Origins of Hungarian wine-making - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hungarian wine has a history dating back to at least Roman times. Outside of Hungary, the best-known wines are the white dessert wine

Dessert wine

Dessert wines are sweet wines typically served with dessert.There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a meal, as opposed to the white fortified wines drunk before the meal, and the red fortified wines drunk after it...

Tokaji

Tokaji is the name of the wines from the region of Tokaj-Hegyalja in Hungary and Slovakia. The name Tokaji is used for labeling wines from this wine district. This region is noted for its sweet wines made from grapes affected by noble rot, a style of wine which has a long history in this region...

and the red wine Bull's Blood of Eger (Egri Bikavér

Egri Bikavér

Egri Bikavér is Hungary's most famous red wine. It comes from the Eger wine region of northern Hungary; the Szekszárd region produces a similar wine with similar name but with different character.-Blend:...

History

Only two Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an languages have words for wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

that are not derived from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

: Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

and Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

. Records carved in a Runic alphabet

Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...

used by ancient Hungarians have words for wine derived from Turkic

Turkic languages

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...

. Two hundred Hungarian words (wine as well) that are of Bulgar-Turkic origin, suggesting that the Magyars had contact with the first winemakers in the South Caucasus

South Caucasus

The South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Trans-Caucasus...

. Examples include :

Szőlő: "grape"
Bor: "wine"
Ászok: "cask"
Áldomás: "blessing", "libation"

The Romans brought vines to Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....

, and by the 5th century AD, there are records of extensive vineyards in Hungary. Following the Magyar invasion of 896, Árpád

Árpád

Árpád was the second Grand Prince of the Hungarians . Under his rule the Hungarian people settled in the Carpathian basin. The dynasty descending from him ruled the Hungarian tribes and later the Kingdom of Hungary until 1301...

rewarded his followers with vineyards in Tokaj

Tokaj

Tokaj , is a historical town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, 54 kilometers from county capital Miskolc. It is the centre of the famous Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district where the world famous Tokaji wine is produced.- History :...

. Over the following centuries, new grape varieties were brought in from Italy and France. Most of the production was of white wine.

During the invasion of Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...

in the early 16th century, displaced Serbs brought the red Kadarka

Kadarka

Kadarka or Gamza is a dark-skinned variety of grape used for red wine. It has a long history and is popular in Hungary and Bulgaria, where it is known as гъмза Gamza. It used to be an important constituent of the Hungarian red cuvée Bull's Blood of Eger or Szekszárd, but has long been in decline in...

grape to Eger. This ancient variety was used to make the robust red wine blend later known as Bull's Blood, after the supposed secret ingredient

Secret ingredient

A secret ingredient is a component of a product that is closely guarded from public disclosure for competitive advantage. Sometimes the ingredient makes a noticeable difference in the way a product performs, looks or tastes; other times it is used for advertising puffery...

in the wine that fortified the defenders of Eger

Siege of Eger

The Siege of Eger occurred during the 16th century Ottoman Wars in Europe. It was a major Hungarian victory after a series of crushing defeats at the hands of Ottoman forces and checked the Ottoman expansion into both Central Europe and Eastern Europe....

in 1552.

It was also during the Turkish occupation that the Tokaj region became known for dessert wines, harvested late

Late harvest wine

Late harvest is a term applied to wines made from grapes left on the vine longer than usual. Late harvest is usually an indication of a sweet dessert wine, such as late harvest Riesling. Late harvest grapes are often more similar to raisins, but have been naturally dehydrated while on the vine...

to encourage noble rot

Noble rot

Noble rot is the benevolent form of a grey fungus, Botrytis cinerea, affecting wine grapes. Infestation by Botrytis requires moist conditions, and if the weather stays wet, the malevolent form, "grey rot", can destroy crops of grapes...

. Tokaji aszú is mentioned in a document of 1571, and it was famously christened by Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

(1638-1715) "Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum" - Wine of Kings, King of Wines.

After the Ottoman Empire ceded Hungary to the Austrians in 1699, the Germanic influence was felt with the introduction of grape varieties such as Blauer Portugieser. That influence also showed in the start in 1730 of the world's first vineyard classification

Appellation

An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown; other types of food often have appellations as well...

in Tokaj, based on soil, aspect and propensity to noble rot

Noble rot

.

