Accordingly,
the amount of land planted with vines - 30 000 hectares in 1990, has
sharply declined in the 1990s. It would be increased to 22 430 hectares
in 2006 according to Central Controlling and Testing Institute in
Agriculture or even 16 772 ha according to the Slovak National Statistics, with a yield per hectare remaining very low.
In 1948
has been period of the violent collectivization. In 50’s to 60’s was
period of doubling of vineyards area, and building a huge processing
facilities in the state-owned enterprises. Very high focus on quantity
and almost complete declension from quality was a part of suffering
economy. In 1989, Slovakia produced a third more wine than it consumes
and the rest was exported to the Soviet Union or the North of Czech
territory. Soon after 1989 we've seen revial of wine making traditions
which was followed by new companies and estates started production of
quality wines. Producers had to quickly face a major international
competition with the accession of Slovakia to the EU (1st May 2004) .
In the 19th century was production concentrated especially in
Bratislava. In 1825 Napoleonic soldier J. E. Hubert built the first
production site for the sparkling wines outside the France. Thereafter
in the 1970’s it was moved to Sereď. In 1824, Anton Walz - vintner from
Trnava, receives supply orders of red wine for the Hungarian Army. In
his cellars he had the barrel with a capacity of 114 thousand litres. To
the top of the barrel led 32 stairs where has been space for six
dancing couples. Early 20th century was not profitable for viticulture.
Europe as a whole suffered severe frosts, fungal diseases and
phylloxera, which is believed to be destroyed more than 97 % of European
vineyards. Our wine withstands the pressure of foreign sweet wines in
interwar period. See also Chateau Palugyay article refering to this period.
Records
from 18th century show evidence of dessert wines production, even
Vermouth wine type. Quick pressing of the blue grapes creates a
favourite rose wine (Siler). In Bratislava and its surroundings such as
Rača, Vajnory, Svätý Jur, and Grinava have been produced highly valued
samotok wine (juice extract from grapes gained by using only its own
weight). Originally it was product of fast maturing varieties that Matej
Bel (1684 - 1749) called Viridula. During the long and sunny autumn
bunches formed large amounts of dried grapes, from which these wines
have been finalized, in that time it took 3 to 4 years to mature.
A wine
grape was mostly harvested before October in area of Low Carpathian
Mountains. 90% of production accounted for varieties of white wine. The
origin of this tradition comes from so-called noae et decimae fees and
highland fee that wine producers had to pay to town councils and Lords
also in a form of a smaller amounts of must and grapes of different
varieties and origin. A well established families Fuggers of Augsburg
and Thurzovs have built a wine cellars in Red Stone Castle.
The
second half of the Middle Ages was beneficial for the development of
viticulture, only over the years of Tatar invasion in 1241 – 1242 most
of the vineyards were damaged. However a wine production in the area
quickly recovered after the arrival of German colonizers into west
region and Italians into Tokaj region. In those dates, Bratislava was a
well established town holding a strong position in wine trading markets
mainly due to Danube trading route. Many historical entries from this
period were preserved as well. Many writers over the centuries,
especially Austrians and Hungarians, report the assessment of local
production of Slovakia for the quality of its grapes and its white
wines.
Three old church Slavonic prayers – prayer while planting a
vineyard, wine grape harvesting prayer and prayer for grape must
fermentation were preserved from the era of Great Moravian Empire.
In
Greek historical sources the mention of Slavic – Avarian wars can be
found, where a Bulgarian tzar ordered an uprooting of vineyards, after
his soldier reported a death of Avarian governor allegedly connected
with drunkenness.
The first evidence of wine growing in our region dates from the
6th - 7th century b. c. The hill forts of calenderberg culture located
on the summits of Molpir ( Smolenice ) were systematically researched
between 1963 - 1972 mainly by archaeologists Mikulas and Siegrid Dusek
of Slovak Academy of Sciences. The oldest historical findings – seven
vineyard knives and clay wine jug were found in those years. Based on
this the first wine producers in our region were most likely Celts.
Followed by the arrival of Romans the local wine enters a period of more
intensive wine grape growing. Wine production and grape growing based
on Roman and Celt tradition continued after arrival of Slavs into
Carpathian Basin.
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