Late summer warmth and a mild, dry autumn delivered high sugar levels to the red varieties (including Merlot and the Cabernets) in Villány and Szekszárd, despite the hail damage in June and cool mid-summer rains.
As in these two regions, another red region, Eger, and the white-dominated Lake Balaton had good quality – lower quantity harvests also.
For its aszú wines, Tokaj’s October botrytis development was hampered by rains in early November.
‘The botrytis became almost unusable,’ said winemaker Istvan Szepsy Jr.
‘Around 40% of these grapes were lost.’
Hungary’s average annual yield of approximately 3.2m hl. is estimated for 2009 as well.
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