Csányi Pincészet

Csányi Winery is located at the bottom of the eastern projection of Villány Mountains, on the outskirts of the town of Villány, along the main road, at the foot of the slopes hiding the extensive system of cellars. Its predecessor, Chateau Teleki Winery was established by Zsigmond Teleki in 1881.

The name of Te­leki, a supp­lier to the Im­pe­rial and Ro­yal Co­urt of Vi­enna, be­came world-fa­mous by fin­ding di­se­ase re­sis­tant va­ri­e­ties du­ring the phi­lo­xe­ra epi­de­mic that swept thro­ugh Eu­rope. His sons, An­dor and Sán­dor, con­ti­nued his work. Thanks to their in­no­va­tive ef­forts, the dream of wi­neg­ro­wers was re­a­li­zed, this se­ri­ous pes­ti­lence was over­come. La­ter on, the Cha­teau Te­leki Wi­nery ga­i­ned dis­tinc­tion not only in the fi­eld of vi­ti­cul­ture and the pro­duc­tion of grafts but in the tra­i­ning and edu­ca­tion of wi­neg­ro­wers as well.

Fine red wines have been produced here for centuries. When the world famous winery was nationalised, the oversized group of plants of the socialist winery scattered around was established focussing on the quantity of the wine to be produced: the grape processing plant was on one side of the motorway, while the wine was produced on the other, and the bottling facility and warehouse were located on the other side of the mountains. The buildings of the plants on the two sides of the mountains were connected by the large old system of cellars under the mountains.

After the winery had been privatised, the owners, committed to quality wine production, decided to completely overhaul it. They ended the spatial fragmentation of the old group of plants and the new winery based on cutting edge technology was built in the area between the motorway and the eastern projection of Villány Mountains – a spot that had always been closely linked to the old system of cellars – in a linear order.

The beginning of viticulture in the region

The nearby excavations give evidence of viticulture in the Roman era at the wine-region, and there are also signs that even the ancient Celts who lived in the territory were employed in wine-production popularised by the Greeks. The Hungarian viticulture gaining shape after the Hungarian Conquest (896) had several roots and was flourishing unbroken for centuries. The Serbians arriving after the Turkish occupation introduced Kadarka, and the Germans settling at later times – in addition to their highly developed agricultural skills and work discipline – brought Kékoportó and Kékfrankos grapes with themselves, thus giving a new impetus to wine production in Villány. The expert and up-to-date agriculture emerging on the manors of the Savoyai, Albrecht, Batthyány, and later the Montenuovo families, raised wine-production to a master level in this region. As a result, Villány had become an internationally recognised wine-region by the 1870s. The wines grown there were popular even outside Europe, in North and South America, as well.

The vi­ne­yards of Csá­nyi Wi­nery are lo­ca­ted on the best slo­pes of the Vil­lány wine re­gion. The most im­por­tant ones are Ko­pár, Csil­lag­völgy and Hár­sos. Our whole area is over 380 hectares, with a production area of about 370 hectares. The grapes produced are Cabernet varieties (44%), Merlot (17%), Kékfrankos /Blaufränkisch/ (16%), (Portugieser and Pinot Noir (both 8%) and some other types (7%).

Villány – the motherland of Hungarian red wine

The southernmost wine-region of Hungary, and at the same time, the one with the best natural characteristics, is that of Villány, which lies at the same degree of latitude as the northern part of the Bordeaux wine-region. Its climate is also unique with respect to wine-growing, since the ridge of the Villány-hills block the unfriendly cold currents coming from North, and in the meanwhile the warmth of the southern slopes protected from the other side is strengthened by the tepid air coming from the region of the Mediterranean Sea. Lucky is the grape that is rounding out here! The proximity of the River Dráva brings morning dew on the grape leaves, thus the vineyards are fresh and strong even on hot summer days. The morning dew has a positive effect on grape flowering as well, since it attracts flying insects that help to pollinate the vineyards.

The limestone of the hill – which is covered, at some places by several meters thick, rich, fertile Aeolian soil – absorbs heat during the day to reflect it to the clusters on colder nights. The chalk cliffs of the Szársomlyó hill act as a huge “tile stove”. The annual precipitation is near 700 mm, the annual number of sunny hours reaches 2100 hours; the mean temperature of the vegetation period is 17.5 °C, which is the highest value in Hungary. The effect of geo-thermal heat cannot be neglected either. It keeps the roots of the grape warm from below, which is also a unique feature of this region. As a result, there are more medicinal thermal springs in the Villány hills than, for example, in the nearby bath of international fame, Harkány.
The sub-Mediterranean micro-climate also rich in light brings excellent grape bearing flavorous and fiery wine onto the vine-stock.