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49
http://dx.doi.org/10.7896/j.1324 Studies in Agricultural Economics 116 (2014) 49-56
Introduction
Hungary is close to the northern border of viticulture.
Although the whole country is suitable for wine production,
the vineyards are mostly associated with the hilly and low
mountainous areas. Hungary’s wine growing area between
1853 and 1960 was about 200-250,000 ha, but during the
past 50 years the area has decreased by about 60 per cent
(KSH, 2013). Although the vine territories in Hungary have
declined signifi cantly, vine and wine production still plays an
important role for people living in villages and small towns.
From the 1960s onwards (owing to collectivisation)
small scale peasant household plots (0.1 or 0.5 ha) and large
scale vineyards (from fi fty to a few hundred or thousand hec-
tares) represented the vine structure in the country. Individu-
als were allowed to cultivate less than 0.5 ha of vines but
this represented a signifi cant means for rural households to
add to family incomes. The purpose of large-scale produc-
tion was for domestic supply as well as for exports – includ-
ing both to East and West. Within the COMECON1 market
it was quantity and not quality that counted (Bodnár, 1996);
the better quality wines were sold for hard currency to the
West for moderate prices.
Hungarian vineyards represent only 1 per cent of the
world vine territory and about 1.5 per cent of the European
vine territory. In 2009 there were 83,555 ha of vine plan-
tations in the country (Benoist and Imre, 2010). The vast
majority of vine territories belongs to 22 so called ‘historical
wine areas’ that usually have 600 to 6000 hectares of planta-
tions2. These are clustered into seven bigger wine regions.
Two-thirds of the Hungarian vine area is covered by white
wine varieties but by 2009 red grapes covered 29 per cent of
the vine territory, an increase of 6 per cent since 2001. Over
half (56 per cent) of the vineyards are only 10-20 years old.
In 2009, four-fi fths of the vineyards were classifi ed as being
well managed and in the Villány wine region this fi gure was
98 per cent (Benoist and Imre, 2010).
In relation to wine produced Hungary also has a low share
– about 1-1.5 per cent – of global production which is about
1 Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.
2 Except the Kunság wine region on the Hungarian Great Plain which had 22,370 ha
of vines in 2011.
1.5-2 per cent of the European wine output. About 3.5-5.4
million hectolitres of wine is produced annually (Radócz-
né Kocsis and Györe, 2006). Around 3.3 to 3.4 million of
wine hectolitres is consumed and, according to offi cial data,
in 2011 per capita wine consumption stood at approximately
26 litres.
The political changes in 1989-90 led to a sharp turning
point in the regime of grape and wine production. Transfor-
mation into producing for quality wines has occurred in each
wine growing region over the past 20 years. In terms of qual-
ity wines, Hungary has not only Tokaj wine, but also several
other high quality wines which deserve recognition (Copp,
2006).
Villány, the capital of the Villány wine region
The town of Villány with its population of 2,600 lies on
southern slopes of the Villányi hills, a 30 km long and 7 km
wide east-west limestone elevation in the southern part of
Hungary. The area is often called the Hungarian Mediter-
ranean because of its climate. The former village gained
town status in 2000. Its population is moderately aging
and decreasing in size. The economy of the town is based
on viticulture and wine provides a living for the majority
of the population. In Villány town the vine growing area is
about 366 ha (Eco-Cortex, 2009). The town is the capital
of the Villány wine region, with approximately 2,600 ha
of vine growing territory which is defi ned by law. Seven-
teen villages and towns belong to the wine region including
Harkány, a popular thermal bath and spa town, and Siklós, a
small historic town with its famous castle.
