Shasla, Chaush, and Bakator varieties. But the heyday of industrial viticulture and
winemaking is considered to be the thirteenth century, when the Hungarian king Baile
IV invited the German and Italian vine growers and winemakers to populate the
territory devastated by the Mongols. He gave the colonists and the inhabitants of the
region the right to found vineyards, make and sell the wine, freeing them from taxes
and church tithe for 10 years. That was when the vineyards were founded on the
outskirts of Berehove, Vinogradov, Mukachevo, and Uzhgorod. Later the tradition of
winemaking was continued by the monks from medieval monasteries. During the time
of Turkish protectorate, almost all of the southern slopes of the volcanic hills from
Tokai through Uzhhorod, Serednie, Mukachevo, Berehove, Vinogradov and further to
Khust and the Black Mountain terraces were made into vineyards. That was when the
first wine cellars were built in Muzhiyev, Serednie, Uzhgorod. Then from Asia Minor
and the Balkans such varieties as Karaburna, Lipovina, Furmint, Pearl Saba, Irshai
Oliverwere imported [3].
The winemaking enterprises of the region ("Leanka", "Chizay", Uzhhorod
Cognac Factory) have high demand for excursions with tasting of their branded
products.
Agroindustrial company "Leanka" (Hungarian:"girl") that has been in business
since 1946 and has a full cycle of wine production. "Leanka" is a grape variety, which
has been used to produce famous wine "Serednianske" for over 59 years. Additionally,
the company produces two dozen vintage, ordinary, dry, strong and dessert wines,
which brought fame to the Transcarpathian winemakers at many international
competitions. These are "Cabernet", "Radiant", "Pearl of the Carpathians", "The Rose
of Transcarpathia", "The Tempter","Traminer", " Rhine Riesling", "Italian Riesling",
"Leanka".
In order to promote wine products, the enterprise offers to visit the historical wine
cellars in the village Serednie of Uzhgorod region that are considered to be
architectural monumens of the seventeenth century. The Serednie wine cellars are
listed by UNESCO as top ten best wine cellars in Europe. The creation of Serednie
wine cellars is connected to Ishtvan Dobo, the Transylvanian voivode and the national
hero of Hungary. He headed the heroic defense of Egerduring the Turkish expansion.
In 1552 his army of 1935 warriors resisted the 120thousand army of the Ottoman
Empire. After this victory the king of Hungary gave him for his courage the property
of several thousand captive Turks, who dug Serednie wine cellars with pickaxes. Cellar
construction and fortification was completed in 1557. The cellars have been called
Turkish for a long time; their total length is 4.5 km. First, the cellars served as a refuge
from enemy attacks. Subsequently, the dungeon lost its purpose and was turned into a
wine storage.
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