A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 44. (2005)

Siska József: Sajókeresztúr és Szirmabesenyő szőlőkultúrája

IN VINO VERITAS. THE VITICULTURE OF SAJÓKERESZTÚR AND SZIRMABESENYŐ The vine-pest spreading from America at the close of the 19th century ruined several renowned vine-growing regions, which were unable to regain their former fame. Miskolc and its broader area was one of these regions. The study offers an overview of the viticulture and wineries of two neighbouring settlements, Sajókeresztúr and Szirmabesenyő. The vineyards on one of the mountains in the region, rising by the road leading north from Miskolc on the boundary between Sajóbábony and Sajókeresztúr, are first mentioned in a charter from 1325. The vine cultivation practiced by the inhabitants of the two villages is regularly mentioned in the décima registers and the later urbárium (socage tenure regulation) documents assembled from the mid-16th century. These documents record the names of the landholders and the fluctuating vine yields, as well as the impact of the stormy historical events on the region's economy, such as the Turkish occupation and the insurrection against the Hapsburgs. The vineyards in this region, part of the estates of György Rákóczi I, Prince of Transylvania, played a much smaller role compared to Tokaj-Hegyalja as the economic basis of the insurrection, one surviving monument of which is the 450 m long system of wine cellars. The study describes the techniques of vine cultivation in the continuously shrinking vineyards, the process of wine making, the wine cellars and the wineries, as well as the surviving ethnographic relics of viticulture. The study closes with an overview of how political events since the 1990s influenced the decline of viticulture and wine making, and the measures taken by the local administration to prevent this unfavourable process. József Siska 518