Villány was inhabited during the Middle Ages but was
depopulated during the Turkish occupation in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. After the Turks were driven out,
Serbian and German settlers were invited to cultivate the
abandoned land. The red wine production originates from
them: the Serbs brought the Kadarka variety from the Bal-
kans and the Germans brought the Kékoportó from Rhein-
land-Pfalz (Dezső et al., 2004). Almost half (44 per cent) of
the city population regards itself as of German origin and the
German culture and traditions are still strongly felt. By the
second half of the nineteenth century Villány had developed
KOVÁCS Dezső*
From mass production to a genuine rural experience economy:
the case of the Villány wine region in Hungary
The transformation of wine regions is one of the few success stories in the Hungarian countryside since the political changes
in 1989-90. This paper explores the features of the transformation process in the Villány wine region. Within two decades the
region has gone through fi ve developmental stages, from mass production to a genuine rural experience economy. Breaking
with the socialist mass production practice, local wine makers focused on quality, resulting in improved wine quality and the
introduction of wine tourism. Out of the diffi cult situation after the political changes – high unemployment, bankruptcy of former
companies and forced entrepreneurship – the small scale producers who started new ways of production and cooperation have
achieved considerable success for themselves and their communities. This study identifi es the turning points and consecutive
changes in the social and economic transformation of a wine community, its qualitative characteristics and consequences.
Keywords: quality wine, wine road, rural experience economy
* University of Missouri, 214 Middlebush Hall, Columbia MO, 65211, USA. Current address: 7635 Pécs, Erdész utca 35, Hungary. kovacsd@rkk.hu
Kovács Dezső
50
an important wine economy both on the large feudal estates
and the small scale peasant holdings, but the phylloxera
epidemic dating from 1875 set back development strongly.
Zsigmond Teleki, a local breeder and winemaker, found a
cure for the phylloxera pest in the clay soils (Laposa and
Dékány, 2001).
The emergence of wine tourism and wine roads
Parallel with the progress in wine quality in the 1990s
(Kramer, 2003), Getz (2000) and Hall et al. (2000) laid the
foundations of the wine tourism and wine road literature.
Getz (2000) viewed wine tourism as a ‘complete sensory
experience’. His defi nition tries to capture the development
and marketing aspects of wine tourism and not only the tour-
ist experience. “Wine tourism is travel related to the appeal
of wineries and wine country, a form of niche marketing and
destination development, and an opportunity for direct sales
and marketing on the part of the wine industry” (p.4). Hall et
al. (2000, p.5) concluded that “Wine tourism is a concept and
product that is still undergoing substantial development. The
term wine tourism embraces two industries which each have
substantial implications for regional economies, environ-
ments and lifestyles and which have been long entwined”.
Development of wine roads can be studied from differ-
ent theoretical perspectives. One is Butler’s tourist area life
cycle (Butler 1980). This concept describes the different
phases of development in a tourist area in terms of time and
the number of visitors. For rural tourism development based
on Butler’s life cycle, Kovács (1998) introduced a different
curve. Jurinčič and Bojnec (2011) studied the Goriska Brda
wine district in Slovenia and also used the lifecycle method
with four development stages to understand the positions of
wineries in the district.
During the last decade the literature of wine tourism
and wine roads has multiplied. Several case studies and
country evaluations have been published from the Old and
New World (Tassiopoulos et al., 2004; Correia et al., 2004;
Carlsen, 2004; Zamora and Bravo, 2005; Getz and Brown,
2006; Zamora and Lacoste, 2007; Corrado and Odorici,
2009; Martinez Carrion and Medina Albaladejo, 2010).
Szivas (1999) provided a short analysis about the start of
the wine tourism in Hungary. Nevertheless the observation
of Getz (2000, p.5) is still valid: “Little if any research has
been conducted on how the suppliers emerge and develop,
and what is needed to facilitate growth and quality in this
sector”. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the estab-
lishment of the Villány-Siklós Wine Road Association, this
paper addresses this gap in the literature by means of an in-
depth case study of the emergence of quality production in
the renewed Villány wine region of Hungary.
Methodology
Different qualitative methods – interviews, participant
observation, document and literature review – were used to
explore the overall characteristics of the transformation of
the wine region. This was not just technological, territorial,
structural and organisational change, it was also an adjust-
ment to new political and economic paradigms, to the rules
of the market economy with all of its consequences.
