Dr. József Kosárka

Dr. József Kosárka was born in 1951 in Sátoraljaújhely, part of the Tokaj wine region. He started his education locally, then finished his secondary school studies in Miskolc. At the university he studied international studies and Spanish, a background which, by his own admission, led him straight to a career in diplomacy. Although he spent a year studying journalism at the Hungarian Radio Youth Studio, he took a job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1974, after a year in the Foreign Service, he was posted to Japan. He worked as a press and cultural attaché. This was followed by several other diplomatic posts: consul in Venezuela, ambassador to Mexico, Chile and Peru. In the latter two posts, he has been active in promoting Hungarian wine and gastronomy to the world. He continued this work after 2014, the end of his active diplomatic career. He founded the Hungarian Circle of Wine Writers, was a member of the Hungarian Wine Academy, the Hungarian Sommelier Association and the Tokaj Wine Knights' Order. He passed away in 2022, and the award in his honour is given each year to the winery with the most entries.