News

St Theresa Day, the merry atmosphere of vintage

Saturday was a proper, sunny autumn day, and the fifth time we have held our St Theresa Open Day.

Over a hundred visitors who were curious about our events spent a pleasant day with us. The Muscat Lunel grape pálinka (grappa) offered at registration created a real harvest atmosphere right at the start of the day. Guests were able to try out the press, “steal” wine from the barrel with the traditional glass equipment, become acquainted with our grape varieties, and to taste the freshly-pressed grape juice, the must.

We ran many events throughout the day and visitors were able to decide for themselves when and which of the group activities they wanted to participate in. This was an excellent idea resulting in smaller groups and a family atmosphere for the day.

Our viticulturist, István Varkoly, led the visit to the vineyard estate and many were impressed at our pride and joy, the organic plantation. Since spring of 2009 the estate has been run using organic practices.

Ákos Keresztes, our winemaker, showed people our historic cellar and led a wine tasting of our most popular wines to the delight of visitors. Our 2009 Muscat Lunel, that won a gold medal at Vinagora, was received with great success. The artisan cheese makers Tündérkert (Fairy Garden) provided excellent cheeses to accompany our wines.

While the adults were drinking wine, the children had the chance to make unique games and accessories from natural materials and textiles with help from craftswoman Erika Varkoly, and to play with unusual games in the atrium of the winery. The handcraft workshops were not only popular among the younger guests.

Our Castle Hotel staff provided a special menu for the open day. In the hotel park visitors were offered goulash from the traditional steaming kettle over a fire, along with prune and chocolate cake. Guests were happy to eat such delicious foods after the must and wine tasting.

Among the most popular events were the light-hearted competitions of the wine lottery and blind tasting in which the winners won a selection of wines and a good luck lantern.

Attila Hotyek showed the secrets of barrel making again this year and, with his cooper friends, gave us the chance to see an authentic “coopers’ dance”.

People were enthusiastic about the Harlequin children’s dance troupe’s modern dance performance. The children of Tarcal created a pleasant and happy atmosphere before the afternoon events.

It was a delight to see how many people were interested in our work. This annual event, which has after several years become a tradition, now has many regular visitors. We look forward to seeing you all every year, and hope that some of our new visitors will also become new friends. Thank you for coming – and we hope to see you again next year!