The Winery István Balga of Eger

Discovering the wine region of Eger

Eger, in northeastern Hungary, is a wine region best known for its Egri Bikavér wine, popularly known as "Bull's Blood". Although Sweet, white Tokaji remains unrivaled as Hungary's most famous wine overall, Bikavér (Bull's Blood) is surely the country's most famous red. The style – a Complex blend of several dark-skinned grapes – was first made in the late 19th Century, in Szekszard (200 kilometers/130 miles southwest of Eger). It rose to international fame in the 1970s, when the state-owned Egervin winery monopolized production of the style, and successfully promoted it on export markets.

The grapes that go into the robust Bikavér blend are Kadarka and Kekfrankos (typically the majority components), Zweigelt, Blauburger, Kekmedoc, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir. Wine laws introduced in 2005, just after Hungary joined the European Union, state that each of these varieties should be used to some extent in all Bikavér wines, and that none of them should constitute more than 50 percent of the Final blend. Good-quality Bikaver is Deep, purple-crimson in Color, with softish tannins a middleweight Body and plummy, Spicy aromatics. Eger has a long history of wine marketing success, having shipped wines around Central Europe since the 13th Century.

The greatest interruption to its prolific wine output occurred when the Ottoman Turks invaded Hungary in the 14th Century; their Sharia law forbade the production and consumption of wine. When the Ottoman forces reached the town of Eger, they met with such fierce resistance that they thought the local people must have been strengthened with the blood of bulls (bikavér). And so a wine legend came into being. White wines are made in Eger vineyards, although they rarely rival their red counterparts in terms of general appeal.