Region & History

Törley Sekt, called Pezsgő in Hungary, is so well known there that the name is practically synonymous with sparkling wine. The house is based in Budafok, a district in southern Budapest once called Promontor. József Törley, born in 1858, had previously worked in Reims and brought his knowledge to the Danube in 1882.

Törley built his winery strictly on the model of Champagne, and to that end planted vineyards nearby in Etyek. He considered the chalky soil of Budafok closely related to that of Champagne, a conviction that also sold well. With thousands of posters and menu cards, he made his brand known throughout the country.

Before the First World War, Budafok was a center of sparkling wine production. Around 1910, 18 producers were working there alone, and Törley filled around two million bottles a year. At that time, there were over 20 manufacturers across Hungary, and according to Hungarian sources, six to eight million bottles went to export.

Then came the setbacks. During the Great Depression, Törley's output fell to around 200,000 bottles in 1929/30. In 1949 the state nationalized the factory, and from 1951 it was Hungary's only sparkling wine factory. Most recently, the state enterprise Hungarovin ran the operation, with a capacity of up to 30 million bottles in the 1980s. Back then, quantity and consistency mattered more than finesse.

In 1992, the German Henkell Group bought the company and brought the Törley name back to the bottle. Today, according to industry figures, the brand holds more than half of the Hungarian market and fills 12 to 14 million bottles annually. Unlike Champagne, the name carries no protected designation of origin, since Törley is a brand, not a place of origin.

The fact that Hungarians say "Pezsgő" goes back to Count István Széchenyi. He first used this term for French Champagne in 1830 in his work "Hitel."