Tolkien in Tokaj – get to know the winery row of the Gombos mountain!

The winery row of the Gombos mountainis located in a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, on the border of Hercegkút, eighty kilometres from Miskolc and only three kilometres from Sárospatak. Uniquely in Hungary, the fairy-tale cellars with grass-covered roofs are lined up on four different levels - nearly eighty in number.The winery row belonging to the Tokaj wine-growing region are part of the World Heritage - this was approved by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2002, so now it is included in the list as the Historical wine-growing region cultural landscape of Tokaj-hegyalja.

There are dozens of cellars lined up on the winery row of the Gombos mountain, on which instead of tiles the soil overgrown with grass serves as the roof, and front-wise rustic wooden doors and a triangular structure are revealed to the visitor's eyes.The winery row and its surroundings are also of historical importance:Hercegkút is a Swabian village, the area of ​​which once belonged to the Rákóczi estate, and after the fall of the War of Independence, the estate was bought by the German Trautson family of princes. After that, Prince Trautson, Vilmos János settled Swabian settlers in the area, who settled in dug-in dwellings that served as the predecessors of today's winery rows. The winery rows built in the 19thcentury, the benches in front of the doors, and the cobbled streets evoke the times of the former peasant way of life and lifestyle.

In terms of their design, the vast majority of cellars have two branches, but occasionally you can find three-branched ones as well. Typically, they still belong to residential buildings, so most local residents have their own wine-cellar on one of the rows. The vaulting of the cellars was mostly made of a harder, andesitic material, however, further in, as in the entire wine region, the passages were carved into rhyolitic tuffbed-rock.

Visiting the winery row of the Gombos mountain, you can also enhance the spiritual experience by walking up to the religious memorial above the cellars, the Gombos mountain calvary consisting of fourteen stations.The stations are meant to show the sufferings of Jesus, and three wooden crosses were also built on the hilltop, and the so-called Resurrection Chapel standson the hilltop - from here, moreover, a wonderful panoramic view of the Zemplén mountains opens before the eyes of the visitor.

In addition to the winery row of the Gombos mountain, Hercegkút is also home to another winery row, the so-called Kőporos winery row - its cellars are lined up along slightly more winding roads, as opposed to the ones of the Gombos mountain, which stand in expressly regular rows. There are mainly one- and two-branched cellars on Kőporos row, which are smaller than their counterparts on the Gombos mountain - the two rows altogether have about two hundred wine-cellars.

As for wine tasting, the two largest family wineries of Hercegkút are located on the winery row of the Gombos mountain: the Götzand theNaár Winery. Both offer wine tasting for those who are open to it from the specialties of the Tokaj wine-growing region, complemented by dishes from the local gastronomy.After the tasting, visitors can also take bottled wines home.

The sight of small hills covered with grass stirs the imagination of many people: in some, for example, the image of small hobbit houses comes to life after seeing the impressive landscape and the winery rows that fit a fairy tale. A visit to this region promises rich gastronomic, cultural and spiritual experiences, whether you are planning a weekend jaunt or a longer relaxation.