Blessing Under the Wings of Good God
I was thinking about my life and the things that I have acquired, and I realized that a normal person could’t just get these things on his own.
Why did I become an oenologist? My father and my brothers work in construction and I am the only one who decided to do something different. The construction industry didn’t really attract me, so I went to the Horticultural University. It was good because we lived in the Eger wine region, though retrospectively I believe it was meant to happen like this, since this is now my job and my hobby. I really feel good in my own skin.
As my life unfolded, I could see more clearly God’s caring. I wasn’t raised with this belief. I was baptized when I was a child, but I didn’t receive a religious education due to the situation in Hungary at that time and also because of my family’s attitude. The religious approach almost completely disappeared from our lives, and it only came up occasionally when we went back to my hometown. But by last year, all of my children were baptized, and I married my wife in the church on almost the same day that I was baptized forty years earlier.
Why did I become a believer in God? Our successes and experiences during the first five years of the vineyard have been almost unbelievable to me. I could mention a lot of examples.
One of the most amazing moments was when St. Andrea won an award at the Gál Tibor Memory Contest at the Pannon Bormustra. We won, we, who drank the words of Tibor Gál and tried to understand how could be such a great person and also professional. We wished –as we still do- to get acknowledged in our life and work as he did. Then we received an award, first place in the world, of the Beloved Winemaker of the Year, Gál Tibor Audience-Award.
Another moment is when we could purchase a vineyard at the side of Nagyeged, the terroir I always wished to have and was almost impossible to get. It was a vineyard that was established by Tibor Gál. This was something like a heritage for me and I couldn’t believe that it was a coincidence. There is no scientific or statistical explanation for this, nor was outside group or person standing behind this to help us go this direction. I think Tibor wanted this.
These things do not happen to just anyone in this way. If God were not next to me, none of this success would be possible! I really started to feel like I was under God’s protective wings. I want to be a better person in every field of life: to achieve the best results in my profession and to live a life that the Lord wants. If I could achieve this, my life would really have a meaning.
Why did I become blessed? I don’t know, but I will tell you a story.
When we were heading to the Pannon Bormustra Bikavér Award ceremony (the Gál Tibor Memory Contest), the organizers asked Tamás Gromon to bring the award cup from Eger, since the Juhász brothers took it the previous year. They arrived to Budapest but couldn’t find a parking place in front of the Gundel Restaurant, so they found themselves in Angyalföld and were lost in the big city. At least this is what they thought. They were finally able to park their car in front of the Szent László Church (the middle name of Tibor Gál is László) and Tamás thought that since they ended up there, he should show the award cup to the Virgin Mother. They met somebody who told them where the priest was, and he agreed to consecrate the cup at the altar. The priest gave a blessing to the winner of the cup, to the ones who drink from it and for the people who made the wine with which it would be filled.
That night the Áldás (Blessing) wine, the one that has an angel on the label, received the Gál Tibor Award.
Thank you for everything!
György Lőrincz