The basis for the study was semi-structured interviews
with local winemakers that focused on the professional
development and career path of the winemakers and the
establishment of their wineries. The fi rst interviewees were
selected according to the recognised role they played in the
development of quality in winemaking and also their par-
ticipation in the activities of the Villány-Siklós wine road,
and further interviewees were identifi ed using the snowball
method. Altogether, 21 interviews were conducted between
spring 2008 and 2010, and a further six after 2011. The
interviews lasted one to two hours. They provided in-depth
information (about changes, events and turning points in the
winemakers’ lives, and about people who helped or hindered
them) that is important in defi ning the stages of development
for the individuals as well as for Villány. The statements of
the paper refer mainly to Villány town and its winemakers
but the Villány vintners have holdings in the whole wine
region and the developments described in the study occurred
across the whole region.
Other background information for the research included
the minutes from town council meetings and the available
statistics from the local area, literature about the emergence
Figure 1: Service providers of the Villány-Siklós wine road, 2013.
Source: Fonyódi Valéria
The Villány wine region: a genuine rural experience economy
51
of new family wineries and winemakers, and two decades of
participant observation by the author through taking part in
cultural and gastronomic events in the area. Informal discus-
sions with rural tourism hosts between 2006 and 2008 on
rural tourism trainings also provided valuable background
information and insights into the lives of local people.
Results
The development phases of quality
wine production in Villány
The development of wine tourism and quality produc-
tion in Villány can be divided into fi ve phases developing
out of the qualitative changes and innovation in the previous
period. The phases usually started with a symbolic event or
special fact or the start of a new trend that had an impact on
the winemaking community and also on the local population.
Phase 1: the ‘latent era’
This phase started in the late 1970s and lasted until 1991.
As a general tradition almost every family had a small vine-
yard (0.1-0.5 ha) and cellar and besides home consumption
they sold their wine to friends and people from towns. The
beginnings of change are linked to the fact that some private
winemakers started bottling their wines and selling them to
restaurants, hotels etc. There was a local producers’ group in
Villány, where the land was provided by the cooperative or
the state farm but the plantation was established, owned, cul-
tivated and harvested by the producers. This group began to
purchase special quality wines from small scale producers and
to label the bottle with the name of the producer. It was only a
10-15 mm wide label, such as ‘wine from József Bock’s wine
cellar’, but it represented high quality that came from the pri-
vate sector. These quality wines very quickly became known
and popular among retailers, restaurants and hotels at the end
of the 1980s. Additionally, there were fi ve or six producers
(including Tiffán, Polgár, Gere, Bock and Blum) who operated
small taverns similar to the Austrian Buschenschanks for visi-
tors (Bock interview). This small-scale, handicraft production
still existed predominantly at the level of a hobby, based on
local lifestyle and family traditions and as a way of supple-
menting family income. Each winemaker had a main job in
either agriculture or industry. The future ‘Wine Producer of the
Year’ top winemakers, Tiffán, Polgár, Gere and Bock, all had
middle or leading managerial positions in local companies.
The fi rst private investor, Debreceni Pál from Szeged,
came to the region in 1988. To fulfi l his intention to produce
excellent Villány red wines, he bought a large holding from
the large state fi rm Pannonvin in Kisharsány. His company
was to become the Vylyan, one of the biggest estates in the
wine region.
This stage ended by the spring of 1991 at which time
Ede Tiffán won a gold medal at the wine competition of the
Sunday Times in London. This drew a lot of attention to him
and also to Villány and its red wines. Based on this success
he was awarded the fi rst ‘Wine Producer of the Year’ title
in Hungary. He immediately received an offer for his whole
stock, but he visioned his future differently. “They wanted to
take these 10,000 bottles to the 1991 World Fair in Sevilla ...
