250px, Somló Hill, Hungary Somló (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: ''Schomlau'', the corresponding adjective, meaning ''of Somló'' as in ''wines of Somló'' in Hungarian is: ''somlói'') is an 832 hectare wine region in

Veszprém Veszprém (; german: Weißbrunn, sl, Belomost) is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights. It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton. It is the administrative center of the county ( comitatus or 'megye') o ...

county, in the North-West of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

. Most of the region is situated on the slopes of an extinct

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

, crowned by the ruins of an 11th-century castle, overlooking the plain. The

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are ...

s of Somló, exclusively white, are made out of the

grape varieties This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Vit ...

Hárslevelű, Furmint, Juhfark, Welschriesling, Traminer and

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...

. Some Sylvaner is also grown in the region. While traditionally the region consisted of large vineyards of rich aristocrats and religious institutions including the Archabbey of Pannonhalma, now it is predominantly small plots, many of them belonging to part-time or hobby vintners, that rule the landscape.

History

The wines of Somló have a long and celebrated history; indeed, the region’s fame at some point is said to have rivaled that of

Tokaj Tokaj () is a historical town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, 54 kilometers from county capital Miskolc. It is the centre of the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district where Tokaji wine is produced. History The wine-growing area ...

. Its

wine figures as medicine The health effects of wine are mainly determined by its active ingredient alcohol. Preliminary studies found that drinking small quantities of wine (up to one standard drink per day for women and one to two drinks per day for men), particula ...

in old Hungarian pharmacopeias (''Vinum Somlaianum omni tempore sanum''). In the eighteenth-nineteenth century, Habsburg emperors/kings of Austria and Hungary, especially

Maria Theresia Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...

and Joseph II are claimed to have favored Somló wines. According to old, widespread but unsubstantiated lore, drinking Somló wine makes the conception of male children more likely. Hence its nickname: the wine of nuptial nights ( in Hungarian: ''a nászéjszakák bora'').

Climate and geography

The

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...

of the ancient

lava flows Lava is molten or partially molten rock ( magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land o ...

, along with loess and sand in the soil, the windy, moderately warm climate and the mostly traditional, oxidative wine making technologies ( vinification in oak barrels) yield wines with a characteristic acidic-mineral taste. They age well, and are traditionally drunk at a slightly higher temperature than most whites (14-15

°C The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The d ...

History

Climate and geography

References

Further reading