Balatonmelléki

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The most important shared natural factor of the Balatonmelléki growing area is the proximity of Lake Balaton, which significantly moderates the area's continental climate, producing cooler summers, more humid air, and milder winters.
• The Bakony Mountains, running further from the northern shore of Lake Balaton, shield the basin from incursions of cold northerly and westerly winds, so that average monthly temperatures in the warmest months do not exceed 25 °C over a 53-year mean.
• The mean annual temperature is above average at 9–11 °C, annual sunshine hours amount to around 1,900, and mean annual precipitation is 650 mm.
• Within the delimited growing area, vineyards are generally situated on south-, south-east-, and south-west-facing vineyard sites on the hillsides and slopes surrounding Lake Balaton.
• The characteristic soil of the Balatonmelléki delimited growing area is the Rhamann-type clay-illuviated brown forest soil, which retains winter and spring rainfall well.

• Following the Ottoman devastation, the foreign-speaking population that settled in the Balatonmelléki continued to cultivate local, autochthonous varieties such as Bakator, Juhfark, Kéknyelű, and Pintes, most of which belong to the Pontic grape group.
• Olaszrizling and Szürkebarát, which appeared after the phylloxera crisis, are today regarded as inseparable from the identity of the region, while over the past twenty years Hungarian-bred aromatic varieties such as Irsai Olivér, Cserszegi Fűszeres, and Zeus have come into cultivation.

• Balatonmelléki wines are characterised by freshness, a ripe acid structure, and body, qualities that have underpinned the region's reputation for millennia.
• The wines are fruit-forward, with rounded and ripe acidity, while the tannins of the rosé and red wines are silky and elegant.
• Medium- and late-ripening varieties can be harvested at high sugar levels, giving Balatonmelléki wines their body, fullness on the palate, and richness of flavour.

• The high-humidity air is refreshed each evening by cool breezes descending from the direction of the Bakony Mountains; this constant air movement inhibits the spread of fungal disease, so that grapes can be harvested in good health and the wines are fruit-forward with rounded, ripe acidity.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in Hungary

Sources

• National product specification (PDF) — agrarminiszterium
• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PGI-HU-A1508
• Official trade body site — Hegyközségek Nemzeti Tanácsa — Balatonmelléki OFJ