Bodnár Cellars and Winery » Introduction

Bodnár Cellars and Winery is operated as a family business. It was founded by dr. Sándor Bodnár, a horticultural engineer with a successful professional skill of three decades. Mr. Bodnár had shown great responsibility towards vine and wine all his life; since 1992, he has had the possibility of utilizing his multi-decennial experience on behalf of his own family enterprise.


The reason for the popularity of wines produced by Bodnár Pincészet Borház wines is the use of excellent raw material, highly sophisticated conversion methods, century-old manufacturing traditions and of the most advanced technology. Bodnár Cellars and Winery will allow time long enough for their wines' quality-dependent features to develop.

The flavour of young wines is dominated by fruitiness, whereas the traditional Szamorodni and Aszú wines are preferred to have a perfect harmony of primary and classical flavours.

It may well be said that Bodnár Pincészet Borház is the home of delicate wine.


The Furmint plantation, which has a fine location, lies on the southern slope of Köveshegy-Vióka in Sátoraljaújhely adjacent to "Oremus" vineyard. It was here that Szepsi Laczkó Máté, a reformed church preecher, made aszú wine for the first time in 1631. The soil of Vióka vineyard 150-200 meters above sea level consists of tiny little volcanic tufa detritus that work as a tile stove exerting a positive influence on the quality of the wines and providing them with an individual character. Yellow Muscat and Zeta plantations are situated in Sátoraljaújhely, on the skirts of Magashegy, while the Hárslevelû plantation is on the confines of Bodrogolaszi, in Somos vineyard. Thanks to the different vineyards, Bodnár Pincészet Borház is producer of a full range of Tokaj-hegyalja wines.

The fundamentals of Bodnár Pincészet Borház philosophy is to grow the aszú grapes on excellent habitats with a reduced bunch load, while putting off the starting day of vintage as long as possible to get special quality must with a high sugar content. Bodnár Pincészet Borház insist that "less will be more" and that the quality of wine is decisively dependent on the year of vintage. Bodnár Pincészet Borház only process grapes from their own plantations. In poor years, Bodnár Pincészet Borház do not use the grape for making wine but sell it as fruit. The cellar of Bodnár Pincészet Borház was built by monks of the Order of St. Paul in the 13th century.

The cellar is in the Valley of Cellars (Ungvár cellars) in Sátoraljaújhely and has been a World Heritage member since 2002. The cellar is complete with a conversion plant, a bottling facility and a wine-growers' shop, all built in ashlar. The shop can hold 40 persons. Pre-booked groups can make themselves familiar with the full range of noble Tokaj wines and buy some on the spot. If groups so require, Tokaj-hegyalja food specialities are there for them to order. In addition to professional and gastronomic pleasures the winery also offers a different kind of entertainment. Its walls are covered with Hungary's greatest, privately owned ex libris collection of books and prints with vine and wine motifs. The beautiful prints have been displayed at several exhibitions both in and outside Hungary.

Bodnár Pincészet Borház will put its bottled wines on the market following a 3 to 6 months seasoning period. The smart label of the bottle shows the figure of the winery. The wines of Bodnár Pincészet Borház are available in specialized shops and all-star restaurants in Hungary. As for foreign markets, the wines are exported to Sweden, Poland, Finland and New Zealand.


How you can find us

On the road from Sátoraljaújhely to Széphalom, near the Ungvár cellars, there is a sign showing the way to the Winery whose stone building can be found in about 100 meters in the direction of the hill.