Wine tours in Hungary

Hungarian wine has a history dating back to at least Roman times.

Hungary has 22 wine regions. All kinds of wine is produced here with emphasis on the white wine which is 2/3 of the wine production. Besides the larger wine cellars there are more and more “Kézműves” or smaller wine cellars – family enterprises – with lower production number. They avoid the use of chemical treatments and let the wine to develope in a natural way. This provides unique wines with characters that are easily recognizable and distinctive for the cellar.

Our wine tours include visit to the major wine districts and wine cellars, accomodation at a 4 Star Hotel, exciting programs and a tour guide. This tour is for real wine-lovers who are not afraid to taste a large number of great wines and are open for new gastronomic experiences. During the trip, you can become familiar with the style of visited wine region through vineyard tours, visiting different cellars and talking with the producers.

Description of the trip:

• Visiting main wine-growing areas and cellars (Villány, Tokaj, Eger)
• Wine tasting and dinner by the winemakers
• Visiting different gastronomy festivals: wine, palinka, chocolate etc.
  (festivals are mostly from March until October)
• Wine tasting course
• Cooking class with Hungarian food
• Grape harvesting (autumn)
• Palinka tasting
• Truffle hunting
• Riding tours
• Bicycle tours
• Boat tours
• Spa & wellness programs

We organize tours to:

• Villány & Szekszárd wine region
• Eger & Tokaj wine region
• Etyek-Buda wine region
• Balaton wine region
• Sopron wine region

The programs are optional we can change the package upon requests .

Contact us for an offer:

zsofia@hungastroagency.com

Wine tour in Villány and Szekszárd

This tour concentrates on the Villány and Szekszárd wine areas. Villány is Hungary’s most southern wine region and one of the prime wine growing territories. According to archaeological findings the winemaking traditions of the region goes back to Roman times. The area is most famous for its red and rose wines.  Villány has long and warm summers with plenty of sunshine followed by mild winters. Thanks to the climate the wine is the highest quality, rich and spicy. The majority of Hungary’s award-winning wines are produced in the Villány region.

Szekszárd is also situated in Southern Hungary about 80 km North- East of Villány. The climate is continental: warm and dry; hot summer afternoons are followed by cool and fresh nights. The region produces fragrant, rich textured red wines.  The types vary from Kékfrankos, Kadarka and Bordeaux kinds: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. It also produces white wines of Welschriesling.

Contact us for an offer: zsofia@hungastroagency.com

Wine tour in Eger and Tokaj

Eger is a small city with approximately 70 000 inhabitants. It is located ca. 140 km from Budapest in Northern Hungary.  Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, historic buildings (including the northernmost Turkish minaret) and red wines. It is one of the best wine districts in Hungary. The wine production was already an important factor around the 1000s when the  Bishopric of Eger was founded by St. Stephen.

The Eger region is home to the legendary ‘Bull’s Blood of Eger’ (Egri Bikavér), perhaps the best-known Hungarian red wine abroad. Based on Kékfrankos, Bull’s Blood is a cuvee, a blend of three or more grapes, matured in oak barrels for at least 12 months. Eger is also home to some fresh whites, as white grapes also have long-lasting traditions in the region. For a long time red and white grapes were grown in equal quantities, however this equilibrium was changed in favor of the red grapes by the success of Bull’s Blood (Bikavér). Eger’s highly prized south-facing Eged Hill has perfect vine growing conditions.

Tokaj wine region or Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region is a historical wine region located in northeastern Hungary and southeastern Slovakia. It is also one of the seven larger wine regions of Hungary. Hegyalja means “foothills” in Hungarian, and this was the original name of the region.

The region consists of 28 named villages and 11,149 hectares of classified vineyards, of which an estimated 5,500 are currently planted. Tokaj has been declared a World Heritage Site in 2002 under the name Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape. However, its fame long predated this distinction because it is the origin of Tokaji aszú wine, the world’s oldest botrytized wine.

The Tokaj region is situated in the Zemplen Mountains at the confluence of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers, as shown to the right. The soil is largely clay or loess with a volcanic substratum. Tokaj enjoys long sunny summers, while dry autumns and the early morning mists, created by the meeting of the two rivers, encourage the development of noble rot on aszu berries. The Botrytis cinerea makes the berries dry and shriveled, thus concentrating the compounds and developing the aszu berries. All of these characteristic elements give the Tokaji wineries their own distinctive and unique terroir.

