EN
C 150/48
Official Journal of the European Union
5.4.2022
The suitability of the soil to the plantation of vineyards is enhanced further by the favourable topographic conditions of the edge of the city.
The vines were planted on the southern and south-western slopes of the hills and elevations, on what are known as ‘verő’ [sun-lit slopes].
The typical meteorological data for the wine region over a 47-year average are as follows: mean annual temperature: 10,65 °C, mean annual precipitation: 592,6 mm, annual average hours of sunshine: 1 964 hours.
The legislation currently in force lists the areas suitable for the planting of vines as those classified in classes I and II according to the vineyard cadastre.
Accordingly there are 18 431 ha of class I areas and 3 914 ha of class II areas suitable for the planting of vines in the Eger wine region.
The total area is: 22 345 hectares.
Hum a n fa c t o rs The appearance of vines in the vicinity of Eger and vine growing in the Middle Ages A 30 million-year-old fossilised vine leaf, the ‘Vitis Hungarica’, has been found on the side of Kis-Eged Hill.
It is, however, unrelated to present-day viticulture.
Based on archaeological data, Eger and its vicinity were populated from the 10th century onwards.
By the early 11th century it is believed to have become a major town in Hungary.
According to the 1261 charter of King Béla IV, Hungary’s first king, Saint Stephen, granted the wine tithe of Eger valley to the Bishopric of Eger.
The Tatar invasion in 1241 decimated the population, and labour shortages forced King Béla IV to bring foreign settlers to the country.
It was around this time that the first Walloons are thought to have arrived in Eger, who were known to live in the street named Olasz utca; there were also Walloon settlers in Tállya, who introduced French viticulture and the storage of wine in barrels.
The first cellars are believed to have been built by the Church, and the earliest ones were known as ‘dézsmapince’ [wine tithe cellar].
Wine-growing in Eger has a centuries-old reputation.
Flemish printmaker and engraver Gaspar Bouttats produced several copper engravings related to Hungary, including a view of Eger, or ‘Erlau’, in ‘Description exacte des Royaumes de Hongrie’, published in Antwerp in 1688.
An earlier engraving of Eger (Agria vulgo Erla), the ‘Turk-beating city of wines’, has also come down to us, published by G. Hoefnagel in 1617.
Both engravings depict the city’s famous castle and vineyards.
Sources suggest that viticulture underwent profound changes in the 17th century.
Red grape varieties started gaining ground over previously dominant whites.
It should be noted that Eger viticulturists developed a special tool known as the ‘Eger hoe’ for cultivating the hard soil in the area.
To measure out their wines, they used the ‘Eger akó’ [approx.
200 litres], which was approximately four times the regular ‘akó’.
The quasi-acidity and long-lasting preservation qualities of the wines called for prolonged ageing in wooden barrels.
Producers would age their wines in barrels in the cellars and cellar systems carved out of the rhyolite tuff under the city, which provided a natural cellar climate (maturation climate).
Cl a s si fic at i on of v i ne a re as i n th e p ast Eger wine-making had its first golden age in the 15th-16th century and enjoyed a renaissance in the 18th century.
Records dating from 1760 and 1789 provide us with data on the quality of the vine areas.
In 1760, vineyards were divided into three classes on the basis of soil quality, slope gradient, sunshine, etc.
Almost 50 % of vineyards were first class.
In 1789, Eger vineyards were divided into six classes (nationally there were eight classes, but the Eger area did not have any vineyards in the last two classes).
The principles underlying the classification were similar to those in 1760, with the difference that many excellent vineyards producing grapes for ‘aszú’ wine were also classified as first class.
Eger had wine community rules in place as early as the 18th century, enforced by the wine community officers, who were overseen by the magistrate.
8.2.
Wines (2)
1.
Description of the demarcated area (continued)
V ine v a r i e ti es g r ow n an d w i n es prod u ce d f rom them