Several grapevines were planted today in Budapest's Jókai Garden. The aim of the initiative by the Ministry of Rural Development and the Duna-Ipoly National Park is for the Kadarka grape variety and wine to regain its earlier prestige.

Budapest's legendary wine, Buda Red, is to gain a new lease of life in the Kadarkáink Kertje ("Our Kadarkas' Garden"). The first grafted vines were planted ceremoniously in the Jókai Garden, invoking the Swabian harvest celebrations of days gone by. Work will continue in two stages, next spring and next autumn.

At the opening of the ceremonial vine planting, State Secretary for Environmental Affairs Zoltán Illés said, "Our task is to recreate the culture that was present in the Buda hills. The vines we are planting now will become mature in 2015, but we shall return every year and plant new ones. Kadarka may well become the flagship of Hungarian winemaking and a symbol of Budapest", he stressed.

Barnabás Lenkovics, Grand Kadar of the Kadarka Circle, told those present, "our wine and viticulture is part of what makes us Hungarian. The rehabilitation of wine gardens is at once the rehabilitation of our culture", he underlined.

The planting of the first grafted grapevines began after Zoltán Illés declared "Much vigour and red wine for Buda!"

Background:

Mór Jókai purchased the plot on Svábhegy (Swabian Hill) in 1853, together with the house that stood on it. He planted grapes and fruit trees in place of the dense undergrowth that covered the area. The harvests that took place in the garden of the villa were great events in the cultural and artistic life of Hungary, and one of the centres of contemporary intellectual life grew up here. The Jókai Garden has been a nationally significant conservation area since 1975, and a protected historical garden since 2007.

Buda Red was well known and liked both in Hungary and throughout Europe prior to the Phylloxera epidemic that destroyed most of the vineyards in Europe in the late 19th century.

(kormany.hu)