The name of the winery comes from the history of the estate (in english it is Somlói Abbey Cellar).
According to the local folk history the winery was originally established by the monks of the Arch abbey of Pannonhalma several hundreds of years ago with the purpose of satisfying the needs of the abbey. Old military maps from the 18th century signs a building or cellar on the spot where the present cellar and wine house is located but the true origins of the wine cellar is uncertain. Later (during the 19th century) an Austrian Jewish family purchased the estate and rebuilt the wine house in a monastic style. By that the plantation was about 3-4 acres. The owners of the winery were resident in Wien and a local traditionally vine-dresser family took care of the plantation and the cellar. After the storms of the 20th century in 2001 almost 3 acres of the original plantation was reunited and replanted and the old cellar is being renovated with an aim to continue the centuries old traditional wine making.
The technologies of the winery is very traditional and can be characterized as hand-crafting technology. Almost all the work on the plantation is manual to give maximal attention and care to the vines. The pesticed used to prevent diseases and against pests are as environment friendly as possible. The fermentation and the aging of the wine happens in various sized oak barrels. The temperature and humidity control is taken care by the mother nature and centuries old cellar built from solid rock. The wines of the cellar are aged in oak barrels for at least one year and one additional year in bottle.
In the winery one can find all the major grape types grown on Somló but there are three grapes selected as main types.
The higher strips of the plantation with mostly basalt-crumb covered soil fits best to the ancient Furmint type. Furmint gives full bodied strong and well aging wine and the vine is susceptible for noble roting.
Hárslevelű is selected as good complement for Furmint as it gives a very aromatic and spicy wine.
The third and maybe the most important type is the Juhfark (literally means sheep’s tail). This grape is the own grape variant of Somló. This variety of grape gives very elegant wine with robust acids with clean grape taste. The best characteristic of the Juhfark is that it can humbly express the very unique terroir of the Somló. The wine from Juhfark is the one that aged in new oak barrels for short time to gain even more structure and complexity.
