The Cheers 2011 competition, set up through civil initiative with the hope of creating a tradition, has been launched, in which instead of a single wine or wine producer, the wine-producing settlements are at the centre of interest.

The Ministry of Rural Development is supporting the competition, because the event fits in well with the Ministry’s endeavours to help those involved in the local economy – said Deputy Sate Secretary for Agricultural Economy Zsolt Feldman at today’s press conference.

The title of Most Popular Wine-producing Settlement may be won by those villages and towns in which the most winegrowers and wine enthusiasts clink their glasses at 4pm on September 4 (also taking into account the population of the given settlement).

The Cheers 2011 event is an opportunity for those settlements rates as being in a wine-producing region to present their vintners and wines, as well as cultural and social riches with relation to grapes and wine. Any settlement within a wine-producing region may enter the merry, early harvest-time contest, there is no entrance fee. The results will be announced on September 11 during the Wine Festival at the Buda Castle.

The organisers and supporters of the event trust that as part of rural life, Hungarian wine culture will receive an even more prominent place in the life of rural settlements.

To enter, those interested need only fill in a simple entrance form, which can be downloaded from the www.borjog.hu/felhivas.html webpage or may be requested from the [[[ZUNSNBSebCMdOgBER8kmJA5jiDa29jY2ludGFzMjAxMUBnbWFpbC5jb20=]]] e-mail address, or the 06-1-269-12-76 fax number. Detailed information can be found on the www.borportal.hu webpage, on which the settlements that have entered the competition and the precise venues can be tracked continuously.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)