Sopron

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The vineyards are situated on the foothills of the Sopron and Kőszeg mountain ranges, at elevations between 150 and 400 metres above sea level.
• The soils are predominantly brown forest soils subject to erosion, though loessial and heavy clay soils also occur in the area.
• Rocky terrain accounts for a high proportion of the appellation, with bedrock composed of schist, limestone, calcite, and quartzite.
• Lake Fertő exerts a significant influence on the climate of the wine region, which is characterised by mild, not excessively cold winters, moderately warm summers, and generally fine, extended autumns.
• The soils of the Sopron mountains consist of crystalline gneiss and mica schist formed during the Palaeozoic era, overlain by Miocene gravels, clay, weathered limestone, and sandstone, with loessial loam and humus-rich brown forest soil subsequently deposited above these layers.

• Archaeological excavations confirm that viticulture was practised in the area as early as 300 BC, during the Celtic period.
• The German-speaking winegrowing townspeople were known as Poncichters, humorously nicknamed bean growers, and played an important role in the life of the town.
• The Kőszeg register of vineyard budding has recorded the state of vine shoots on 24 April of every year since 1740.
• Before the phylloxera devastation, the area produced predominantly late-harvested white wines and Siller wines; from the end of the nineteenth century, Kékfrankos became the region's principal variety.
• Soproni sparkling wine is made principally by the traditional method, with fermentation in the bottle, which allows the pleasant development of secondary aromas and flavours alongside the primary fruit character.

• The defining characteristic of Soproni wines is their fruitiness, carrying notes of both fresh and dried fruit — including sour cherry, sweet cherry, blackcurrant, and wild blackberry — as well as lively acidity.
• These qualities are in many cases complemented by maturation aromas and flavours as well as minerality, and in certain vintages the sweet wines display a botrytis character.

• The thermal-buffering effect of Lake Fertő creates sub-Mediterranean conditions in lakeshore sites, while the humidity patterns that develop over the lake basin provide ideal conditions for the production of botrytis-affected wines.

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-A1504
• Official trade body site — Soproni Borvidék Hegyközségi Tanácsa