From 1882, the phylloxera

Phylloxera

Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...

epidemic hit Hungary hard, with the traditional field blends

Viticulture

Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...

of Eger and the many grapes of Tokaj being replaced with monocultures, often of Blaufränkisch

Blaufränkisch

Blaufränkisch is a dark-skinned variety of grape used for red wine. Blaufränkisch, which is a late-ripening variety gives red wines which are typically rich in tannin and may exhibit a pronounced spicy character...

(Kékfrankos) and the Bordeaux varieties in red wine districts, and of Furmint

Furmint

Furmint is a variety of wine grape from the Pontian Balcanica branch of Vitis vinifera, used for white wines. The name Furmint is taken from the word "froment" for the wheat-gold color of the wine it produces. While it is possible that it the grape is native to Hungary, the grape was likely...

, Muscat

Muscat (grape and wine)

The Muscat variety of grapes of the species Vitis vinifera is widely grown for wine, raisins and table grapes. Their color ranges from white to near black. Muscat almost always has a pronounced sweet floral aroma. Muscat grapes are grown around the world...

and Hárslevelű

Hárslevelu

Hárslevelű , also called Lipovina , Frunza de tei , Lindenblättriger and Feuille de Tilleul is a grape variety from the Pontian Balcanica branch of Vitis vinifera.The name refers to the "lime leaf" in each of these languages...

in Tokaj. The twentieth century saw the introduction of modern grapes such as Zweigelt

Zweigelt

Zweigelt is a red wine grape variety developed in 1922, at the Federal Institute for Viticulture and Pomology at Klosterneuburg, Austria, by Fritz Zweigelt. It was a crossing of St. Laurent and Blaufränkisch. It is now the most widely-grown red grape variety in Austria, as well as having some...

, which were easier to grow and to vinify than Kadarka, and under Communism quality was neglected in favour of overcropping, pasteurisation, and industrial production. Since 1989, there has been renewed interest in the traditional varieties and a lot of new investment, particularly in Tokaj-Hegyalja

Tokaj-Hegyalja

Tokaj-Hegyalja is a historical wine region located in southeastern Slovakia and northeastern Hungary. Hegyalja means "foothills" in Hungarian, and this was the original name of the region....

Észak-Dunántúl (North Transdanubia)

This wine region contains the following sub-regions:

Ászár-Neszmély: fresh and aromatic whites.

Etyek-Buda: fresh white wines, with considerable acidity.

Mór

Mór

Mór is a town in Fejér county, Hungary. Among the smaller towns in the middle Transdanubian region of Hungary, it lies between Vértes and Bakony Hills, in the northwestern corner of Fejér Country. The historic roots of the present town go back to the Celtic an Roman Period...

: volcanic soil, full-bodied whites. Main variety: Ezerjó

Ezerjó

Ezerjó is a white Hungarian wine grape grown primarily in the Mór region. It is used to make sweet dessert wines.-Synonyms:Ezerjó is also known under the synonyms Biella, Budai Feher, Budicsin, Budicsina, Cirfondli, Ezer Jo, Feher Bakator, Feher Budai, Feher Sajgo, Feher Szagos, Frank, Kerekes,...

.

Pannonhalma

Pannonhalma

Pannonhalma is a town in western Hungary, in Győr-Moson-Sopron county with approximately 4,000 inhabitants. It is about from Győr. Archduke Otto Habsburg's heart is kept at the Pannonhalma Archabbey, while his body was laid at the Capuchin Crypt in the old Imperial capital of Vienna.-History:The...

: full-bodied whites.

Sopron

Sopron

In 1910 Sopron had 33,932 inhabitants . Religions: 64.1% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Lutheran, 6.6% Jewish, 1.2% Calvinist, 0.3% other. In 2001 the city had 56,125 inhabitants...

: elegant reds (mainly Kékfrankos).

Balaton

Sub-regions:

Badacsony

Badacsony

Badacsony is the name of a region on the north shore of Lake Balaton in western Hungary, and a town in that region. The entire area is recognized for its wine, with vineyards dating back to Roman times....