They wanted to buy the whole stock and pay for it immedi-
ately. But I said no. It was more important for me to sell it to
the Hungarian gastronomy ... in Sevilla people would drink
the wine and not know to whom it belongs. Here I can make
the foundations of my own activities in the best Hungarian
restaurants and hotels” (Tiffán interview).
Phase 2: the ‘great take-off’
From 1991 until the end of 1996 a signifi cant number of
individual producers decided to develop a family wine busi-
ness. Becker Nóra, the mayor of Palkonya and the chairper-
son of the Villány-Siklós Wine Road Association, described
this period of change as follows: “It was the moment in
1994, when all which had maintained the old system began
to collapse, from the furniture factory to the stone quarry,
from the co-operative to the state farm, but the privatisation
was not yet over. Nobody knew what would happen from
this” (Becker interview).
In this period people started to acquire land, either by
auction based on the compensation law or by purchasing.
It was also the start of the technological development. The
experience of large-scale cultivation by Tiffán and Polgár
meant a detailed knowledge of the wine region territories
existed. At this time they already recognised that, despite the
low wine prices, one must create new plantations instead of
cutting out the vines because they must be able to trust in the
marketability of the quality wine3.
At this time Gere opened his bed-and-breakfast (B&B)
with 19 beds and it remained the only such facility until 1997
when four other small hotels were opened. He also began to
cooperate with an Austrian winemaker Weninger. Before the
political changes Villány did not have any tourist lodgings
and it had only a single big restaurant called Oportó. Most of
the private cellars were closed to the public.
So the early 1990s were characterised by re-privatisation,
acquisition of land, the planting of new vineyards, learning
of new technologies and new knowledge and the creation
of the Villány-Siklós wine road. Regarding vine cultiva-
tion there was a radical break with the previous large-scale
practice. Quality winemaking became the priority. “We have
learned the low yield approach. This is the alpha and omega
for quality wine production” (Bock interview).
The Villány-Siklós Wine Road Association was set up in
1994 following a study tour to Austria, Germany and France
for the Villány winemakers and their wives, and research-
ers and tourist experts. Becker Nóra recalled: “As we came
home on the bus, we already discussed that we have to do
the same at home, it was like as if it was fi gured out for us.
The wine road that we saw there were clear rural develop-
ment instruments. We, mostly the mayors, were completely
blown away that we saw something and we wanted some-
thing similar for us” (Becker interview). The objective of
the Association was “the establishment of the wine route,
promotion of the production of quality wines, the develop-
3 Owing to the depressed prices of red wine and the popularity of sweet white wines,
coupled with economic uncertainty, at the beginning of the 1990s some producers
started cutting out the vines in their vineyards.
Kovács Dezső
52
ment of wine tourism and rural tourism, the protection of the
vineyards and ecological image of the Villány wine region,
an increase in the market and the demand for local quality
wines, the protection of the monuments, cultural and archi-
tectural treasures, and the articulation and representation of
the interests connected to all the above”.
The establishment of the Association was coupled with a
European Union (EU) ‘Phare’ project. The Phare Inter-Com-
munal Co-operation (ICC)4 programme provided funding
for the fi rst training sessions about entrepreneurship, rural
tourism and hospitality and also offered interest-free loans
for the entrepreneurs via a local savings cooperative bank.
At that time the commercial interest rates were above 30 per
cent. The modest capital injection in the fi rst round of the
interest-free programme gave a huge impetus to the 40 peo-
ple who participated in it. “It was a fantastic step forward.
Those 40 participants still here are among our suppliers of
services, but in a much improved condition. They have ten
times as many vineyards, some millions or billions [of HUF]
in investment behind him” (Becker interview).
At this time however the gradual development of wine
tourism was still not appreciated by offi cialdom. As Tiffán
reported “At the end of 1994, as the chairperson of the
Villány-Siklós Wine Road Association, I participated in the
tourist season’s closing session of the Baranya County Tour-
ism Offi ce. Participants spoke about thermal tourism, eques-
trian tourism and several other things, but no one mentioned
wine tourism. Then I delivered a speech and warned them
that there is also a wine tourism here which just started in
Villány. If I consider how things go in Western Europe one
can expect greater success and government offi cials have to
pay attention to it. At that time I got a mere hint but 3-4 years
later this hinting stopped” (Tiffán interview).
