Estate
Our story
Dénes Hegybirtok
Foundation
2005
Dénes Hegybirtok is a family-owned vineyard and winery operating since 2005. All our grapes are harvested from plots cultivated by the family. We cultivate the grapes with organic viticulture and we only use sulfur and copper preparations in our plantations. We do not use other systematic plant protection agents absorbed through plant cells as well as herbicides, fertilizers and insecticides.
Plantation of Furmint
2007
The history of Furmint on the Ság hill dates back to the times before the phylloxera plague when it was the most widespread grape alongside with Juhfark. We are proud to be the first and only Furmin producers on the hill. We planted Furmint for the first time in 2007 from which we first filtered wine in 2009 - about 100 years after the phylloxera disaster.
The first success
2008
Our Olaszrizling from 2006 won the top wine title on the IX. Pannon Bormustra and on top of that our winery won the ``Best first participant`` special award.
New grape varieties
2010
From now on you can find Rajnai rizling and red wine in our assortment.
The best white wine of the Wine Festival in Szeged
2014
We won the ``Best white wine of the festival`` prize with our Rajnai rizling of 2011 at one of the biggest wine festivlas of Hungary - at the jubilee XX. Wine Festival in Szeged.
Export
2016
The start of our Belgian wine export dates back to 2016 which has provided us with a continuous and unique opportunity to be present in fine dining restaurants in Belgium ever since.
The Wine of Festival Nádasdy
2017
The Rajnai rizling of 2015 earned the prestigious title ``The Wine of Festival Nádasdy in 2017``.
Construction of the wine bar and terrace
2020
In order to promote local wine tourism and wine sales - after one year of planning and preparation - this year we started building the wine bar and terrace.
The Dénes Hegybirtok is a family-owned and run vineyard and winery on the Ság hill (medieval name Ságsomlyó) belonging to the Nagy-Somló wine region. Our goal is to produce wines that meet the highest standards and reflect the uniqueness of our region.
GRAPE
Most parts of the nearly three-hectare vineyard are located in the southwestern part of the Ság hill, in the so called Kakasdomb area and a smaller part is located on the eastern slopes of the volcanic hill.
SOIL
The soil structure is extremely abundant and diverse. The main components are basalt and tuff debris of volcanic origin which are rich in minerals.
CLIMATE
Due to its topography and the position of the slopes the mountain’s microclimate is a bit warmer and drier than its surroundings. The temperature of the western slopes is lower – due to the cold wind coming from the Alps. The cool nights are offseted by the heat absorbed by the rocks during the day and radiated at night.
Terroir
The Ság hill
The volcano that created the 279-meter-high Ság Hill was active about 5 million years ago. In the course of several eruptions, lava poured onto the layers of volcanic dust that fell down in the first period which solidified into hard, resistant basalt. This lava shield slowly destroyed by wind, water and temperature fluctuations, protected the looser layers below. While the sandy sediments of the former Pannonian Sea can still be found on its lower slopes, the upper parts of the slopes are covered with scattered volcanic tuff and rock debris washed down during the destruction of the basalt rim.
During the time of the Roman Empire grape was already grown on the hillside and later on throughout Hungarian history viticulture was a decisive factor in the life of the region. It’s mountain commune law book is one of the oldests written in hungarian.
Its vegetation is significantly different from the flora of the surrounding areas. Its typical plants include black anemone, spring adonis and stone orpine. It is characterized by a rich birdlife. You can observe the screech-owl, the tawny owl, the barn owl and the eagl owl. Chaffinch, nuthatch, nightingale, blackbird and robin are also common. Its flora and fauna are protected by a landscape protection area. Loránd Eötvös carried out measurements on the top of the hill in 1891 with the torsion pendulum named after him.