Bükk

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• 90% of the appellation's vineyard area lies on the southern slopes of the Bükk Mountains, at elevations between 160 and 350 metres above sea level.
• The delimited area is characterised by loess, black clay soils (nyirok), brown forest soils, and clay-illuviated forest soils developed predominantly on rhyolite tuff.
• The climate is dry, cool, and low in rainfall, with an annual precipitation of 500–550 mm and approximately 1,950–2,000 hours of sunshine; spring generally arrives late, and frosts in late October are not uncommon.
• The vineyard sites are typically scattered and mostly situated on plateaus or on west- and south-west-facing slopes.
• The Bükk Mountains exert the greatest influence on the appellation's climate, providing protection from cold northerly air masses, while the favourable aspect and the free drainage of cold air generally spare the vineyards from serious damage during harsh, cold winters.

• The earliest written records of viticulture date from the 14th century; in 1503 King Vladislaus II confirmed the wine privileges of the town of Miskolc.
• After the phylloxera epidemic the most significant growing areas were almost entirely lost; the land was later replanted, though much of it was put to other agricultural uses.
• After 1945 a wide range of varieties was planted in the appellation, almost 100% of them white; from 1980 onwards the first red-variety plantings were established, so that today the ratio of white to red varieties stands at approximately 70–30%.

• Alongside the appellation's predominantly dry white, rosé, Siller, and red wines, the high sugar levels at ripeness also allow the production of wines with balanced residual sugar and elevated acidity.
• The appellation's distinctive wines, which have serious ageing potential, draw on the terroir characteristics of individual vineyard sites and on an acidity potential that is retained even at full ripeness.

• Alongside high sugar levels at harvest, the botrytis-prone period in September often leads to beneficial shrivelling and, in places, to full Aszú-berry formation, a phenomenon that has defined the style of these wines for centuries.

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 PDO-HU-A1500
• Official trade body site — Bükki Borvidék Hegyközségi Tanácsa