Wine-tasting on four wheels in Sopron

For a while I supposed that the great fuss about wines and wine regions was not worth a damn and was extremely boring. I had this opinion despite my love of wines, moreover I am a great fan of unique red wines. Variety is the spice of life, so after 25 years spent in the capital city, I returned to my hometown, where one, wittingly or unwittingly, keeps bumping into wine tours, wine tasting events, or acquaintances who are vintners. And when the whole thing begins to relate to people, life stories, family histories, you fall in love with it unconsciously.

Miklós Kocsis has been running his winery for 20 years, and his goal has always been to introduce the wine region of Sopron to more and more people through his wines and vineyards. So he had the great idea of organising wine adventure tours for smaller and larger groups which you can also join individually. His aim is to provide an adventurous day for all his guests. To begin with, we are driven across the vineyard by military off road vehicles. After looking around the vineyards and tasting some varieties of wines, we have a late lunch on the cosy vineyard, while Miklós introduces us to the delicate and exciting process of winemaking and we can obtain plenty of information about the history of the wine region.

Sopron wine region is one of Hungary’shistorical wine regions. It is located at the foot of the Alps, at the southern shore of Lake Fertőon the slopes of the Sopron mountains. The total area of the wine region is approximately 4300 acres, on 1800 acres of which, grapes are grown. Early archaeological evidence of grape seeds proves that Celts already dealt with cultivation of grapes and wine making has had a significant role in this area since then. The evidence of Roman wine culture is the amphora used in storage of wine which can be seen in the Museum of Sopron. The famous Amber Road also passes through the town of Scarbantia, which was one of the busiest ancient trade routes. There were times in Sopron when everyone had a vineyard and a cellar, all the owners typically enjoyed the right to sell wine. In front of the houses a fresh pine branch hanging from a pole indicated that young wine was sold, a bunch of straw was the sign for old wine. A red or a white ribbon announced whether the owner sold red or white wine. (This nice habit seems to have been revived in the city of Sopron). 

In 1446 King Mátyás transformed Sopron into the trade centre of local and foreign products. The producers could freely exercise the right to sell wine with some limitations: bringing wine from other places was forbidden in the 18th century. Then this countryside was known as the Ruszt-Sopron-Pozsonyi wine region. In Ruszt even aszú was made in outstanding years, especially from furmint. In the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon’s troops occupied Sopron. The name of the ‘kékfrankos’ (blue franc) variety derives from the French blue franc banknote at this time. At the end of the 18th century Maria Theresa ordered Burgundy grapevines from France from which some vines ended up in Sopron and in Ruszt as well. White wine was dominant, the role of red wine was only marginal at that time around Lake Fertő. Until the end of the century, primarily white wine was made, the red grape varieties spread after the phylloxera disaster. In Sopron viticulturists with Swabian roots were also called as ponzichter (Bohnenzüchter, namely bean grower). The name derives from the fact that they trained beans between the rows of grapevines. Several dishes were made from beans which are still popular in the area — including Austria as well — like babsterc, bean scones.

But let’s turn back to the present as the UAZ turns back to the meeting point. You mustn’t miss Miklós Kocsis’s off-road vehicle riding. The programme with him was such a success that no one felt like going home. Fortunately, the city of Sopron has a lot of taverns, wine terraces, wine bistros where we can continue the series of experiences.