Dear Guests, 

Egri Bikavér Festival is an awareness of life which can only live through and experience on the spot.  We all come together, taste our excellent wines by good music, simply, enjoy ourselves, this year for the sixteenth time. It is a very important event year – by – year, since besides this is the biggest Festival of Eger, Egri Bikavér and already Egri Csillag are the most well-known wine brands of the region.

According to the records, the description of grape varieties giving the wine bikavér was announced the first time exactly 100 years ago, in 1912.  Jenő Grőber, wine – grower in Eger created Egri Bikavér at the beginning of the last century to show the beauty, strength and power of red wines produced at the colourful wine region of Eger.  The jingling name and the regulated blending of selected varieties brought the expected result: bikavér become the most well know brand name of the wine region. However, in the past hundred years bikavér, as other Hungarian wines, had some bad decades. Nevertheless, in the past two decades, the revived wineries of Eger after political transformation acted a lot to replace the old place of the brand name. All kinds of things happened in order to acknowledge it by the consumers of these days: the carefully blended egri bikavér possesses high quality. It is a unique, protean, great wine taking the opportunity of endless possibility of blending still typically from Eger.

Egri csillag. The white wines of Eger, besides red wines, express the harmony of production site and native grape varieties with vigorous acids and fruity flavour. However, besides Egri Bikavér extending nice accomplishments again and other red wines, probably white wines did not receive proper attention. The wine society of Eger realised after a hundred years the hour had come to find the white pair of bikavér. It is found and Egri Csillag was born whose denominative ceremony took place at last year’s Bikavér Festival. The white blend is based on the grape varieties of The Carpathian Basin such as: furmint, hárslevelű, leányka, királyleányka, zengőre and zenit with great expectation similar to bikavér.   

An old-standing and popular tradition of Bikavér Festival, that the best restaurants of Eger and surroundings prepare their composed dishes for this unique occasion. One bikavér and one dish of Eger, a real wine gastronomy gala.

A new, larger locality, the Érsekkert with its green environment, gives the place for the Festival this year, already obtained visitors’ pleasure last year. We made a generation breakthrough last year as more or less all age-groups and families visited the programmes.  On the basis of the demand and the participation rate of visitors, the programme will expand a new patch of colour, the Egri Csillag terrace behind the little lake of Érsekkert.

We compliment the prominent sport stars of Eger, besides the unique tractors Hungarian motorcycle and veteran car exhibition and show, “giving bull’s blood”, cavalry dress fashion show, pet caress make the days of the Festival unforgettable. During the programmes the unique, hand painted 225 litre size wine barrels can be seen, moreover purchased on the auction on 7^th July. From the income of the auction the “star huts”, come from the legend of Egri Csillag, will be built by the owners of the idea, the Association of Eger Wine Lover Ladies.

For four days, many - coloured concerts on two stages, supreme atmosphere, handmade products and self-forgetting entertainment waits for the guests.   
More exciting details can be found at the website:www.facebook.com/egribikaverunnep 

The legend of Egri Csillag

Let’s follow the star of Eger!

Nobody can be surprised indeed that the history of Egri Csillag can be traced back the Turkish times. By carrying on a research work regarding the legend, I found the writing from 1903 of Frigyes Türk , who is the person knows about Eger the most, in which it is said that in Nagy- Eged hill and its surroundings, at the vineyards of the North-east edges of the town stood the watchman’s huts. The ruins of one of the old watchman’s hut called “ uglywork” still can be found in Ostoros village. According to the description of Türk these watchman’s huts were lit by torches at night to make the territory visible. Therefore, the night glittering light of the huts had both the function of defence and road sign.

This was important, as this foothill led – and leads now as well – from the direction of Ostoros to the largest valley of the Eger Wine Region, into Almagyar and Sík-hegy range.  Then the path has continued along Eged hill through the Bükk Mountains. After all, the watchman’s huts marked the most important points of a trade – route for both coming from the Plateau and the Northern Mountains. By the side of the road wine, crops and textile products changed hands. The Csurgó – brook flew in the valley of Almagyar- and Sík-hegy fed the little lake of Nagy – Eged hill and the water of the lake gave water to the horses and cattle. At those times the long-continued journey was not stopped at night. And travellers were able to do that as when they got to the boundary of Eger in the dark night, the watchman’s huts of the vineyards showed the path by giving light. The wagons often loaded with wine barrels were able to run safely and comfortable through centuries in the boundary of Eger without any physical burden as horses were able to amble along the flat path until the mountains

The news of the travellers’ friend road lights went all over the country. At that time, the following phrase came into use: If you travel to Eger, just follow the glittering stars of Eger.…”

Ferenc Csutorás jr.

Have a good time!

Vine-growing Community of Eger town