Severe Fire on Somló hill!

Date: 24 June, 2017
Location: Somló hill, Hungary
Type of event: night wine tasting with hiking on the hill

Thanks God the fire will be on purpose, to remind participants that originally Somló hill was a volcano. Every year on the shortest night of the year wineries of the smallest wine region of Hungary open their cellars, and visitors can walk from one to the other. At 10 pm all locations will light a fire – which will give a breathtaking picture for sure.

30 wineries await the visitors with prolonged opening hours

  • The state of art Kreinbacher Estate is open till midhight and live jazz music will accompany the wine tasting. The estate has a bistro kitchen, which is open till 10 pm. Estate visits are also possible to see how and where the Platinum Decanter World Wine Award Kreinbacher Classic Brut is made.
  • Can you recognise the terroir in the wines? Tokaj and Somló: two different wine regions, but the same grape varieties, the same vinification method in some cases. Zsirai Winery have estates both in Tokaj and Somló, thus visitors can test themselves with the Zsirai sisters. The winery is open all day, and visitors can join a common outside cooking
  • For those, who want to stay up even longer, Csetvei Cellar is the solution. Visitor are welcome from 4 pm with „lángos” (a traditional fried salty pastry eaten with garlic sauce), „zsíros kenyér” (slice of bread spread with pork lard, seasoned with salt, paprika and sliced onion) and of course with wines. Csetvei has its main cellar in Mór wine region, another small white wine region. Her husband, Nesta is a Dj with a peculiar taste and immense knowledge of world music, ha will entertain visitors till 2 am. (To learn more about the couple, read our earlier article here.)
  • Kolonics Winery ha a lovely rustic estate building, definitely worth visiting, and Károly Kolonics is another „must meet” program with his concentrated artisan He will show his wines with two other wineries in the so called „Aranyháromszög” (Golden Triangle). An interesting program here: tasting of natural spring waters of Somló hill at 4 pm. Here the Saturday night fever will come with a retro band until participants are able to go on dancing.
  • Somló Wine Shop offers craft program for kids as well. They will work with kids and adults alike between 10-13 hours. Fittingly to the wine region, participants will be building jewellery, toys and ornaments from cork. At 5 pm a professional tasting will be led in English by Mr Roland Velich, creator of Austria’s first ever 95 Parker-point Blaufrankisch (awarded in 2009, for Moric Blaufränkisch Neckenmarkter Alte Reben 2006) , also mentor and founder of the ‘Hidden Treasures’ MORIC-Project. The project aims to discover and introduce, through extremely high quality wines, some of the most unique terroirs within the Pannonic wine region. First time ever we will taste a surprise Somlo-item, too. Registration is needed.

To read the list of wineries, click here

Free entrance, railway discount

The event is free, and the Hungarian Railways give a special 50% discount for those who travel to the event by train. 3 trains on Saturday from Budapest and 4 trains on Sunday to Budapest stop at Somlóvásárhely, even though the village is not on the timetable of the fast trains. For validating the discount, the ticket should be stamped at the railway station at Somlóvásárhely, or in the shop of Somló wines.

More info about the event (except for Somló Wine Shop, the website is in Hungarian, if you need help, write to us to info@hugarianwines.eu):

Accommodation: still there are some available rooms

This frequently updated excel shows the available places with contact details


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