Phase 3: expansion, upgrading and strengthening, and
‘conscious product marketing’
The period from 1997 was one of reassessing previous
ideas and goals and setting new targets. By this time four
wine producers (Tiffán, Polgár, Gere and Bock) had held the
title of ‘Wine Producer of the Year’ and the quality of the
wine had signifi cantly improved. A new challenge was how
to effectively market these quality wines. As Gere Andrea
observed from her own experience: “At the beginning the
winemakers could not imagine how to promote themselves.
4 The Phare Inter-Communal Co-operation (ICC) programme introduced the princi-
ples and practice of bottom up local development bringing together all key players in
a territory of sub-regions or municipalities. The Villány-Siklós wine road was among
the 14 winning projects and it was crucial for small local entrepreneurs to push them to
establish their own wineries.
There were no websites, web pages or brochures. Everyone
was trying to set down the foundations – to have a good qual-
ity wine in the bottle ... Perhaps by 1997, 1998 or 1999, with
the Kopár Cuvee, there was a deliberate marketing thrust
behind the wine, in order to show to our customers our phi-
losophy as well” (Gere interview).
The leading family wineries had grown very fast within a
decade. The former 0.5-1 hectare producers multiplied their
lands and yields. Bock remembers his beginnings and the
ways of thinking at that time: “Actually we started working
and we did not know what the upper limit was. I said that I
would be producing 15 hectares and that would be fantastic.
There was no tinge of anxiety. I paused for a moment when
I passed the 1,000 hectolitres mark in 1998-99. Then I said,
‘Wow, this is a bit much’. Today (in 2010) we are working
with roughly 4,000 hectolitres of wine, even a little bit more
than that” (Bock interview).
The top winemakers outgrew the initial investments of
the 1990s and started new undertakings to build new capaci-
ties. They could already access EU pre-accession funds to
make their investments. Before Hungary’s accession to the
EU in 2004, several of the producers pursued new planta-
tions because they were aware that the EU would put an
upper limit on the Hungarian wine-growing area.
At this stage a second cohort of winemakers achieved
some fame and recognition5. They produced excellent wine
while also increasing their assets – they started revitalising
the streets of wine cellars of Villány by establishing wine
bars, shops with wine tasting and restaurants.
Phase 4: blossoming of wine tourism, large scale acquisi-
tions and investments, and approval of quality require-
ments and ‘greening’
The fi rst decade of the new millennium was full of inno-
vations and events. It witnessed a substantial increase in
tourism activities in Villány town and the surrounding region
including festivals, spas, hiking and biking activities, nature
trails etc. Wine tourism became more and more distinctive
due to the wine road and entrepreneurial efforts. At the begin-
ning of the wine road development the idea was that tourists
from Harkány, a traditional spa town 12 km from Villány
with a big tourist accommodation capacity, would come to
Villány to taste wine and there would be no need to provide
accomodation and other facilities. However, during the ten
5 Those winemakers who established their family wineries at the beginning of the
1990s and decided to be vintners as their main profession, following the patterns of
Tiffán, Gere, Bock and Polgár. Most of them had lost their previous jobs and this fact
pushed them to be independent entrepreneurs. They usually started out from a small
(half to one hectare) family vineyard.
Table 1: Indicators of tourism activity in Villány town, 1994-2012.
1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012
Public accommodation establishments 1 5 7 7 9 8 7
Number of bed places 19 49 84 169 214 21 4 267
Number of tourist arrivals 319 1,145 2,596 6,004 10,967 14,593 17,896
Number of tourism nights spent 613 3,033 4,474 9,579 15,669 22,131 28,036
Private accommodation establishments 34 42 60 56
Number of bed places 0 164 232 334 375
Number of tourist arrivals 310 851 2,186 2,822 4,202
Number of tourism nights spent 588 1,477 3,701 5,068 6,665
Source: Hungarian Central Statistical Offi ce
The Villány wine region: a genuine rural experience economy
53
years from 2000 community and individual accommodation
capacities in Villány town increased considerably (Table 1).
