A. Gere Winery

A. Gere’s Vineyards

Kopár vineyard

Widely considered as one of the best crus in Villány, Kopár (meaning ’barren’) is situated on the southern slopes of Szársomlyó Hill (442 m) between Villány and Nagyharsány. Its total area is 63,5 ha. This is the most southernly vineyard of Hungary with an altitude of 120-130 meters above sea level.

Due to its sheer extension Kopár is a multifaceted growing area. There are sections facing south-southeast, while others face south-southwest, and besides the differencies in altitude the angle of the slopes is also different: at the bottom of the hill the gradient is lower (6-13%), higher up it gets progressively steeper (21-30%). The western section of Kopár facing Nagyharsány has even got a different name; many people call it Szarkás (meaning ’magpie’). The finest grapes destined for the winery’s top bottlings (Solus, Kopar) come from this vineyard.

Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot

Konkoly vineyard

Situated behind the hill of Szársomlyó Konkoly occupies a protected valley opening in the direction of Nagyharsány. It’s part of the ’Fekete Hegy’ (Black Hill), which covers altogether 25 hectares and is owned almost exclusively by the Gere Family. The name, refers to one of the families cultivating land here. Despite its excellent potential for vinegrowing it was left uncultivated for forty years; works for recultivation and replantation were started in 1998 by Attila Gere. The first grapes were harvested in 2001.

This vineyard is situated higher than the others with an altitude of 230-250 meter above sea level in some plots. It’s rather steep with a gradient between 15-20%, and with a southwest exposure. Some of the grapes grown here end up in the top wine of the winery, Kopar Cuvée.

Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Portugieser, Syrah

Ördögárok vineyard

Covering altogether 60 hectares this is a plot shared between Villány and Nagyharsány. Being unsuitable for intensive mechanical agriculture it was decided to be left uncultivated in the 1970s. Its excellent potential was rediscovered by Attila Gere and it was him who started its recultivation and replantation in 2001.
If it wasn’t for Attila Gere’s efforts one of the biggest plantation schemes of the last decade would never have been carried out. Ördögárok (meaning: The Devil’s Ditch) required soil melioration works on a tremendous scale: with a 20-25% gradient, some sections were unsuited for hill-valley direction rows and therefore plantation required the construction of terraces. The area lies at 150-250 meters above sea level.

Varieties: Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Portugieser, Pinot Noir, Tempranillo, Fekete Járdovány, Medoc Noir

Csillagvölgy vineyard

This is one of the traditional vineyards where farming has never been discontinued. Csillagvölgy (in Swabian called ’Sterntal’, meaning ’Star Valley’) is an area belonging to Villány, one might say that this is the town’s ’orchard’. It is situated between Szársomlyó Hill and the town with a southern exposure and it is increasingly steep closer to the top. Altitude is between 170-180 meter.
This is where the Gere Family had its first tiny holding of a vineyard. In 2005 the winery bought here a larger, 10 ha vineyard and the grapes grown here are destined for the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Sauvignon Barrique bottlings.

A. Gere’ Philosophy and sustainability

We have vineyards in some of the most outstanding areas of the Villány-Siklós wine region including Kopár, Konkoly, Csillagvölgy and Ördögárok. In terms of soil and climate there are subtle differencies between these plots, however they share some common characteristics like the loess topsoils rich in chalk with a limestone-dolomite bedding underneath and this makes them eminently suitable for the production of great red wines.

We knew from our grandparents’ accounts that there were some plots which were famous once due to their outstanding qualities but were abandoned and left fallow for many years. Beginning in the 1990s we gradually acquired some of these disused vineyards and replanted them.

There is no top quality wine without top quality grapes. We have an uncompromising attitude when it comes to quality, so since 2010 all vineyards belonging to the Gere Attila Family Winery are farmed organically. Our respect for the environment is reflected in the outstanding quality of the harvest: the grapes are healthy, rich in nutrients but free of chemicals

A. Gere’s Methodology

The winery’s cellar marries the latest state-of-the-art technology with traditional Villány winemaking methods. Harvest is done manually, the grapes are sorted during picking and then placed in small crates. Yields are kept low (for the top of the range wines this means 0,7–1 kg/vine) and only faultless, hand sorted grapes are processed.

First the bunches are selected on a sorting table. Only perfectly ripe, healthy grapes are processed. Following destemming the cooled down juice is racked into temperature controlled steel tanks or into wooden vats. Fermentation is temperature controlled and the whole process takes 1-3 weeks depending on the variety.
Our goal is to express the fragrance and flavours typical of the Villány wine region so the applied technological steps are all gentle. Fermentation is exclusively done by indigenous yeast strains, selected at the Estate. Our goal is to produce natural, individual, terroir wines.

Fermentation is followed by gentle pressing using pneumatic presses.

Spontaneous malolactic fermentation takes place in mostly new, Hungarian and French oak barrels in the ageing cellar under the winery. Red wines are aged between 14-18 months on average and this is followed by the blending process. For the top wines of the winery bottling is followed by another period of ageing, this time in bottles.