whole of Europe.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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