Somlo

View Somlo in a larger map
It was here that the industrialized vineyards planted in the lowlands to meet the quotas of a planned economy first ran wild when the political winds changed. The people of Somlo did not need the plain wine of the plain; they wanted the high-flying wines they could only make higher up on the hill. Somlo also benefited from being avoided by the waves of cheap tourism that continue to plague popular Hungarian wine regions such as Sopron and Eger, not to mention the shores of Lake Balaton. Somlo has preserved this relative tranquility at the expense of the unprecedented fragmentation of its vineyards.

Somlo encompasses 830 hectares today, and was shrinking steadily since World War II until recently. In 1998, growers posted a total crop of 4700 tons (white grapes only). Varieties include, in alphabetical order, Chardonnay, Ezerjo, Furmint, Harslevelu, Juhfark, Olaszrizling, Rajnai Rizling, Rizlingszilvani, Tramini, and other miscellaneous grapes.

The fortified castle perched on top of Somlo is first mentioned in a charter drawn up in 1093; wine production on the hill can be documented since 1135. The three chapels on different sections of the hill, dedicated to Szent Marton, Szent Margit, and Szent Ilona, were built during the 14th century; the first cartographic representation of the castle survives from 1528.

The next documented stage in the hill’s sketchy history is 1570, when 121 growers on the hill paid a form of tax known as the “hill toll” to the conquering Ottoman forces. More than a century later, Napoleon’s troops passed through the region, claiming an equally severe sacrifice from the villagers in pillage and loot. But the most lethal threat to the vineyards arrived in the form of the phylloxera in the late 19th century. The application of carbon disulphide seemed to deliver results at first, but it did not prove to be a permanent protection against the root louse. As elsewhere in the country, the reassuring solution was to graft noble scions onto American root-stock, even though this measure transformed the region’s set of grape varieties to a significant degree.

Throughout history, the hill has been divided between the Church and the lay aristocracy. A lack of ownership by the “free estates,” including the bourgeoisie and the lesser nobility, hampered development for centuries. In 1933, a rather successful cooperative was founded, only to be swept aside by the drive for nationalization in the wake of World War II, though it is true to say that large industrialized plantations never made deep inroads in Somlo as they did elsewhere in the country.

Another important date in the chronology of the wine hill is February 27, 1629, when Somlo’s first wine law was enacted (the original of this milestone document is kept in the museum of Papa). This statute regulated life on the hill, mainly by listing the fines to belevied against various offenders. Decrees from 1743, 1803, and 1864 provided for communal norms, including the rules of purchasing and selling plots of vine, and the hierarchy of officialdom on the wine hill. The lowest rank in the wine community was that of the simple szolopdsztor (“vine shepherd” or vine-dresser), followed by the hegymester (“master”) and the hegybiro (“magistrate”) above him. The loftiest position was that of the hegyelnok (“president”), a largely ceremonial echelon reserved for members of the nobility.

Important detailed accounts of Somlo were published in 1736 and 1836 by Matyas Bel and Elek Fenyes, but the work that remains most useful to us today is A Nagy Somlo hegyrol (“On the Great Somlo Hill”), a treatise printed in 1848 by Sandor Cseresnyes, the Chief Medical Officer of Veszprem County. Already at this time, Somlo was clearly distinct from the other wine-producing areas west of the Danube, not only geographically, but also in terms of its ownership structure, the mindset of its growers, and the taste of its wines.

The chapels already mentioned played a major part in the life of the community. From the road hemmed by poplars that most people will take off of highway 8 to approach the hill, the most conspicuous one is the Szent Margit Chapel to the right, but certain stretches of the road also afford a view of the Szent Ilona Chapel on the left. These landmarks have been vital for the locals not only for their beauty as places of worship, but also as points of orientation. Except during the dreary years of Soviet occupation, the hillside chapels always served as holy destinations for collective pilgrimage, a peculiar form of folk ceremony practiced around the Carpathian Basin. The procession would wind its way up on the hill chanting supplications for a blessed harvest. Although a priest was invariably present, the apocryphal chants and prayers were rife with transmuted pagan motifs. They remain some of the most important vestiges of ancient Hungarian folk poetry.

Anyhow, Somlo is not a spectacular wine that bowls you over; it will never make a cheap show of its talent. It is decidedly aloof when young, but at two years of age it will open up beautifully in the glass after some unhurried exposure to air. It must be laid down, and will keep for a very long time. In this respect, it can compete with the best of dry Tokaj. It ages gracefully, but will assume unusual animal nuances reminiscent of fine Russia leather. (Many growers in Somlo will consider this association an insult, but the note is often clearly present in mature items, and is far from being objectionable in our opinion.) On average, Somlo has the distinction among Hungarian dry whites of possessing the highest concentration of extract. Partly for this reason, it is an enduring wine that tolerates transportation well. It also has medicinal powers attributed to it far beyond the confines of this tiny wine region.

The career of Somloi Aszu offers some interesting lessons. Starting in the 16th century, peasant serfs and aristocratic estates both made smaller or larger quantities of late-harvested sweet wines called Aszu, as in Tokaj. The serfs did not pay a tithe contribution out of these sweet wines. This caused friction with the landowners on such a scale that the National Diet put the case on its agenda in 1655. At long last, Queen Maria Theresa in 1779 abolished the tithe levied on Aszu wines. Curiously, a book published nearly 200 years ago describes Somlo’s desiccated grapes as making a “wine or urmos that is strong, sweet and enduring, but hardly a match for a Badacsony in sweetness.”
Prior to the phylloxera epidemic, at least 30 different grapes were cultivated in Somlo; most sources list 36-37 varieties. Nowadays we know that the grapes that perform best on the hill are the same Furmint and Harslevelu that made Tokaj famous. Harslevelu yielded the finest wine in Somlo until 1997, when its ascendancy was challenged by the increasingly planted Furmint. The success of this variety was sealed by Imre Gyorgykovacs’s 1997 vintage. In the early 1990′s, a few small growers made some very nice wines from the Kiralyfurmint clone of the grape.

Area: 550 hectares.

Climate: very windy region, so moderately warm, though rich in sunshine. Due to the slopes the sunshine is very advantageous.

Vine varieties, wines: In this region only white vine varieties are to be found: Furmint, Italian Riesling, Hárslevelu, Rhine Riesling, Juhfark (Sheep`s tail). High alcohol contents, strong acids, and hardness characterise the wine of Somló. As it is a typical aged wine, it achieves its character after several years of ageing in wooden casks. It would not permit blending.

For more interesting information
Hungarian wines and wineregions. Authors: Zoltán Benyák, Tibor Dékány.	Terra Benedicta 2003: Tokaj and Beyond Authors: Rohály Gábor, Mészáros Gabriella, Nagymarosy András.