Since the days of the Romans, vines have been grown and wine has been made in the area that is, today, known as Hungary. Then it formed part of the Roman province known as Pannonia.  At the time of the first Hungarian migration in the 5th century AD, the tribes were already well acquainted with wine, the custom of dripping one’s own blood into wine and drinking it in order to seal a friendship and an agreement, the Blood Treaty, was widespread. When the 106 tribes that would, later, become Hungary arrived in the Carpathian Basin they must have been

ecstatic to see vineyards on the slopes of hills. No doubt this was one of the deciding factors when they considered whether they would remain there or not. Later, in the Founding Document of the Abbey of Pannonhalma, Stephen I (1001-1038) mentions grapes first, amongst many other crops, to be handed over as tithe (a form of taxation at the time). The Magyar’s who arrived in the area towards the end of the 9th century, later, would have been pleasantly surprised when they discovered well established

vineyards and locals already well able to make wine.  Bela IV (1235-1270) was the king responsible for rebuilding Hungary (image of the royal castle that evolved from the fortress he built to protect his people, above)  after the Mongols almost destroyed it in 1241 and he certainly seems to have put wine production near the top of his list of priorities. Intelligently he deliberately invited foreigners from wine-growing regions to come and live in Hungary and rebuild the devastated areas. By the time of his death wines from two towns, in particular, were being exported very successfully on large scale. They were Sopron and Eger. The famous Tokaji is mentioned for the first time in 15th century records – however, the wine would have been a dry version of today’s sweet wine.  After the death of Louis II at the Battle of the Mohács in 1529, the Muslims ruled and wine production, quite understandably, came to all but a halt. What they did bring, however, was the bath – something the Hungarians at the time didn’t know very

well. The Turks brought a wealth of culinary knowledge that, thankfully, influenced the Hungarian food. From a purely wine perspective, the emergence of the Tokay Aszú in the 17th century must have been the most important development in the history of Hungarian wine. In 1641 the Vine Law for the whole of the Tokaj-Hegyalja region was drawn up and herein vineyard site selection, the rules regarding the construction of terraces and exactly how they would be irrigated were clearly set out. There were even rules on how to hoe and manure! By 1570 noble rot had been identified and more laws were enacted to govern this.  When Buda was liberated from the Turks and Hungary became part of Austria things had improved. There were even rules on how to hoe and manure! By 1570 noble rot had been identified and more laws were enacted to govern this.  When Buda was liberated from the Turks and Hungary became part of Austria things improved, but it was only when Ferenc Rákóczi tried, in vain, to gain independence

from Austria that the fame of the Tokay was finally spread. Phylloxera struck here, as everywhere else, in the 1870′s and replanting phylloxera resistant rootstocks only began in 1881. A very positive thing came from this, however, because vineyards were then also planted in the Great Plain and it stabilized much of the shifting sand there. Another great personality in Hungarian wine has to be Zsigmond Teleki (1854-1910) who was responsible for the 5 BB Teleki rootstock which was, to all intents and purposes, perfect for producing really high quality grapes even in the desolate and really calcareous hillsides of Villány. As one commentator put it, “The rootstocks bearing his name, the Berlandieri x Riparia Teleki, have filled a void and enabled the reconstruction of vineyards with lean, calcareous soil where the very best wines can be grown… They thrive better in the finest soils, and yield grafts with a more even scar tissue, and therefore of greater vigor, than the mostly French rootstock varieties we have seen so far.”When he died, his sons took over and until the Second World War their business thrived. Sadly a man by the name of Franz Kober in Oppenheim managed to steal most of his glory because he “subjected it to further

selection”, giving it the name 5 BB Kober. Communism arrived and like Islam scarred and damaged wine  production. In fact, the Communists did worse because they brought nothing to the culinary scene to make up for what they were doing to wine. The only difference between the two was that the Muslims smothered it and the Communists perverted it to the extent that although the liquid produced was called wine and there was a lot of it, it was so mediocre that it could only be sent to the USSR to be foisted on a public who had no option but to drink it. They may as well not have bothered.  Fortunately, today things are looking up again and foreign interests are plentiful – the Hungarians are back and have put their Tokay firmly on the wine map of the world  again.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE KINGS ON THE PRODUCTION OF WINE

• In 1075, Géza I (image of his statue above) donated the vineyards around Felsõalpár to the Abbey of Garamszentbenedek.
• Under the reign of Géza II, the forests around Buda Castle were cleared and replaced by vineyards – Óbuda, Kis Gellérthegy and the Sashegy were the hills reserved exclusively for growing vines.
• Béla III (1173-1198) distributed huge amounts of wine to the Crusaders passing through Hungary – and wine trading began in earnest.

• The entire nation, vineyards included, suffered when the Tartars invaded in 1241 and it was only thanks to the wisdom and guidance of Béla IV, the Second Founder of the Homeland, that this was done at all.
• Béla issued edicts governing duties that would protect and regulate the industry in the long run, eg. duties payable at the Buda Harbour and Market should had to be equal to 2 weight units after each container of wine.
• Wine exports – especially to Germany and Poland – continued to increase under the reign of András III, the last Hungarian king from the House of Árpád.
• The extinction of the Árpád dynasty was followed by a period of upheaval and quarrels, but finally Károly Róbert (image below) was instated as King in the early 1300′s and this restored law and order, giving a boost to wine trade and production.

• Lajos, the Great, continued his father’s stable political and economic legacy, proving that the Anjou dynasty was doing a much better job for wine that the Árpád’s.
• The industry was unstable after this, the Church interfered with it’s usual greed and war brought the industry to a halt – when Zsigmond also became the Holy Roman Emperor in the very early 1400′s things got worse.
• Matthias, in the mid 1400′s saw the country flourishing again but his death brought a steep decline in the economy and this, together with the cruel feudalist laws and the insurrection led by Dózsa in 1514 brought national poverty to its lowest point.
• Money was devalued to such an extent when Jagelló Kings ruled in the late 1400′s/early 1500′s that wine production was all but a rumour …… and then the Turks arrived for 150 years after the Mohács were trounced.
• Interesting, viti- and viniculture were revived after 1686 in the unoccupied territories and by the 18th and 19th centuries, wine was being produced in almost every corner of the country – and the relationship with the Habsburgs of Austria was good!