Excursion – Vineyards of Hungary

Join a one-day excursion and discover the vineyards of Hungary!

We suggest you a typical early-autumn field day. The history of the Hungarian vine growing and wine making is more than 2000 years old. Our task is to save these traditional wine regions from the soil erosion, and bring life into the vineyards. That is why nowadays crop diversification is an increasingly part of the vine growing. Instead of “cultural deserts” due to native plants we have another way to cultivate the soil of the vineyards. On this field day we will visit two sites close to Budapest, where we can see native, species rich soil coverages in the inter-rows, and of course we can taste wines too. The first site is the part of the largest wine region of Hungary, on a flat and sandy soil; the second winery is on a hilly site with spectacular view.

Gál Vineyard

25 km from Budapest lays the Gál Vineyard and Wine cellars. The vineyard is 95 hectares and is located on the Csepel Island. The island has mostly belonged to the royal families and its viticulture is also proven by grape-tax documents from 1569.

Their goal is to merge viticulture and winery. These have been separated for 50 years but the family believes that you can only produce excellent quality wines if you use your own grown

grapes. The professional viticulturist ensures the optimal growing conditions, while the wine maker uses the best, most modern processes of winemaking to create the perfect outcome. So the modern vinery-technology is only one necessary thing in the process of making prime quality wines. The commitment and the specialized knowledge of both professions is the key to success.

Éva Dignisz Gálné won the Winemaker of the year award in 2013.

You will have the possibility to visit the wine cellar and you can see the species-rich inter-row coverage on sandy soil. Also you can taste two types from Gal Winery’s excellent wines with some bites of Hungarian “pogácsa” (little pieces of bread with cheese or other salty topping).

More information: http://www.galpinceszet.hu/

Etyeki Kúria Winery

The Etyeki Kúria Winery was established in 1996 at Etyek Old-Hill. The growing area is already 27 hectares today. The wine region is basically for the white vines because of its history and the climatical conditions, but this winery was the first one to plant Pinot Noir grape in the wine region of Etyek–Buda, and the wine prepared from this grape won many world class awards for the winery.

“Etyek is the vineyard of Budapest” – already in the Roman period wine-growing was widespread in the area. The hills are windy but the plateaus obtain excessive sunshine, have unique ecological conditions, and their limestone-rich, deep-layered brown forest soil provides good acid-structured base for wines.

During the excursion you will have the chance to see the grape processing and wine bottling methods in the cellar, and another example for the species rich inter-cropping in the vineyard. After all we will invite you for a delicious lunch and you can participate to a professional 6-type-winetasting as well. 

More information:

https://etyekikuria.com/en/