Last week, two bottles of Eger rosé were available for 1,132 forints as part of a promotion at a successful chain store. Based on this, it can be said that Eger rosé has greater brand power than Tokaj furmint, as two bottles of Tokaj furmint cost 1,118 forints this week.
After decades in the media, our publication has set itself the impossible goal of becoming a self-interested advocate for the Hegyalja region. However, as faithful Hungarian wine consumers, if we want to help the region's viticulture and winemaking, we cannot start our first article by attacking the Olaszliszka winery, which has been generating a respectable profit of 10 % for years. Not least because the author is from the Great Plain, where, after the difficult 1990s, a worthy grape and wine trade has been built up without anyone hurting anyone else on the bumpy road to development!
What could be the reason why Tokaj Furmint ended up in the „alcoholic drinkers” category at Lidl, priced at 559 forints? The same Tokaj Furmint that we pay as much as 25-30 thousand forints per bottle in trendy wine bars.
From a financial perspective
Estimating the purchase price of the Olaszliszka Ungvár-Pince grapes/bottles/labels/boxes and assuming that Lidl complies with commercial law and does not sell anything below the purchase price, we can see that the Olaszliszka winery could have earned approximately 50-70 forints per bottle on the deal. Given that this order could be a significant transaction in the company's financial year, it clearly deserves recognition. What's more, it could also educate wine drinkers, as they will finally be able to buy a fine wine almost for free! Because 2024 was another good year for Furmint!
Let's not get too hung up on the fact that Lidl's advertising brochure advertises 2024 Furmint, but during our in-store tastings, our friends only got 2025 Furmint. This is not insignificant, of course, but it is not our job to investigate what might be going on behind the scenes, as the 2025 Furmint turned out to be very tasty.
The real question may be whether it is in the interest of the mountain community to have wines of this price range appear under the Tokaj brand name.
When we think of Tokaj wine, most of us think of the Hungarian national anthem. After all, Kölcsey did not write about the vineyards of Sopron. And yet, the brand power of the Tokaj name does not melt the hearts of the fierce buyers of wholesale chains even today. In fact, as we can see, they are ruthlessly trying to play the mountain community winemakers off against each other, who have not yet found a good way to protect themselves in this almost inhuman commercial battle.
In this commercial battle, Hegyalja is not doing well at the moment. The 550 forint Tokaji Furmintot is followed by the Tokaji Szamorodni, which costs less than 1000 forints, and the Tokaji Aszú, which can also be purchased below cost price, in department stores. According to the old ladies, these prices will not lead to the development of the wine region, but to its collapse in the medium term. After all, producers in the Great Plain are slowly getting more for a kilo of grapes than those in Hegyalja. Yet it is not uncommon for 200-250 quintals of grapes to be harvested per hectare there.
The cause cries out for justice!
In the Great Plain, they figured out a good method twenty years ago. There, they call the cheapest wines Duna Borrégió and Kunschaft. There is no brand such as Tokaji, but there are Frittmanns, Fonts and Kochs, just like Szepsy, Demeter and Patrícius in the foothills. It seems simple to set a price limit above which a product can be labelled Tokaji, and cheap wines could be named after the Hegyalja or Zemplén regions. It's a question of intention.
It's a good thing that the author is not a winemaker but a media professional, so we have a chance to start the rumour mill in order to ensure that our children and grandchildren can also get to know Tokajit!
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