: volcanic soils, full-bodied whites with considerable acidity.

Balatonfelvidék: volcanic soils, full-bodied whites with considerable acidity.

Balatonfüred-Csopak: terra rossa soils, full-bodied whites with considerable acidity.

Dél-Balaton: full-bodied whites and reds with moderate acidity.

Nagy-Somló (or Somló

Somló

thumb|250px|Somló Hill, HungarySomló is a 832 hectare wine region in the Veszprém and Vas counties, in the North-West of Hungary...

): volcanic soil, full-bodied whites with high acidity. Main varieties are: Olaszrizling, Hárslevelű

Hárslevelu

and Furmint

Furmint

.

Zala

Zala

Zala is the name of an administrative county in Hungary. Itlies in south-western Hungary. It is named after the Zala River. It shares borders with Croatia and Slovenia and the Hungarian counties Vas, Veszprém and Somogy. The capital of Zala county is Zalaegerszeg. Its area is 3784 km²...

: mainly white wines.

The main variety of the region is Olaszrizling.

Dél-Pannónia (South Pannonia)

Sub-regions:

Pécs

Pécs

Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...

: mainly whites. Traditional variety: Cirfandli

Villány

Villány

Villány is a town in Baranya county, Hungary that is famous for its wine.-Etymology:The name derives from the Hungarian word for lightning, villám...

: robust, full-bodied, spicy reds. Main varieties: Blauer Portugieser, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and occasionally Pinot Noir.

Szekszárd

Szekszárd

Szekszárd is a city in Hungary and the capital of Tolna county. By population, Szekszárd is the smallest county capital in Hungary; by area, it is the second smallest -Location:...

: full-bodied reds, with a bit of spice. Famous wine: Szekszárdi Bikavér. Main varieties: Kadarka

Kadarka

, Kékfrankos, Cabernet franc

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...

, Merlot

Merlot

Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...

Tolna

Tolna is a town in Tolna county, Hungary. It lies about north of Szekszárd and south of Budapest....

Duna (Alföld)

Sub-regions:

Csongrád

Csongrád

Csongrád is a town in Csongrád County in southern Hungary. Formerly, the city also had the alternate Slavic name of Černigrad, which, like the Hungarian version, means "Black Castle" or "Black Town".-History:...

,

Hajós-Baja,

Kunság

Kunság

Kunság is a historical and geographical region in Hungary situated in the current Bács-Kiskun and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok counties. Like other historical European regions called Cumania, it is named for the Cumans, a nomadic tribe of pagan Kipchaks that settled the area...

.

Mainly fresh and light wines from lots of varieties.

Felső-Magyarország (Upper Hungary)

Sub-regions:

Eger

Eger wines

Eger is a Hungarian wine region in North-Eastern Hungary. It is famous for its red blend, Egri Bikavér and for some whites like Egri Leányka, Debrői Hárslevelű or Egerszóláti Olaszrizling. Its center is the town of Eger....

: fresh whites from Leányka and Királyleányka, full-bodied whites mainly from Olaszrizling or Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

. Home of the Egri Bikavér

Egri Bikavér

(bulls blood of Eger), an elegant red blend, mainly based on Kékfrankos. Good Pinot noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

s.

Mátra

Mátra

Mátra is a mountain range in northern Hungary, between the towns Gyöngyös and Eger. The country's highest peak, Kékestető , belongs to this mountain range....

: elegant and full-bodied whites, grown on volcanic soil. Main varieties are Müller-Thurgau

Müller-Thurgau

Müller-Thurgau is a variety of white grape which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine Royale. It is used to make white wine in Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, Hungary, England, in Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia,...

, Olaszrizling and Chardonnay

Chardonnay

.

Bükkalja: mainly white wines.

Tokaj

Hungary's most famous wine region lies in the foothills of the Zemplén Mountains of the far north of the country - in fact the traditional area crosses into the southeast corner of modern Slovakia. The area is notable for its long warm autumns and mists that come in from the River Bodrog

Bodrog

The Bodrog is a river in eastern Slovakia and north-eastern Hungary. It is a tributary to the river Tisza. The Bodrog is formed by the confluence of the rivers Ondava and Latorica near Zemplin in eastern Slovakia...

