Good grape harvest predicted in Ópusztaszer

(Photo: Pixabay)

After cutting off a few canes from the stone vines in the vineyard of the memorial park’s open-air museum, Mórahalam mountain judge István Kalmár said that the grape canes are healthy and intact, but somewhat less developed compared to previous years, which is a consequence of last year’s drought. The expert, who has been examining the grape vines in the memorial park in the second half of January for thirty years, said that the buds are nice and green and fully developed. If sufficient rainfall arrives in the coming months, the grapes, which are currently in a deep state of dormancy, can make up for the loss, and a satisfactory, good harvest is expected.

Farmers not only infer the future harvest from the state of budding

According to tradition, the cut branches are placed in water in a warm room, and based on the shoots, they will soon be able to tell when it is worth starting to prune the vines. Although the Ópusztaszer region is no longer famous for its grape growing or wine production, one of the largest wine cellars in the Great Plain was discovered among the farm buildings of the Szer monastery, which proves that significant grape growing may have taken place in the area already in the Middle Ages. Representatives of Hungarian and foreign wine orders have been gathering in Ópusztaszer for 35 years on the occasion of the feast of St. Vincent. This year, about seventy members of 17 wine orders, including guests from Vojvodina, Horgos and Bajmok, greeted the feast of the saint who died a martyr’s death in Hispania around 300.

According to folk tradition, on the day of Saint Vincent the Martyr – January 22nd – the expected grape harvest is predicted differently in each region

“If the Vince overflows, the cellar will be full”, meaning that if the weather is mild and it thaws on this day, a good wine harvest can be expected. Saint Vincent of Zaragoza is not only held in high esteem by Hungarian winemakers, he is also revered in France, southern Germany and Austria. The folk etymology of his name: Vin-Cent (a hundredfold wine) may also contribute to the veneration of the saint of early Christian times.

MTI