The ambassadors picked so much Chardonnay that Sándor Fazekas, Minister of Agriculture suggested making their own wine from the grapes.
I really like Csaba Koch’s wines and hope that from the grapes we harvested such good quality wines can be made as the ones you may taste in his winery
said Roland Galharague, French Ambassador to Hungary following the harvest. It is indeed flattering from the representative of the wine superpower, especially of Hajós-Baja wine region which is fairly unknown abroad.
The harvest, as Csaba Koch told us, was not only a sort of entertainment for the ambassadors who were working for almost two hours filling the baskets and the wine-press with several hundred kilograms of Chardonnay. Sándor Fazekas, Minister noted that “Hungarian winemaking is in the era of a quality change”, adding that the excellent vintages of this year – that is of 2016 – will also enhance the image of Hungary all around the world.
Knowing that the ambassadors had worked so much, the Minister proposed to make a so-called “diplomats’ wine” from the grapes the foreign representatives picked, which could even become a tradition. Csaba Koch welcomed the idea and agreed to make bottles of exclusive Chardonnay from the grapes collected by the ambassadors. This wine will not be available to the public but a special prestige item will be made only to be opened at special occasions at the winery. Obviously, everyone who participated in the harvest may enjoy the fruits of their labour.
The diplomats who visited the Cooper Museum and flat in Borota are known to love good Hungarian wines. Many of them, including U.S. Ambassador Colleen Bell, did not only work hard in the vineyard but also bought some of Csaba Koch’s Kadarka –which received awards at Hungarian and international competitions – as well as some of the 2013 late harvest Chardonnay and of the leading wine, Csanád from the Koch Vin Art Cellar of the wine region president.
Fact File of Koch Winery
Koch Winery, with its centre in Borota, is located in the Hajós-Baja wine region. Their cellar bearing the name VinArt operates in Nagyharsány and they cultivate a total of 120 hectares of vineyard in the Villány wine region. Csaba Koch, President of the Baja Wine Village, President of the Hajós-Baja Wine Region, Presidency member of National Council of Wine Villages, member of the Hungarian Wine Academy has made wines which have received several gold medals at foreign and Hungarian wine competitions, and his work was acknowledged by the Hungarian Wine Cellar of the Year 2014 award.
