Ungvári Wine Cellar and Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
96 km
Riding-time estimate
1 h 39
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 96 km round trip from Sátoraljaújhely - roughly 1 h 39 in the saddle. The stops in between: Oremus Cellars, Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc and back through Oremus Cellars. It crosses from Slovakia into Hungary - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Ungvári Wine Cellar
Sátoraljaújhely is a town split in two by a river and a border. The Ronyva stream divides it into a Hungarian half and a Slovak half, Slovenské Nové Mesto, and the line became a national frontier after the First World War, when streets and gardens were cut in two. Today the border is open and easy to cross, and a pleasant walk takes you from one country to the other along the bank. The town sits at the northern tip of the Tokaj wine region, where the Zemplén hills fall to the plain, and it is a good starting point for exploring that country.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ungvári Wine Cellar is where the day begins. Next is Oremus Cellars.
2. Oremus Cellars
Tolcsva is a quiet village in the Tokaj wine region of northeastern Hungary, on the slopes of the Zemplén hills above the Bodrog river. The Oremus cellars here are among the most famous in the region: a network of tunnels cut into the volcanic rock over centuries, their walls black with the noble mould that thrives in the damp, steady cold. The estate has been owned since the 1990s by the family behind Vega Sicilia, one of Spain's most celebrated wineries, and it has become a showcase for the revival of Tokaji after the communist decades.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Oremus Cellars comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc.
3. Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc
Some wine regions are famous for a grape. Tokaj is famous for rot. Here in north-eastern Hungary, where the volcanic Zemplén hills meet the Great Plain and the Bodrog flows into the Tisza, autumn mists from the rivers encourage noble rot on the grapes, shrivelling them and concentrating their sugar. The berries, picked one by one, become aszú, and the sweet wine made from them has been celebrated for centuries. A line attributed to Louis XIV calls it the wine of kings and the king of wines.