Nagy-Somló

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• Base rock: Pannonian sediment (sand, gravel, clay) mixed with bazalt, bazalt tuff, and calcareous tufa.
• Characteristic soil type: well-drained barna erdőtalaj developed over volcanic weathering material.
• The stove-like heat re-radiation of the bazalt caps moderates cool summer and autumn days.
• Balanced sub-Mediterranean climate: the autumn Mediterranean anticyclone delivers a long, sunny ripening season.
• Sunshine duration 1,950–2,000 hours/year; rainfall 650–700 mm; prevailing wind: north-westerly, though southerly and south-westerly winds are also frequent.

• An 1822 record lists approximately 38 varieties in cultivation (Furmint, Juhfark, Piros Bakator); Juhfark is autochthonous, selected from a Pontic × woodland cross.
• After the political transition, Juhfark, Járdovány, and Kék Bakator were withdrawn from the approved list; low vine-training forms and a maximum yield of 100 hl/ha were reinstated.

• Rounded acidity, high glycerol, mildly saline and bitter flavour notes; complex aromas paired with moderate aromatic intensity.
• The Pezsgő displays restrained, fruity-mineral aromas, bright acidity, a saline-mineral and gently bitter finish, and moderately persistent bubbles.

• Potassium, magnesium, calcium, and trace elements released from the bazalt impart the wines' mineral, saline character.

Facts drawn from the cahier's terroir-link section (Lien au terroir) by automatic interpretation — see the source.

Sources

• National product specification (PDF) — agrarminiszterium
• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-HU-A1501
• Official trade body site — Somlói Borvidék Hegyközsége (Somlói Borvidék Hegyközségi Tanácsa)