welcome to the historic wine-growing region of Sopron, capital of Blue Frankish wine! Our region is one of the oldest wine-growing regions of Hungary with historic traditions. The culture of wine-growing and wine-making created by the Celts and the ancient Romans is the basis of the viticulture and oenology of the wine-growing region of Sopron today. Already at the beginning of the 14th century it was considered as one of the most important wine-growing regions of Hungary with trade connections that crossed the country borders. From the 19th century the poncichters, the German-speaking wineyardists, made Sopron wine famous in far places as well. It is a characteristic of the city that here, unlike in other regions, cellars are built below the houses inside the city, not in the hillside wineries. This was not only a privilege at that time, but also provided more safety and protection for the winemakers.

The development of this region is proved by the fact that the OIV - Office International de la Vigne et du Vin – (Authority of International Viticulture and Oenology) gave Sopron the title “ the city of grape and wine” in 1987. The wine-growing regions of Kőszeg – with 259 ha of wineyards - have officially belonged to the wine-growing region of Sopron since 13th June 2000.

This wine-growing province is located on a unique spot of the Carpathian Basin on the gentle hills surrounded by the feet of the Alps, Lake Fertő and the lowland of Sopron- Vas. The most valuable area of the region today is a land of 1500 ha on the hillside near Lake Fertő.

The World Heritage Committee included Lake Fertő and the nearby villages on its List of World Heritage as a landscape of cultural interest in 2001. The Lake Fertő area shows a unique range of peculiarities. The climatic borders divide it into numerous parts so there exists a remarkable variety of flora and fauna in a relatively small territory. Continental steppe lake of the lowland, sub-mediterranean hills, de-alpine mountains, valuable alkali moors and even high mountains are waiting for the tourists. The surrounding of the lake has been a meeting point of cultures for about 8000 years. Human activity and the special geographical environment together have created a unique cultural countryside here for thousands of years. Besides its natural beauty, folk architecture is also significant in the area and the castles built in the18th and 19th centuries provide sights of historic importance.

The whole territory of Fertő-Hanság National Park around Lake Fertő, the quarry of Fertőboz and Fertőrákos, the Esterházy Castle in Fertőd and the Széchenyi Castle in Nagycenk belong to World Heritage on the Hungarian side. The water habitats of Neusiedlersee Seewinkel and the inner city of Ruszt – registered national monument – are listed as World Heritage on the other side of the border. Besides climatic  conditions, the high salt content of the soil and the water has also contributed to the biological diversity of the 20,000-year-old Lake Fertő and its surroundings. Continental salt-water habitats can only be found in the Carpathian Basin in Europe. The great surfaces covered by dense sedge, the 80 salty moor patches and the hillside wineyards are typical for the area.

In the time of the monarchy the grape-growing areas formed one wine-growing region under the names of Sopron-Ruszt-Bratislava and grew similar types using similar methods. The epidemics destroying the grape plantations and the storms of history gave individual development directions to the regions. White grapes dominated  the area around Sopron until the end of the 1800s. The characteristic type of our region, the Blue Frankish grape, came to the fore after the 1890s. Today Ruszt is primary famous for white grape species and muscatel (Ausbruch) while in Sopron there is a remarkable production of black grapes and mainly of Blue Frankish. The Zweigelt, Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot noir plantations are also important. Among white types Green veltelini, Chardonnay, Tramini, Zenit, Sauvignon Blanc and the early Red veltelini are the most widespread.It is a peculiarity of the region that the climate here is advantageous for the production of late harvested sweet wines as well. These wine types are not new in this area; their presence here goes back to the 16th century. Today it belongs to history that a wine-merchant called Mr Mihály Jäger was the first who sold his bottled wines under the name “Blue Frankish of Sopron” in Hungary in the 1930s. He has become a legend since then.


I wish you good appetite to the tasting of our traditional dishes and wines and I also wish you nice visits to the cellars! Have a good time here in Sopron, in the capital of Blue Frankish wine!

                                                                                                     Kálmán Jandl