The Swiss love Hungarian wines

5 Swiss buyers participate in WWA 
 
This year five wine Swiss importers / buyers will arrive in Budapest and will participate in our Meet the Buyer programme on 9 June morning. They will also taste the wines of the exhibitors at Winelovers X on 9 June afternoon. What's the point in this Swiss focus? Well, we have good reasons: in this gloomy era of decrease in wine consumption, the sales of Hungarian wines to Switzerland have increased – among others due to these people.
 

In an era of decline, Hungarian figures grow

World wine consumption has decreased, and Switzerland is not an exception either. According to Swissinfo.ch "total wine consumption fell to 211.2 million litres. This corresponds to a decline of 3.3% compared to the previous year.
Consumption of red wine in particular fell by 5.5%, while white wine consumption increased by half a per cent. Consumption of foreign wines even fell by 6.4% to 132 million litres." 
Hungarian wine export has also decreased in most countries – except for Switzerland. What is more, it has increased! While in 2019 regarding quality wines (less than 2 litres) Hungary shipped 398 hL to Switzerland, this figure rose to 524 hL by 2025. On top of that, the average price per litre is the 4th highest among the countries of Europe. A litre of quality Hungarian wines is sold at 8.69 EUR on the average (ex-works, to the importer).
Source: HNT (National Council of the Wine Communities Hungary), see data of 2019 here, and data of 2025 here.
 
Swiss-Hungarians joining forces

2025 was the first year to see several Hungarian exhibitors at a Swiss info, since Villány wine marketing agreed to participate in the Weinfestival Basel. Marietta and István Bicsek, owners of Hundert Weinhaus importing company and wine store worked hard to make it happen, and it was well worth. “In addition to the Weinfestival Basel, the Expovina Primavera spring event in Zurich and the Expovina Weinschiffe autumn event are the most important Swiss wine exhibitions, in which we participate every year. These events have always been very successful, with discerning visitors eagerly purchasing premium/super-premium red wines from Villány-Szekszárd and special dry white wines, mostly from Tokaj. (Over time, they have learned that Tokaj is not just about sweet wines and grape varieties).” – commented Marietta Bicsek.
The presence of Hungarian wines became even more visible this year in February, when the first Furmint February campaign was organised. Jusztina Kézdi, owner of Vinebration held two workshops besides the official, larger scale tasting, while Regina Édes of Le Bouchon Vinothek put a lot of effort in the social media campaign. 
 

Furmint February in Zurich

Wines of Hungary agreed to get on board

As Nikolett Garai from the Hungarian Wine Marketing Agency commented us, Switzerland is not listed among the primary markets in the National Wine Marketing Strategy, but the Agency has been closely monitoring developments in the Swiss wine market in recent years. "Given the Swiss wine market’s high purchasing power, its openness to premium wines, and its curiosity about international styles—as well as the growing interest from Hungarian winemakers—we committed to sponsoring the Furmint February event in Zurich, which took place on February 1, 2026, Thanks to the efforts of active local players such as Waldthaler GmbH and Wine Education Switzerland." – added Garai Nikolett.
The Zurich Furmint February event showcased the versatility of Furmint as a targeted professional and consumer event, featuring seven Swiss retailers and more than a hundred wines from 32 Hungarian wineries: Pelle Pince, Bodrog Borműhely, Villa Tolnay, Szent Tamás, Barta, Sanzon, Nador, Szászi, Carpinus, Tokajicum, Grand Tokaj, Heritage, Szepsy, Sauska, Kreinbacher, Juliet Victor, Gizella, St. Andrea, Mád Moser, Tokaj Nobilis, Holdvölgy, Lenkey, Radka, Maison aux Pois, Zsirai, Erzsébet Pince, Gróf Degenfeld, Pajzos, Tokaj Hétszőlő, Kikelet, Árvay, and Tornai.
The 90-minute sold-out masterclass and the Grand Tasting, which attracted 130 people, confirmed the interest of the Swiss wine industry and consumers in Hungarian wines. Our shared goal with the organizers was to showcase the historical and modern significance of Furmint, the variety’s stylistic range (sparkling, dry, single-vineyard, and sweet wines), and its terroir-driven characteristics to the local industry.


Furmint masterclass within the Furmint February event in Zurich

Open for novelties

This year the "Swiss team" will include a born Swiss buyer as well, along with the above-mentioned importers. Roman Herzog is the buyer of Von Salis AG. We asked him about his experiences in the Swiss wine market. "In my daily business, I'm working with HORECA and private customers in the German speaking part of Switzerland. Recently, we have held our spring Weintage at von Salis, an event with 30 wineries from Europe for private and pro customers to discover new wines and get into contact with producers. The event was a great success and showed to me the potential of showcasing the passion and dedication to wine to a wide public. At the event, the favourites from the public were the classic wines from our range with a loyal fan base, including our non-alcoholic sparkling wine. Rioja, Tuscany, Valtellina were highly popular. But some new wineries from lesser-known regions performed also very vell, for example from Calatayud and Baden. This event showed to me that people are seeking secure values from well-known wineries / regions but are also open to taste new wines and enjoy them with enthusiasm. Nevertheless, it takes more effort to convince them to finally buy them." Roman Herzog will also attend both Meet the Buyer and Winelovers X.
 
Future plans

We hope our Meet the Buyer and Winelovers X will be more than successful for the participating wineries and the Hungarian Wine Marketing Agency also has plans with Switzerland, as Nikolett Garai informed us:
"As a continuation of this work, we look forward to welcoming Swiss importers and retailers to the BOR 2026 Hungarian Wine Summit in September. In addition, we are organizing a workshop for wineries this summer to familiarize them with Swiss market conditions in preparation for the summit, thereby helping to facilitate effective business discussions during the B2B networking day. Understanding the specific characteristics of the Swiss market and business expectations will support effective B2B negotiations.
We are continuing to develop our 2026 activities in consultation with our local partners (Lilla Fülöp, director of Wine Education Switzerland, and Jörg Waldthaler, initiator of Furmint February in Zurich). Our goal for 2027 is to establish even closer cooperation regarding Furmint February and to implement several projects that will further strengthen the presence and education of Hungarian wines in the Swiss market beyond Furmint. We are confident that we will have the opportunity to do so once the current uncertain situation has been resolved."


Lilla Fülöp, speaker of the masterclass in Zurich