By the end of the 17th century, Tokaji aszu wines were so well regarded throughout the Courts of Europe, that Prince Rakoczi was urged to classify all the finest vineyards around the 28 villages in the region. Thus, the famed Tokaji wine region has the distinction of being Europe’s first classified wine region.

Reference: Wikipedia; abouthungarianwine.com

Contact us for an offer: zsofia@hungastroagency.com

Wine tour in Etyek-Buda wine region

The Etyek-Buda wine region is located at the border of Budapest, and it covers an area of about 5632 hectares.
The settlement of Etyek is located 30 km from the capital, in the hilly landscape of Etyek region, at the north-east corner of Fejér County. This area produces higly acidic grapes, partly due to the unique terroir.
The vineyards are on wind swept plateaus graced by sunny hillsides; their basis is limestone layered over brown forest soils.

Etyek is often called  the vineyard of Budapest.  Grapes have been grown since the Roman Empire in this region. Records from the 13th century certify that wine was being produced here in the Buda mountains. The vineyards flourished and grape growing became a main source of livelihood for the people of the region.

Many of the grape growing traditions practiced today can trace their origins to the first half of the 18th century. After expelling the Turks, German wine growers were invited to settle in the region and after a few decades a booming agricultural trade was established.

The soils of Etyek-Buda are not producing firm wines of great character, but are certainly capable of imparting vibrant acidity. This is one reason why Etyek is the best source of grapes for sparkling wine production in Hungary. Apart from base wines for sparkling, Etyek’s wine style follows western trends for elegant, cold-fermented dry wines without too much body.

Reference: budapest.com; abouthungarianwine.com

Contact us for an offer: zsofia@hungastroagency.com

Wine tour in the North-Balaton wine region

This tour is focusing on the Balaton wine area, specifically on the North side of Balaton. Lake Balaton is Central Europe’s largest lake and is situated between the Drava and the Danube, about 100 km from Budapest. The lake is 80 km long and covers an area of approx 600 square kilometres.

Lake Balaton is shallow and its average depth is only 3 meters while the maximum depth is around 11 meters. Lake Balaton is divided into 4 parts: the west side with Héviz, the North side with the charming small villages and vineries, the North- Eastern side with Balatonfüred and the South – Southern- Eastern side with Siófok in the centre.

There are 6 wine areas around Lake Balaton. On the North side: Badacsony, Balatonfelvidék, Balatonfüred- Csopak, Nagy-Somló and on the South: Zala and Balatonboglár. Because the closeness of Lake Balaton the Southern slopes get reflected sunlight from the water surface. The reflection of the sunshine makes the microclimate ideal for grape cultivation. The area is mostly famous about its white wines with fresh acids and mineral taste. The main grape varieties are: Italian Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Müller-Thurgau, Muscat Ottonel, Rhine Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc.

The North side of Lake Balaton is also famous for its culture and history. Balatonfüred was one of the first tourist town at Balaton. The elegant main street with its magnificent Neo-Baroque architecture evinces the city’s long history. Tihany which is located in the neighbourhood is also one of Hungary’s oldest cities. The Kali-pool is situated on the West side of Tihany with lots of small villages that not only keeps Hungarian traditions alive with small-scale production of food, but where also many international (and Hungarian) artists have settled down and opened galleries.

Reference: Wikipedia

Contact us for an offer: zsofia@hungastroagency.com

Wine tour in Sopron wine region

The Sopron wine region is one of the oldest wine growing regions in Hungary. The wine growing and wine making culture in this region started with the Celts and the ancient Romans. Located in the far western region of the Carpathian Basin, near the border of Austria, the Sopron wine region produces similar wines to Austria’s Neusiedlersee-Hugelland wine region. Cool summers and mild, often windy winters create a sub-Alpine climate ideal for growing elegant reds like Kékfrankos. In fact Kékfrankos accounts for 60% of all the plantings in the region and Sopron is also known as “the capital of Blue Frankish”. Kékfrankos was named after the blue color of the French currency used in the beginning of the 19th century when Napoleon’s troops occupied the city.

A unique characteristic of the Sopron wine region is that the wine cellars here are built beneath houses located within city limits and not in the hillside. Traditionally this was done to provide protection and ensure the safety of the winemakers. People living in the region have always had strong ties to grapes and wine making and most of them have vineyards and produce wine.

Reference: visitbudapest.travel

Contact us for an offer: zsofia@hungastroagency.com