, creating perfect conditions for noble rot

Noble rot

. This can contribute towards creating the botrytised ('aszú') grapes for which the region is famous. These are individually picked as late as mid-November into buckets ('puttonyos') and crushed to a paste. Varying amounts of this aszú paste are then added to non-aszú must

Must

Must is freshly pressed fruit juice that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace; it typically makes up 7%–23% of the total weight of the must. Making must is the first step in winemaking...

or wine made from a mix of Furmint

Furmint

, Hárslevelű

Hárslevelu

, Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains

Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains

Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains is a white wine grape that is a member of the Muscat family of Vitis vinifera. Its name comes from its characteristic small berry size and tight clusters...

, Kövérszőlő

Kövérszolo

Kövérszőlő is a variety of grape indigenous to the Transylvania wine region, but is also grown in Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region of Hungary. The variety almost entirely disappeared from Tokaj after the phylloxera epidemic of the 19th century. Kövérszõlõ is characterized by its relatively large big...

or Zéta

Zéta

Zéta is a Hungarian wine grape, a crossing of Furmint and Bouvier. It was introduced to the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region of Hungary in 1951 and authorized for production in 1990. Previously known as Oremus, its name was changed to Zéta in 1999...

grapes, and left to ferment. The resulting wine is then aged in relatively small barrels in a labyrinth of cellars in the soft volcanic tuff, on whose walls thick blankets of fungus regulate the humidity.

Given that aszú conditions only happen in perhaps three vintages per decade, a lot of dry Furmint is also produced. Other grapes grown in the area include Hárslevelű, Muscat Blanc, Kövérszőlő and Zéta.

Hungarian grape varieties

Several varieties of grape are known to have originated in Hungary. These are:

Ezerjó
Ezerjó
Ezerjó is a white Hungarian wine grape grown primarily in the Mór region. It is used to make sweet dessert wines.-Synonyms:Ezerjó is also known under the synonyms Biella, Budai Feher, Budicsin, Budicsina, Cirfondli, Ezer Jo, Feher Bakator, Feher Budai, Feher Sajgo, Feher Szagos, Frank, Kerekes,...
Hárslevelű
Hárslevelu
Hárslevelű , also called Lipovina , Frunza de tei , Lindenblättriger and Feuille de Tilleul is a grape variety from the Pontian Balcanica branch of Vitis vinifera.The name refers to the "lime leaf" in each of these languages...
Irsai Oliver
Irsai Oliver
Irsai Olivér is a Hungarian white table/wine variety, crossed between Pozsonyi and Pearl of Csaba in 1930. It is early ripening, with a distinctive Muscat character.-Synonyms:...
Cserszegi Fűszeres
Cserszegi Fűszeres
Cserszegi Fűszeres is a white Hungarian grape variety. It is named after its place of origin: Cserszegtomaj at Keszthely.The white Cserszegi Fűszeres is a cross between the Irsai Olivér and Roter Traminer, a member of the Traminer family closely related to Gewürztraminer...
Királyleányka

Other varieties of grape that may have originated in Hungary include:

Furmint
Furmint
Furmint is a variety of wine grape from the Pontian Balcanica branch of Vitis vinifera, used for white wines. The name Furmint is taken from the word "froment" for the wheat-gold color of the wine it produces. While it is possible that it the grape is native to Hungary, the grape was likely...
Juhfark
Juhfark
Juhfark in is a variety of grape, of the species Vitis vinifera. The name in Hungarian literally means sheep's tail. The term refers to the elongated, cylindrical shape of the clusters....
Kéknyelű
Keknyelu
Kéknyelű is a white Hungarian wine grape planted primarily in the Badacsony region near Lake Balaton. The grape produces full bodied, smokey wines....

External links

Hungarian Wines - Hungarian wine regions and Decanter awards
The Royal Tokaji Wine Company
The Hungarian Wine Society - the latest developments in Hungarian winemaking
Archimedia.hu - good overview of the regions and wines
Wine Reviews - Independent wine blog

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