Heves megyei aprónyomtatványok 1/D

Eger, the city of wines

The good quality of the wine is influenced by the grapes, the climatic and geological conditions, the modern vinegrowing methods, and also by the suitable facilities of storing. It is due to human resourcefulness, that the cavities carved into the soft stone were used for dwelling, keeping animals, and also for storing wine in them. The advantage of these cellars is, that the wine stored there can be kept at 10-15 °C constant temperature all the year round. Mould, originating from the symbiosis of fungi living in the cellar and of gases developing when wines mature, is beneficial to the evolving of the nose of wines. A smaller number of cellars in Eger can be found on the area formerly surrounded by the city walls, but most of them are on the outskirts of the town. Different kinds of cellar have been built in history. Social and economic division can also be detected at the formation of cellars.

The fame of Eger wines was strongly connected to the Valley of the Beautiful Woman with its 100-150 cellars in the 18 century. The oldest contiguous line of cellars, the two parts of the Old Line was built in the 1770s.

The history of the cellars in the Eger wine region