Invitation: Xpat Wine Club, Corinthia Hotel Budapest, Thursday 11 February

Hilltop Neszmély Zrt. is a fully Hungarian owned model vineyard and wine producer with a full range of modern and innovative wines.

Now we are the largest exporter of Hungarian bottled wine to Great Britain. Our winery was formed in 1990 by the four owners and directors: Éva Keresztury, formerly a wine merchant in Great Britain, Imre Török, formerly a banker, Judit Storcz, formerly a wine merchant and Ákos Kamocsay, a long-time and talented winemaker.

In the historic Neszmély wine region 75 kilometers northwest from Budapest, halfway to Vienna amid spectacular vistas covered by ancient and newly planted vineyards. The temperate climate with 2500 hours of sunshine annually, the warm loess soil, the configuration of the terrain all favour the quality of the grapes produced here.

We operate a state-of-the-art winery in Neszmély overlooking the Danube in the heart of our vineyards and one in Császár where we produce our red wines. They are crafted from grapes grown in the excellent terroir of the historic Neszmély and Szekszárd wine regions.

Ever since Roman times 2000 years ago, these have been leading grape growing and wine producing areas. We own and tend 560 hectares of modern vineyards in these regions. 20% of our parcels are cultivated with biodinamic methodes.

A full range of modern wines adapted to the style and taste of British wine drinkers. Our Sauvignon Blanc, the superjuicy Irsai Olivér and a comprehensive range of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and various indigenous varietals all provide proof that top quality Hungarian grapes can be turned into individual wines of international value.

We produce bottled wines with total sales of approximately 5 million bottles each year, of which 65% is exported to Great Britain, although we are present on the Polish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Slovakian and the Dutch market as well.

Our main customers include the major UK supermarket chains and specialist wine retailers: Marks & Spencer, Wm Morrison, Waitrose, Asda, Bibendum-PLB, The Wine Society, Laytons, St. Austell, Co-operative Retail. The volume of our domestic sales is expanding dynamically. In 2014, Hungarian wine lovers purchased more than 1,000,000 bottles of Hilltop wine.

The Head Winemaker Ákos Kamocsay was chosen Hungarian Winemaker of the Year in 1999. Our wines have won many awards and medals, and are chosen by numerous wine journalists as outstanding values for money. In 2014 Hilltop was awarded the Most Successful Winery at the 35th National Wine Competition.

Vinification Grapes are received at the top of the hill and, once destemmed, pumped downhill through tube-in-tube pipework to cool them to optimum temperature. The press house has two very gentle bladder presses and they extract 30% of the juice as free-run, and 95% of the juice with less than 1 bar of pressure.

The white must is very low in phenolic content; the free run juice will stay clear and bright for a day or more, even if left in a glass in direct sunlight! After pressing, the must is pushed into one of many different sized stainless steel tanks, depending on the streaming. Each tank of must is fermented on an individual basis, with winemaker Ákos Kamocsay targetting 1 degree of alcohol per day by adjusting the temperature of each tank.

This ensures the maximum aromatic and fruit tone along with a fine balance between fruit and acidity. Storage is in temperature controlled tanks in air conditioned cellars. The state-of-theart bottling hall was built and designed with guidance and input from Marks and Spencer Quality Assurance.

Hilltop Neszmély Zrt
Address: 2544 Neszmély, Melegeshegy

Visit Hilltop online: www.hilltop.eu