Wine buffs in the English-speaking world often refer to unexpectedly great bottles as "sleepers." But the other, more traditional use of the word "sleep" might be better employed to describe my reaction to the oh-so-predictable announcement last week that Vylyan had been named "Cellar of the Year" by Hungary's three most important wine associations. According to this piece by Hungarian wire service MTI, the National Council of Wine Communities (Hegyközségek Nemzeti Tanácsa), Hungarian Wine Academy (Magyar Bor Akadémia) and the Association of Hungarian Wine Growers (Magyar Szőlő- és Bortermelők Szövetsége) all agreed that the much-awarded Villány winemaker needed yet another award. Meanwhile, second-place went to Tokaj Kereskedőház Zrt., the state-owned monolith that churns out bottles of discount Tokaji of the sort often found in hypermarkets and tourist shops across Hungary.

This year's Az Év Pincészete winner joins such illustrious names as Bock (top prize in 1997), Disznókő (2005) and is best known for making hearty, French-style wines capable of standing up even to the strongest Hungarian paprika, which, if there were such a thing, would be just as likely to win "spice of the year." Zzzzzz.