Hungarian Wine Dictionary

The Hungarian words and phrases you will meet on a wine label or in a cellar, grouped by subject: regions, grapes, wine styles and the words from the label itself. Two things to know first: sz is pronounced like an English “s” and s like “sh”, and the ending -i means “from”, which is why wine from Tokaj is called tokaji. Missing a word, or looking at something on your bottle that is not here? Let us know.

Wine regions

Hungary has 22 official wine regions. Here they all are, along with the Hungarian-speaking areas beyond the borders.

• Badacsony – a volcanic hill on the north shore of Lake Balaton, known for mineral, long-lived whites. Home of kéknyelű.
• Balaton – Hungary’s largest lake, ringed by several wine regions and some of the prettiest vineyard country in the country.
• Balaton-felvidék – the Balaton Highlands north of the lake, volcanic soils and small estates.
• Balatonboglár – a wine region on the south shore of Lake Balaton: gentler hills, mostly whites and rosé.
• Balatonfüred-Csopak – a wine region on the north-east shore of Lake Balaton, known above all for olaszrizling.
• Bükk – a small northern region next to Eger, making fresh whites.
• Csongrád – a southern region on the sandy soils of the Great Plain.
• Eger – a wine region in northern Hungary, home of egri bikavér and the white blend egri csillag.
• Erdély (Siebenbürgen) – winegrowing in Romania, with a long Hungarian tradition behind it.
• Etyek-Buda – a wine region west of Budapest. Crisp whites, and the base wines behind Hungary’s best sparkling.
• Hajós-Baja – a southern region on sand, mostly red wine.
• Kunság – by far Hungary’s largest wine region, on the sand of the Great Plain. Mostly volume.
• Mátra – Hungary’s second-largest wine region, on the southern slopes of the Mátra hills.
• Mór – a small region known for the high-acid ezerjó.
• Muzsla (Mužla) – a wine region in Slovakia across the Danube from Esztergom, with many Hungarian-speaking growers.
• Nagy-Somló – one of Hungary’s smallest wine regions, a single extinct volcano. Salty, smoky, very long-lived whites.
• Neszmély – a region on the Danube making fresh, light whites.
• Pannonhalma – a small north-western region around the Benedictine abbey, making very precise whites.
• Pécs – a southern region on the slopes of the Mecsek hills.
• Sopron – a wine region on the Austrian border by Lake Fertő, mostly kékfrankos.
• Szekszárd – a southern region on loess, known for kadarka and a fuller-bodied bikavér.
• Szerémség und Arad-hegyalja – historic Hungarian wine regions beyond today’s borders, in Serbia and Romania.
• Tokaj – Hungary’s most famous wine region, in the north-east. Home of aszú, szamorodni and increasingly good dry furmint.
• Tolna – a southern region right next to Szekszárd.
• Villány – Hungary’s warmest wine region, in the far south. Mostly full-bodied reds, Cabernet Franc above all.
• Zala – a region in the south-west, west of Lake Balaton.

Grape varieties

The Hungarian grapes you will run into most often.

• Cserszegi Fűszeres – a spicy, floral white crossing bred in Hungary.
• Ezerjó – a white grape with firm acidity, grown mainly around Mór.
• Feketeleányka – a rare red grape, literally “black girl”.
• Furmint – Hungary’s flagship white grape. Smoky, mineral, high in acid. The basis of aszú and of dry Tokaj wines.
• Hárslevelű – “linden-leaved”. A round, juicy, floral white grape, furmint’s classic partner.
• Internationale Sorten – Hungary also grows Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Muscat Ottonel, Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Zweigelt and Blauburger. Cabernet Franc is by now treated as a local grape in Villány.
• Irsai Olivér – a very aromatic white with a muscat note, made to be drunk young.
• Juhfark – “sheep’s tail”, after the shape of the bunch. A white grape grown almost only on Somló.
• Kabar – a young Tokaj crossing of hárslevelű and Bouvier.
• Kadarka – a pale, spicy red with fine tannin. It nearly died out and is coming back.
• Kékfrankos – Hungary’s most planted red grape, known internationally as Blaufränkisch. Fresh acidity, dark fruit.
• Kéknyelű – “blue stalk”. A rare white from Badacsony that only sets fruit with a pollinator variety planted next to it.
• Királyleányka – “king’s daughter”. A light, floral white grape.
• Kövérszőlő – an old Tokaj variety, thick-skinned and low in acid.
• Leányka – “girl”. A soft, easy-going white grape.
• Olaszrizling – Welschriesling, Hungary’s most widely planted white grape. A different grape from Riesling.
• Portugieser (Oportó) – a light, early-ripening red. Rushed young wines gave it a worse name than it deserves.
• Rózsakő – a Hungarian crossing, a Szekszárd speciality.
• Sárgamuskotály – yellow muscat, the third classic Tokaj variety. It brings the floral note to a blend.
• Szürkebarát – “grey monk”, the Hungarian name for Pinot Gris.
• Tramini – Gewürztraminer.
• Turán – a dark Hungarian crossing with a lot of colour.
• Zenit – a white Hungarian crossing, fresh and citrusy.
• Zéta – a Tokaj crossing of Bouvier and furmint that takes noble rot readily.

