Historia
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.