Pécs, the county capital situated 35 km from Villány with
its 160,000 permanent inhabitants and tourists, was also a
source of visitors.
Ten years after Debreceni’s arrival, a new big investor,
Csányi Sándor, owner of the OTP Bank and the wealthiest
man in the country, came to Villány. He bought up the former
state farm (the biggest estate in Villány) and established the
Csányi winery, producing and selling his wines under the
brand name of Teleki. Its capacity is about two million bot-
tles per year. Two other new investors built cellars and pro-
cessing facilities as green-fi eld investments on the outskirts
of the town. In 2004, Szűcs Robert, a fi nancial investor asso-
ciated with Wunderlich, a local vintner, and under this brand
name, established a winery equipped with the most modern
equipment and high-quality service and restaurant6. The next
new investment in 2006 was the Sauska winery. Krisztián
Sauska, a Hungarian American who made his fortune in the
USA. The creation of his estates drove up the land prices
in Villány (Dóra, 2006). His goals for winemaking and the
wines themselves, however, earned high appreciation both
from consumers and local winemakers7.
After three years of preparation and discussion, the rules
for the protection of origin – DHC (Districtus Hungaricus
Controllatus) Villány – were accepted for the wine region,
and order 91/2005 (X.18.) of the Hungarian Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development was issued about the
protected origin wines of the Villány wine region. This
regulation (which is stricter than the Hungarian Wine Law)
defi nes the grapes which can be grown in the wine region
and several other rules about pruning, the number of vine
stocks per hectare, the upper limit of the quantity of grapes
etc.8 A trademark, the protected fl ower Hungarian crocus
(Colchicum hungaricum) with ‘DHC Villány’ inscription,
refers to the origin of the wine with name of the producer
and the place of production.
This stage among the ‘pioneers’ was a consolidation
phase. Their land areas (50-70 hectares) were 50 to 100 times
larger than at the beginning of the 1990s. The Bock winery
and the Vylyan winery earned the ‘Wine Producer of the
Year’ award in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Since the begin-
ning of this phase the top winemakers have started matching
the wine and gastronomy with cultural events, music, litera-
ture, training events, exhibitions, stand up comedies, such
as with music and wine, jazz and wine, literature and wine,
art and wine etc. The fi rst four-star wine wellness hotel was
opened in Villány in 2009 by Gere Attila. Other accommo-
dation facilities were remodelled by Bock and Polgár; their
capacity was signifi cantly expanded, and wellness and spa
services, and cultural facilities were incorporated as well as
wine-tasting and gastronomy elements.
The second cohort of producers referred to earlier (Mal-
atinszky, Günzer, Vylyan, Szemes, Kecskés, Mayer, Ricu,
6 This relationship has since been broken, now the new name is Jammertal Winery
and Wunderlich continues his winemaking in his old wine cellar.
7 Sauska Cuvée 5 won the Decanter World Wine Award 2013 in the category of Red
Bordeaux Varietals over GBP 15. This award for wines is the equivalent of the Oscar
in the fi lm industry.
8 The categories of quality wine are the Villány Protected Original Premium Wine
(VVEB Prémium) and the Villány Protected Original Classic Wine (VVEB Classic).
Jekl, Szende, Molnár and others) enjoyed signifi cant growth
in terms of both the quantity and the quality of their wines
and their names are as well respected as those of the pio-
neers.
Another new phenomenon in the second part of this phase
was that a so-called ‘Villány small generation’ (Bányai and
Teszár, 2008) appeared. They were the sons and daughters
and young family members of the fi rst and second genera-
tions of winemakers, and also some young newcomers who
were challenged by the possibility of quality wine making in
Villány. By now these young people had responsible posi-
tions in the family wineries.