Wine styles and categories

What the category on the label tells you about the wine in the glass.

• aszú – natural sweet wine from Tokaj, made from individually picked botrytised berries. The puttonyos number (3 to 6) shows the sweetness, though many producers no longer print it.
• Bikavér – literally “bull’s blood”. A kékfrankos-based red blend, made only in Eger and Szekszárd.
• Egri Csillag – “star of Eger”. The white counterpart to bikavér: a fresh blend of at least four varieties.
• Eszencia – the juice that runs off botrytised berries under their own weight. Extremely sweet, extremely rare, often just 2 to 3 percent alcohol.
• fordítás und máslás – two old Tokaj categories: wine fermented a second time on aszú pomace, or on the lees of an aszú.
• fröccs – wine spritzer, and something of a science in Hungary. Every ratio of wine to soda has its own name.
• gyöngyözőbor und habzóbor – lightly sparkling wine. Filed under frizzante in the shop.
• késői szüret – late harvest.
• nemes rothadás – noble rot. Botrytis cinerea shrivels the berries and concentrates sugar and acid. No noble rot, no aszú.
• pálinka – Hungarian fruit spirit, distilled from fruit, with no added sugar or flavouring.
• Pet-Nat – sparkling wine that finishes its first fermentation in the bottle, with no second fermentation. Usually cloudy and unfiltered.
• pezsgő – sparkling wine. The best come from Etyek, Somló and Tokaj, mostly made by the traditional method.
• Siller – a category of its own between rosé and red: the juice stays on the skins for 24 to 48 hours. The name has Swabian roots. Drink it cold.
• Szamorodni – the oldest Tokaj category, made dry or sweet. The whole bunch is picked, botrytised and healthy berries together. Less concentrated than aszú.
• száraz, félszáraz, félédes, édes – the four sweetness levels on a Hungarian label: dry, off-dry, semi-sweet and sweet.

On the label and in the cellar

The other words you will find on a Hungarian bottle.

• aszúszem – a single botrytised berry, the raw material for aszú. Picked by hand, one berry at a time.
• birtok – estate
• bor – wine
• borász – winemaker
• borászat – winery, the business itself
• borvidék – wine region. Hungary has 22 of them.
• cuvée und házasítás – a blend of several grape varieties
• dűlő – a named single vineyard. Good Tokaj labels almost always carry one.
• Egészségedre! – cheers! (Yes, really. Roughly “eh-GAY-sheeg-ed-reh”.)
• évjárat – vintage
• fehér, vörös, rozé – white, red, rosé
• hegy – hill or mountain. It turns up in many vineyard and place names, such as Szent György-hegy by Lake Balaton.
• hordó – barrel
• -i – the ending that means “from”: Tokaj becomes tokaji, Eger becomes egri, Szekszárd becomes szekszárdi.
• must – must, unfermented grape juice
• palack – bottle
• pince – cellar
• pohár – glass
• puttony – the traditional hod used at harvest. Today the number of puttonyos describes how sweet an aszú is.
• szőlő – grape
• szüret – harvest
• termelő – producer
• törköly – pomace, what is left after pressing. It also gets distilled into marc.