Each year, a total of 4.2 million hector liters of wine is produced in Hungary’s 22 historic wine regions. Tokay is world famous: Louis XVI, the Sun King himself, loved Tokay so much that he called it “the wine of kings, the king of wines”. Other famous Hungarian wines include those from Balaton, wines from Villány-Siklós, and the wines produced around Eger, such as Bull’s Blood. You can taste these and other renowned wines in Budapest. Even better, we can recommend a few wine tours in Budapest and nearby areas.
Budapest does not have hillsides covered with vineyards, such as in Tokay where several world-famous wines are produced, but wine lovers will not be dissatisfied because products from all the different Hungarian wine regions can be tasted in the capital and all the equipment required to enjoy wine can be bought. In addition, some of the top international wines can also be bought in the increasing number of specialist wine shops and wine tasting facilities. You do not even need to leave downtown Budapest if you want to judge for yourself how quality Hungarian wines stand the competition even against international wines. In addition to top Hungarian wines, specialist shops offer for sale old vintages and sparkling wines, the Hungarian fruit brandy pálinka, truffles, carafes, special wine glasses and you can even order unique personalized labels.
Tasting Places
The House of Hungarian Wines (6 Szentháromság Square, 1st District) presents 450 types of quality wines from 22 historic Hungarian wine regions. Each visitor gets his or her taster mug and they are free to choose from 70 or 80 types of wines while wondering around several hundreds of meters of wine cellars.
The Budapest Wine Society (59 Batthyány Street, 1st District) welcomes visitors for free wine tasting every Saturday between 2pm and 5pm.
Demijohn (27 Margit Street, 2nd District) is a specialist wine shop and popular tasting place, similarly to
La Boutique des Vins (12 József Attila Street, 5th District), Borház (7 Jókai Square, 6th district) and Le Sommelier (14 Régiposta Street, 5th District).
The Prés Ház Wine Trader and Museum (10 Váci Street, 5th District) offers more than 300 types of quality wine and free tasting.
The House of Historic Wines is in Vajdahunyad Castle in the City Park, presenting the past and present of wine production in Hungary.
Borkollégium (14 Pasaréti Road) offers training courses in wine tasting at three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Visitors to the Törley factory in Budafok, which was established in 1882, can take a glimpse at the secrets of making sparkling wines. After a guided tour of the giant cellar system which has a total length of several hundred kilometers visitors get to taste some Törley sparkling wine.
Trips to wine regions around Budapest
The Etyek-Buda Wine Region
The climate of this 1480-hectare wine region enables the production of excellent sparkling wines from the early harvest and quality wines from the late harvest. As early as during the reign of the first Hungarian kings, grapes were grown in the area of today’s Buda and it represented a main source of income for the local people. Thanks to Serbian people who settled here, mainly red wines were produced after the 1600s. The Buda-Sas Hill Kadarka, made from the dark Kadarka grape, became well-known throughout Europe. The Danube offered excellent means of transport and this also contributed to the development of the region. Several large wine cellars were built over the ages, most of which are still in operation even today.
Etyek became famous in the middle of the 19th century, with wines originating in the Vál Valley. Quality white wines have been produced in Pákozd, Sukoró and Napad ever since, and the Törley family also bought wines from this area to produce their renowned sparkling wines. The traditional grape varieties of this region are the Kadarka, the Gohér, the Rak Grape and the Hárslevelű (Linden Leaf). Currently the most important wine type’s producer here is Chardonnay, Italian Riesling and Green Veltelini. In addition, some refreshingly acidy and fragrant reductive wines are also produced in the Etyek region.
The Pannonhalma Wine Region
This 618-hectare wine region is one of the oldest in Hungary, where grapes were grown and wines produced on Saint Martin Hill by the Benedictine monks as early as around the year 1000. This wine region is almost exclusively dedicated to white wines. The most popular types are Italian Riesling, Rhine Riesling and Tramini. In the past, most wines made in Pannonhalma had a full body and tasted slightly oxidized, but more recently, fresh, aromatic and fragrant reductive wines have become common.
The Mór Wine Region
The Romans started growing grapes in the southern and south-western slopes of this 800-hectare region and the Avar tribes followed the tradition later. A settlement already existed in the area of today’s Mór during the original settlement of the Magyars in the 9th century and documents originating from the 14th century show that grape growing were highly developed. They produced enough wine to supply local people who drank wine instead of water which was in short supply. Turkish occupation ended the flourish of grape growing. It was restarted only in the 18th century thanks to German settlers and the Capuchins who became the best wine producers of the region.
Currently only white wines are producer in the Mór wine region which used to be called the home of Ezerjó grapes. However Ezerjó was in many respect not suitable (sensitive to frost, deterioration of quality, etc) for growing vine-stocks above 1 meter, therefore other grapes were planted on increasing areas, including Leányka, Green Veltelini, Irsai Olivér and Chardonnay. Wines from Mór area heady, with a pleasant fragrance and a full body.
Copyrighted from Danubius magazine.

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