In 2008 a cultural festival called Ördögkatlan (Devil’s
Cauldron) was established under the guidance of Bárkasz-
inház, a popular theatre from Budapest. In 2012 the festival
had 50 venues in three villages of the wine road (Palkonya,
Kisharsány and Nagyharsány) 25-28 thousand visitors
and 370 cultural activities. By 2013 the number of visitors
increased to 35-40 thousand and a new venue (Beremend)
joined the Festival.
During this period, the ‘greening’ idea of organic farm-
ing and the production of organic wine appeared. Two Ger-
man couples, who settled down in the area in small villages
a short distance from Villány, were the main drivers in this
fi eld. But the leading winemakers, Bock, Gere, Polgár, and
Tiffán, also followed this trend and they gradually switched
their land to organic farming, reducing or ending the use of
synthetic chemicals (Gere interview).
Phase 5: tourism marketing and unfolding opportunities
Villány town and the wine region are situated at the
periphery of the country. However, two important events
helped to expose Villány wines to the international commu-
nity. The fi rst was in 2010 when Pécs held the title of Cul-
tural Capital of Europe. The second was the the Hungarian
Government’s Presidency of the EU in 2011. Both events
offered a great opportunity for Villány and for the members
of the Villány-Siklós Wine Road Association to present their
wines and values to the Europe-wide public. Also in 2010 the
M6-M60 motorway from Budapest approached Pécs and the
4-5 hours driving time from the capital was reduced to 2-2.5
hours, so the main market for Villány, became ‘much closer’.
A bypass is planned for the town of Villány and parallel with
this will be the creation of an opportunity for the designation
of a new industrial district where wine and other businesses
will be able to settle.
In 2012 the town won a grant of HUF 298 million from
the New Széchenyi Plan (EU Regional Development Fund
and Hungarian Government funding) towards a new invest-
ment of HUF 400 million to fi t out a signifi cant area with
infrastructure and facilities to become a venue for big fes-
tivals, events, concerts etc. The Villány Red Wine Festival
used this new festival space at the beginning of October
2013 for 30,000 visitors.
Villány is thus trying to catch up with the developments
achieved in the levels of wine production. In 2011, these
amounted to around 1,700 vine holdings (individual culti-
vated units) occupying over 2,500 ha (Table 2). One owner
may have several holdings: it is estimated that Csányi cul-
Kovács Dezső
54
tivates about 370 ha of vinyards in total and Vylyan around
125 ha. In 2014 Csányi expects to invest HUF 200 million
in increasing its production capacity (Trade Magazin, 2014).
Besides performing well in several international wine com-
petitions, in 2013 the company’s domestic sales were up 15
per cent and its turnover exceeded HUF 1 billion. The wine
tourism needs new attractions and new experiences in the
town, not to mention the need to renew its infrastructure.
The small cellars in the busier areas of the town are being
modernised and neglected areas are slowly being developed.
The main driving force in the town is now the experience
economy.
Discussion
Many general and specifi cally local factors can be impli-
cated in the transformation of the Villány wine industry
from mass to quality production during the past two decades
(Table 3).
Amongst the general factors the change in the political
system was decisive as it opened the way for family enter-
prises and made it possible to create family-run wineries
with the acquisition of land through purchase or privatisa-
tion. The example of wine roads in ‘western’ countries, the
direct experiences of working abroad and the early success
of the ‘pioneers’ in Villány were the ‘pull’ factors, while the
economic hardship which forced people to start their own
family wineries was the ‘push’ factor towards making qual-
ity wine9. The managerial experience which had previously
been acquired at large scale industrial or agricultural fi rms
also played a role in the creation of family wineries.
