Tornai Winery, the Most Beautiful Hungarian Wine Estate is worth a visit (or more)

The problem with wine restaurants in the countryside is that their opening days are hectic – mostly they are closed in wintertime. Not like the restaurant of Tornai Winery on Somló mountain! The website is always updated, also in English, therefore guests can easily check if the restaurant is open or not. This weekend (16 and 17 December) it will be open and awaits guests with pre-Christmas offers. And another great idea from Tornai team: start 2024 in a sporty way,hike up Somló on 1st January! The tour is free and hikers’ reward will certainly be some Tornai wine.

Tornai Winery has won the award of ‘The Most Beautiful Hungarian Wine Estate’ in large estate category earlier this year. The annual contest is organized by ‘Bor és Piac’ trade wine magazine.

Carp, cinnamon, poppy-seed

Three words that get us, Hungarians to “christmassy-mood’. Fish soup with carp is one of the most traditional dishes of Christmas Eve, cinnamon is the unmissable spice of our winter mulled wine while poppy seed is used to fill or Christmas cakes. (We take poppy seed so seriously that we fought for a special permission when we joined the European Union.) Also, these ingredients are used for the pre-Christmas dishes offered on the 16th and 17th of December at Tornai restaurant on Somló mountain. The menu:
Fish soup with carp fillet
Wine recommendation: Premium Furmint 2022
Crispy roasted pork belly, cinnamon and apple red cabbage, steak potatoes
Wine recommendation: Aranyhegy Juhfark 2021
Christmas poppy seed vanilla bread pudding
Wine recommendation: Aranykönny 2022
The restaurant offers gluten free and lactose free plates as well, for more information and prices check the website.

Start the New Year in a sporty way

Somló is a magic land, the volcanic mountain looks as if it were astray from its mates on the North shore of Lake Balaton. While Badacsony and the other witness mountains are close to each other, Somló is more remote, and it stands out of the flat scenery like a lonely hat. The wines are unique, their minerality is astonishing, and Somló wines are easy to recognise due to their unmistakable “Somló character”. Juhfark is the most important grape almost exclusively grown here, but Furmint, Olaszrizling, Hárslevelű and Tramini are also popular here.
Tornai Winery invites winelovers to start the year with a hike in the vineyards where all the magic happens. The hike starts at 1 pm, it takes approximately 3 hours, it is free and the group will be led by Éva Dományházi from Tornai Winery, a lovely lady whose smile will help you get the top of the mountain. She will provide some wine and ‘pogácsa’ (a typical Hungarian salty, delicious pastry)
If you are interested, contact Éva!
Phone her: +36 70 339 9896 or email to her

“Golden Tear Drops”

Aranykönny (meaning Golden Tear Drops) is the only sweet wine of Tornai Winery with 82.5 g/L residual sugar,balanced with a refreshing 7.7 g/L acidity. It is made of Zeusz grape, an indigenous Hungarian variety. “Crystal clear golden colour with high viscosity in the glass. It is the message that we have something unique in the bottle. The clean medium intensity nose is not intrusive. White flowers, blossoms and petals but there is the peach and mineral character also. On the palate the sweet sip is framed with high acidity and medium alcohol and body. The promised notes by the nose are completed with peach and candied lemon and lemon peel. In the medium length aftertaste, there is orange oil as well.”
About Zeusz grape variety: It is crossing between Ezerjó and Bouvier, introduced by Ferenc Király at the University of Pécs, Hungary in 1951. Its other name is Badacsony 10 (Zengő, another crossing made by him is called Badacsony 8, and Zenit is also a Ferenc Király crossing, so he seems to like the letter Z…)

Find Aranykönny on Tornai webshop