Budapest Airport
Comprehensive organisation of the BUD Wine Contest Event

Following the success of its first wine competition, Budapest Airport announced the second Budapest Airport Wine Contest Event, the aim of which was to select the airport’s official wines. The event served simultaneously as a professional wine competition, a key partnership event and an initiative aimed at supporting domestic wineries.

A particular challenge of the project was that the selected wines not only had to meet high quality standards but also had to represent the Budapest Airport brand, its values and its hospitality culture. The winning wines will subsequently be used as the company’s corporate gifts and as the official wines for its key events, meaning the selection process was of long-term significance.

Further complexity arose from managing the nearly 250 samples entered, ensuring a fully anonymous judging process, and reconciling the needs of both professional and non-professional jury members. The jury was largely made up of Budapest Airport’s senior management and key partners, for whom an accessible and enjoyable wine-tasting experience was a key priority.

During the first phase of the project, we prepared the competition documentation, set out the entry criteria, co-ordinated the invitation of wineries and managed the samples received. A total of 242 wines were entered into the competition, with at least one entry from every wine region in Hungary.

To ensure professional credibility, the competition was conducted using a multi-stage judging system. Over two days, the expert jury assessed the entries through blind tasting and drew up a shortlist for each category. Following this, at an exclusive event held at the Terminal 1 Event Centre, Budapest Airport’s management and partners evaluated the selected wines in a blind tasting led by a sommelier.

During the scoring process, a complex, weighted evaluation system ensured that both professional and consumer perspectives were taken into account. The top five wines in each category progressed to a further round of tasting, where the experts finalised the rankings and selected the winning wines.

Our events team handled the entire organisation: coordinating the tasting process, providing professional supervision of the service, training the staff, ensuring the wines were handled professionally, and organising the elegant dinner. Throughout the event, we paid particular attention to sustainability considerations, the use of high-quality equipment, and ensuring a first-class guest experience.

The Budapest Airport Wine Contest was a success for the second time running and generated nationwide interest amongst Hungarian wineries. The 242 entries and the comprehensive coverage of all Hungarian wine regions clearly demonstrated the competition’s professional prestige and appeal.

As a result of the event, the official wines of Budapest Airport were selected in each category, and these played a prominent role at the company’s representative events in the following period. The selected wines featured in gift hampers presented to the company’s partners, as well as at large-scale events.

The project uniquely combined high-calibre professional judging, the strengthening of partnerships and support for Hungarian wineries, whilst demonstrating that the Progressive Event team is capable of supporting its clients as a strategic partner in the comprehensive organisation of exclusive professional events.