Quality is never a matter of chance, but the result of a well-thought-out idea, persistence, effort, and knowledge. In every sip of our Aszú, you will feel the combination of quality and magic. The result is a true smile for the soul.
István Zombory
owner
About Us
Every bottle of Zombory wine concentrates nearly 300 years of history. This story began in the Mecsek: in 1741. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, in recognition of the brave participation in driving out the Turks, granted our family, among other things, vineyards and nobility. Meanwhile, another branch of the Zombory family found a home in northeastern Hungary. They also had connections to Sárospatak and Mezőzombor, which belong to the Tokaj wine region, so they were surely involved with wine as well.
Although we were born and raised in Argentina, the Hungarian wine, loved by our family for generations, was encoded into us. After the regime change in Hungary, we came home more and more often; Tokaj – the magical landscape, family ties, the most famous Hungarian wine – almost immediately captivated us.
We purchased our first vineyards in Rátka and Mád in 2002. We progressed parcel by parcel. The vibrancy and fruitiness provided by the more sedimentary, zeolitic Isten Hill, as well as the complexity and depth of our grapes grown on the iron-oxide-rich, clay soils of the neighboring Padi and Közép Hill, give precisely the wine that, in our opinion, makes Tokaj unique in the world. Over the years, we achieved an ideal combination by cultivating a few selected hectares of our own land, complemented by first-class grapes purchased from local producers.
Our wines were originally made under the leadership of János Árvay, who was previously also named Winemaker of the Year; today, new and newer wonders come from the hands of István Dorogi. In our assortment, everything can be found from dry single-variety wines to blends, as well as aszú and essence, which is only produced in the most special years. Our dry Furmints, while representing the fresh, fruity line in accordance with international taste, perfectly showcase the Tokaj terroir that is unmistakable by anything else. Our Alphia and Julia cuvées, named after our grandchildren, embody the perfect harmony of the wine region’s classic trio (Furmint-Hárslevelű-Sárgamuskotály). When blending the individual wines, achieving complexity and balance is the main focus.
Our greatest pride is clearly our Tokaji Aszú. We only make it in the finest years and exclusively as a 6-puttonyos. We age our aszús for a long time in our aging cellar in Mád, which has the ideal climate, in Zemplén oak barrels – just as the old masters did.
Both the wine industry and the wine-drinking community recognize our effort to provide the highest possible quality. Zombory Pince wines return year after year with brilliant medals from the most prestigious domestic and international competitions. The brightest example of this is the Zombory Pince 2014 6-puttonyos Aszú. In addition to winning gold medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards and the Citadelle du Vin wine competition, the evaluation in the Winelovers 100 – the 100 best Hungarian wines 2018 publication – ranked it as the third best Hungarian wine of 2018.
In recent years, significant tourism developments have been launched in Tokaj and its surroundings, and there are serious efforts to revitalize the downtown area of Tokaj. Hoping for the dynamic development of wine tourism in Tokaj and to increase on-site sales to private individuals, in 2022 – specifically for hospitality purposes – we opened a wine cellar in the heart of Tokaj, on the Szerelmi Pincesor.
With us, it is completely natural to take our guests through the cellar that reaches deep into Kopasz Hill before sitting them in the tasting room, which can accommodate up to 20 people at a time. It is also not uncommon for visitors to be guided by our family members who speak five languages and for the small dishes served with the wines to be prepared by us. In spring and summer, the terrace with umbrellas is also available for our visitors.
It is worth visiting us in Tokaj, if only because at the Zombory Winery, alongside our Tokaji wines, one or two bottles of Argentine Malbec always appear as well, also from the best variety. After all, we cannot live in Argentina without our own winery either. But that is another story…
István Zombory & Tamás Zombory
“The most rewarding part of what I do is being able to see the full growing season from pruning to bud break through harvest.”
Danielle Noce
Marketing Director
Tokaji Aszú,
the king of wines
Tokaji Aszú,
the king of wines
Tokaji Aszú is one of the most special and noblest wines in the world. It was rightly called the king of wines by Louis XIV of France. Continuing with the metaphor: at Zombory Winery, from the very beginning, we have strived to produce the king of kings.
With us, aszú is made only in the finest years and exclusively as 6 puttonyos, using the two most defining grape varieties of the wine region, Furmint and Hárslevelű. We age our aszú far longer than the prescribed minimum. Exactly for as many years as the number of puttonyos. Typically, 3-4 years are spent in barrel aging, and the remaining time it rests in bottles in our cellar before being put on the market.
The long aging also shows that we strive to preserve the classic character of Aszú, but only in a way that maintains the fruitiness and citrusy freshness. It is our conviction that with the world’s most valuable sweet wine, what matters is not how many grams of sugar it contains. Even with us, there are often Aszús produced that would meet the classification of Aszú Esszencia, above the 6-puttonyos level. The secret, however, lies in the balance of acidity and sugar. We believe this is what makes Zombory Cellar’s Tokaji Aszús unique.
Perhaps this is also the reason why the miracle so often happens during the tasting of our Aszús. The miracle when people who do not usually drink sweet wine, or wine in general, exclaim after the first sip: “This really is different!”
Our winery in Argentina
Thanks in part to our experiences and successes in Tokaj, in 2007, two friends and I established the TREZ winery in Argentina. (Each of our names contributes a letter to the name of the winery.) Each of us has been able to thrive in different areas of life, with the common point being our passion for wine.
In our wines, we combine European winemaking traditions and techniques with the entrepreneurial spirit of the New World. Helping us in this are the vineyards of Mendoza, Argentina’s most famous wine region, framed by the Andes and situated at 1,000 meters above sea level. Here, the sun shines 330 days a year, while the evenings are cold; there are no more ideal conditions for grapes. The winemaking is associated with Roberto de la Mota, one of Argentina’s most highly regarded experts.
We focus exclusively on Argentina’s most significant grape, Malbec, making two types of wine from it each year. In the Vivanté, we showcase the varietal’s lighter, red berry side. In the Reserve, aged longer in barrels made of 80 percent French oak, its structured, dark berry, compote character prevails, complemented by cocoa-chocolate flavors from American barrels. I am proud that our latter wine received 92 points from Robert Parker, perhaps the world’s most influential wine critic, for its very first vintage.
We reserve our wines exclusively for export. In addition to Western Europe and North America, interested parties can also encounter them in the most elegant downtown restaurants and wine shops in Budapest, and of course, they are available at Zombory Winery as well. TREZ wines are always a fresh highlight of the tasting line-up for wine tourists visiting us in Tokaj, while also showing what we mean by outstanding wine quality in the New World.