A very important local factor in Villány is the commit-
ment to quality. The move to quality production occurred in
a very short period of time and was accepted by a large num-
ber of vintners. Before the political changes occurred, the
number of quality wine producing vintners here represented
a small ‘critical mass’ that caught the attention of traders, in
contrast to other wine regions where there was mostly one
outstanding winemaker10. Within a couple of years, quality
wine production became the general norm and objective
9 Many families in Villány had relatives in Germany who frequently visited Villány
and vice versa. After the political changes some winemakers established joint ventures
with foreign entrepreneurs, the most well known is the Gere-Weninger partnership.
Mayer Márton exported wine for seven years privately to Germany after 1990 (Dlusz-
tus, 2004a). In 1993 Villány represented Hungary at the World Horticultural Expo in
Stuttgart. The traditional Villány cellars at the exhibition were built by Wunderlich.
Polgár and Gere spent half a year in Stuttgart at the Expo, selling their wine and in this
way balancing their fi nancial situation (Dlusztus, 2004b).
10 Tiffán mentioned that 4-5 people already produced enough quantity and quality to
attract wine traders to Villány.
among Villány vintners. The more the cellars opened in Vil-
lány the more guests arrived and they also formed a critical
mass, which further facilitated the opening of the wine cel-
lars on the town’s ‘wine street’, so the cellars have become
also a ‘phenomenon’ (Tiffán’s expression).
The mix of geographical, natural, climatic and social
conditions is also a specifi c local factor. The Villány hills
create a special microclimate for grape and Villány town is
on a similar latitude to Bordeaux. The traditional Swabian
diligence and culture, providence and insistence on the place
of the tradition, respect and love of the grape, recognition
of the value in the experiences of older people were other
important factors, together with an openness to new issues
and the search for new solutions.
The establishment of the Villány-Siklós Wine Road Asso-
ciation and the wine road itinerary and associated premises
occurred in parallel with the European wine road expansion.
For example, in Italy the wine roads appeared in 1993 with
the establishment of the Italian Wine Tourism Association.
Hall et al. (2000) noted that “[p]rior to 1993 the majority
of Italian wine producers failed to realise, or ignored, the
tourism potential of the wine industry” (p.39). In addition,
the Italian public did not consider wineries as tourist attrac-
tions (Colombini, pers. comm., 1997). The Villány-Siklós
Wine Road Association was an important springboard for
local vintners to develop their family wineries, to become
entrepreneurs and obtain the basic knowledge to start wine
tourism (Kovács, 2011). Its marketing activities promote the
whole community and also the individual service providers.
At the inception of the Association one could fi nd winemak-
ers, village mayors, B&B owners, tourism experts, repre-
sentatives of cultural institutions and journalists among the
members. In 2014 there are mainly entrepreneurs and village
mayors representing 17 local governments and six honorary
members, the former mayors who played important roles at
the start. The wine road includes 47 wine tasting places, 40
accommodation and 34 catering providers, although these
activities partly overlap one another.
The phases described in this paper represent several
innovations which were responses by Villány wine produc-
ers to customer demand. The wineries have created not only
the possibility of tasting and buying the wine locally but they
have developed complex wine tourism services including
wine tasting, selling, gastronomic and cultural offers, high
Table 3: Factors which have infl uenced the move to quality produc-
tion in the Villány wine region.
General factors Local factors
• Institutional (political) sup-
port and background;
• Financial support.
• Entrepreneurial freedom,
market economy.
• Commitment to quality;
• Visionary pioneers and leaders;
• Ability to learn from others;
• Cooperation, partnership;
• Permanent innovation (in technol-
ogy, tourism, marketing, greening,
cooperation);
• Climate, geography;
• Respect of local traditions and their
customers;
• Ethnic German knowledge and
contacts with Germany;
• Hospitality.
Source: own composition
Table 2: The number and territory of vine holdings bigger than
500 m2 in the Villány wine region, 2011.
Size of holding (ha) Number of holdings Territory (ha)
< 1 1279 426
1-5 322 626
5-10 47 338
10-30 30 497
30-100 9 431
> 100 2 255
Source: Database of the National Council of Wine Communities.
The Villány wine region: a genuine rural experience economy
55
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