The Budapest Wine Festival returns to Buda Castle for four days from 11 to 14 September. The festival, held within its historic walls, offers wine lovers a unique way to bid farewell to summer, with its special atmosphere, its community-building power and its meeting of past and present.
This year the Budapest Wine Festival invites visitors on a unique New World wine journey at the Tri-Nations Alliance (WineAge) stand. Three countries – Australia, South Africa and New Zealand – together showcase the diversity of a wine culture spanning continents.
This year’s Budapest Wine Festival welcomes visitors not only with familiar favourites but also with newcomers. The Heinemann Brothers are bringing their premium selection from the world’s most famous wine regions for the first time. Gluck Birtok in Etyek, Hungary’s first and only certified kosher winery, combines tradition and modernity; you will find them in the Lion Courtyard. Kaisergarten Nier Borház returns after a long absence to dazzle guests with distinctive wines from the world’s great wine regions. Füzik Pincészet from Etyek, Hoffmann’s Winery from Badacsony, and Obzidián Bormanufaktúra and Zichy Anna Pezsgőház from Tokaj will also be attending the festival for the first time.
Main sponsor SPAR Magyarország is coming to the Budapest Wine Festival this year with a revamped wine strategy. The aim: choosing wine should be a conscious, enjoyable experience that suits every occasion. At their stand by the Lion Gate, visitors will mostly find wines and sparkling wines available exclusively in SPAR stores. This year they are also offering an extra discount: between 28 August and 10 September 2025, for purchases over HUF 15,000 in SPAR stores, customers receive a coupon at the checkout that allows them to buy a Budapest Wine Festival day ticket at half price at the on-site ticket offices.
One of the Wine Festival’s favourite accessories, the glass-holder pouch worn around the neck, is once again brought to festivalgoers thanks to the careful work of the sewing workshop in Tiszabura. In the spirit of sustainability, anyone can get one by visiting the Máltai Manufaktúra Pont in the Csikós Courtyard, where plenty of other unique handmade creations are also waiting to be discovered.
A medley of flavours at the Wine Festival
The Budapest Wine Festival is not only a celebration of wine but also one of the favourite meeting points for food lovers. On the Chef Market Gourmet Terrace, festivalgoers can sample international cuisine at the stands of three renowned restaurants: Pomo d’Oro serves Italian, Yama Asian and Byblos Lebanese flavours.
BOCCA Gourmet Stories also brings the cuisines of the world, while SZEGA Market welcomes guests with international cheese and ham platters. This year Csevapivo takes care of Balkan flavours. Dr. Ignácz Kolbász Manufaktúra is preparing Csabai sausage for gourmet wine lovers, while DŽIUGAS and Raclette by Lili tempt festivalgoers with cheeses. Smokey Monkies BBQ offers Texas-style smoked meats, and Nemo Truck serves seafood.
Those with a sweet tooth can look forward to premium macarons and bonbons from Bolka Desszert Butik and chimney cake from Vitéz Kürtős. For those who like to snack while strolling, the pizzas of Pizza Me or the dishes of the Cut & Barrel bistro may be the winners. Osztrigasommelier brings the flavours of the sea.
Alongside the tasty bites, coffee from Dallmayr or HERZ New York Coffee Roasters will add extra energy to the festival.
A wide variety of genres on stage
A diverse range of genres, from jazz, blues and pop songs to folk and country rhythms, will liven up the Wine Festival this year. Performers on the MVM Stage include JUCIHUNOR DOU, Jumping Matt & His Combo and Dynamite Dudes.
The festival’s professional programmes also offer wine lovers a truly rich and exciting line-up. In the Kvaterka talk programme, well-known winemakers sit down at one table to share not only their wines but also their life stories with each other and the audience. The pop-up wine tastings in the Csikós Courtyard offer a friendly get-together with 15 excellent winemakers, who arrive with exciting stories and answer visitors’ questions while tasting a few wines together.
In the VinAgora Interactive Wine Space, both the senses and knowledge can be put to the test. Using a mobile phone, visitors can expand their wine knowledge through exciting questions in a playful quiz. At the stand of the Hungarian Wine Academy, guests can also meet outstanding figures of Hungarian wine culture, the Winemakers of the Year.
Introducing the VinAgora Felfedezettek
At the VinAgora Felfedezettek (Discoveries) stand in the central part of the Hunyadi Courtyard in Buda Castle, visitors can come across real rarities. The stand will also feature wineries that do not have their own stand at the event but whose wines performed outstandingly at the VinAgora International Wine Competition, Hungary’s most prestigious wine competition. Dóka Éva Pincészet from Zala arrives with traditional, characterful wines, ANONYM Pince from Etyek-Buda with fresh, mineral whites, while Sike Balázs – SkizoBor from Badacsony welcomes wine lovers with creative, vibrant wines.
VIP terrace and Sunday Brunch
This year the Budapest Wine Festival once again opens the exclusive Mitiszol? Party VIP area on the Savoy Terrace, where, alongside wines and sparkling wines, gastronomy and evening parties take centre stage. The additional VIP ticket offers all-day entry as well as Culinaris wine-tasting coupons. Afternoons are rounded off with gourmet tasting bites served every hour, while DJs set the mood in the evenings.
In addition, on Sunday, the last day of the Wine Festival, a three-hour exclusive gastronomic experience with fine-dining dishes awaits guests in the Main Guardhouse building. Highlights include eggs Benedict with beluga caviar, saffron prawns, Kaiserschmarrn Budapest style and many other gourmet delicacies, accompanied by atmospheric live music and a special three-course sparkling wine tasting. As the high point, the closing day of the Wine Festival will be crowned by the opening of a 9-litre bottle of Drappier Carte d’Or Champagne.
Supporting those in need at the wine festival
The red-and-white food truck of Magyar Máltai Manufaktúra will also be waiting for festivalgoers. It serves an important social mission: its range features all kinds of delicacies from the most disadvantaged settlements – homemade chutneys, jams, syrups and creatively upcycled everyday objects, made in local workshops linked to the Catching-up Settlements Programme (FETE).
The Hungarian Maltese Charity Service and the Budapest Wine Festival have been raising funds for those in need for 25 years. The proceeds of this year’s anniversary wine auction will help renovate the hydrotherapy unit of the Tóparti Szakambulancia in Gárdony, where infants and young children with special needs and physical disabilities receive developmental therapy. Anyone can support the cause, even with a donation of just a few thousand forints.
Tickets for the Budapest Wine Festival cost HUF 8,900 for Thursday, HUF 9,900 for Friday and Saturday, and HUF 6,900 for Sunday, available on site or in advance on the event’s official website. The day wristband includes a crystal tasting glass, a glass-holder pouch and a tasting of wines from the 2025 VinAgora International Wine Competition.
Opening hours:
Thursday 11 September: 14:00–24:00
Friday–Saturday 12–13 September: 14:00–01:00
Sunday 14 September: 14:00–22:00 (Sunday Brunch 11:00–14:00)
Source: Turizmus.com