Hungary grape harvest 2025: yields low, prices up
It’s harvest time in Hungary, and while grape prices have shot up, yield is expected to be low, with up to one-third less fruit on vines in some segments of the Great Hungarian Plain.
Last year, Hungarian winemakers told the drinks business of a harvest that was “incredibly hard as it was shorter than ever”, with extreme heat and erratic rainfall requiring rapid and intense harvesting efforts.
And this year, the national grape harvest is likely to parallel the 2024 vintage in terms of low yield according to the National Council of the Wine Communities (HNT). In the Kunság wine region, grape yields are expected to drop by 20–30% compared to 2024, largely due to drought conditions, according to Hungary Today,
“This year’s harvest is proceeding steadily, though with about a week’s head start compared to long-term averages,” said János Frittmann, a winemaker from Soltvadkert and president of the HNT, in an interview with Világgazdaság. “But we are seeing up to one-third less fruit on the vines in some parts of the Great Hungarian Plain.”
Despite this, grape prices have hiked up, on average, by 15%, which means growers are receiving an average of around 175 forints per kilo of grapes, versus 150 forints last year. While this is a big increase, according to Frittman, the price leap only applies to white grapes, due to the worldwide decline in demand for red wine.
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Wine prices must rise
Hungary Today reported that aromatic grape varieties, like Irsai Olivér, had seen success in the harvest. However, Frittmann warned that wine prices must rise in tandem with grape prices, particularly in the mid-range category, or the industry could face “serious challenges.”
Despite being low in quantity, the quality of this year’s grapes is reportedly high when it comes to older vines, who were enduring the drought well. On the other hand, younger vines are struggling, with roots not penetrating deep enough to combat the drought and sandy soils.
The uptick in grape prices is partly thanks to the fact that winemakers began the harvest with low inventory levels. Last year, frost and drought caused the weakest grape harvest in recent years, meaning the amount of wine in cellars plummeted by the end of the year. At the end of 2022, there were 3.79m hectolitres in cellars, versus 3.29m hectolitres by the end of 2024, reported Világgazdaság.
A volatile global economy makes it tricky to draw conclusions about price developments in the Hungarian wine market. The European harvest is only just beginning, and the 15% US tariffs, although only impacting a few Hungarian wineries, may still have an indirect effect via the European wine market.
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