Eger Winemaker Goes into “Liquidation”

Integrált Borgazdaság, the legal successor to state producer Egervin, is liquidating its assets, and in this case quite literally. The troubled winemaker is offering to pay its 440 suppliers in kind instead of the Ft 300 million it owes them for grapes delivered in 2006 and 2007. The value of the wine will be calculated at Ft 252 per litre for white wine, Ft 288 for red and Ft 312 for the region’s celebrated “bull’s blood” cuvée. So far, 100 vintners have agreed to the exchange, while the rest are running the risk that they will never see their money if the company really does go into liquidation. And if that happens, they won’t even be able to drown their sorrows.