Hungary makes more wine than it can reasonably drink, in more styles than any single guide can carry. This almanac is our reading of it. 29 regions, ranked the way we'd visit them; the houses our critics keep returning to; and a short list of restaurants where we'd spend the evening.
Hungary
Hungary
29
1,650
120
The country, in numbers and adjectives.
The terroirs, by hand.
9 regions worth the trip first — chosen by the Femente desk for the houses we’d open with, the variety of styles within each, and the cooking that grew up around them.
Tokaj
Tokaj's white wines pivot between bone-dry minerality and luscious sweetness, with botrytis-affected grapes lending honeyed complexity…
Balaton
Hungary's largest lake chills the surrounding vineyards into a tension between ripeness and acidity, where white wines stay mineral and…
Dél-Pannónia
Southern Hungary's warm plains reward ripeness over restraint, where producers coax dark fruit and alcohol into wines that taste of…
Hungary
Hungary's whites split between mineral-edged Furmints that age into honeyed complexity and Hárslevelűs that catch stone and citrus—while…
Eger
Eger's reds pulse with black pepper and earth, unapologetic in their tannin and acidity—wines that demand food and refuse to soften. The…
Villány
Villány builds its reds on warmth and clay, coaxing ripe plum and dark cherry from Bordeaux varieties while keeping the alcohol honest.…
Szekszárd
Szekszárd stakes its reputation on Kadarka and Kékfrankos reds that marry earthiness with surprising refinement—wines built for patience…
Észak-Dunántúl
Volcanic soils and cool hillsides push Észak-Dunántúl toward mineral-driven whites and structured reds that age with conviction—a region…
Badacsony
Badacsony's basalt slopes push white wines toward mineral intensity and age-worthiness rare for Lake Balaton, where producers like Villa…
The country’s house grammar.
The 8 styles Hungary makes most of, ranked by bottle count on Femente. The bar beneath each cell shows that style’s share of hungary’s production.
3,628
Hungarian White — the country’s most numerous bottle.
2,195
1,080
921
683
671
638
573
The houses that keep showing up.
9 Hungary estates the prestige critics have agreed on — ordered by the count of 95+ scores across Vinous, Decanter, Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator.
Where to spend the evening.
12 rooms across Hungary our editors keep coming back to — chosen for the cooking and the wine list, in that order.
Platán Gourmet Étterem
Grill · Street Food · Traditional — Tata
96
SALT Budapest
European · Modern — Budapest
92
Costes Restaurant
European — Budapest
92
42 Restaurant
Street Food · Traditional · European — Esztergom
92
Essência Restaurant
Traditional · European — Budapest
92
Rumour by Rácz Jenő
European — Budapest
92
Arany Kaviár Étterem
Traditional · European — Budapest
89
Cabrio
European — Budapest
88
Macok Bisztró
Traditional · European — Eger
88
Bistro Sparhelt
Pizza · European · Traditional — Balatonfüred
88
Újváros Bisztró – innovatív kortárs magyar étterem
Traditional · European — Szarvas
88
morzsa
European · Traditional — Pécs
88
Add Hungary to your cellar journal — or pick a region and start walking.
A short note in your inbox when we add a new region, find a winery worth crossing town for, or open a tasting we’d send you to. No noise. Just the ones we’d book ourselves.