Historical allusions of bull blood

Legend has it that the appearance of bull blood is related to a war about the Hungarian people's resistance to aggression.

It was the war of 1852, with tens of thousands of invaders in Enemy at the Gates. At that time, there were only more than 2,000 Hungarian guards, and the strength of both sides was huge. Outside the city, the roar was loud, and one siege war after another was in full swing. The guards tried their best to stop the attack of thousands of intruders. At that time, Hungarian law stipulated that soldiers were not allowed to drink alcohol during the war. At night, the defenders were hungry and cold. The invaders launched a general attack and were determined to win. The guard almost collapsed. At the last minute, the guard ordered people to remove several large oak barrels and told his soldiers that it was bull blood. After drinking, they can replenish their physical strength and keep warm from the cold. The soldiers all drank a lot. Later, they were all full of energy and fought tenaciously with the attackers. Finally, the enemy failed to break the city. A few days later, the enemy was exhausted and lacked support, so he was defeated and retreated.

After the war, the guards were summoned at the king's commendation meeting. When the king asked about the cow blood that inspired Ning people, the garrison generals told the soldiers to drink a wine with a color similar to cow blood, because if they were told that it was wine, the soldiers would rather die than drink it. Instead of blaming the soldiers, the king issued a decree to amend the law and named the wine cow blood.

The word "bull's blood" is thought to have been coined by the poet Janos Gare in 1846.

During the period of Turkic rule, the traditional white grapes in Hungary were replaced by varieties such as Kadaka grapes. 18 german immigrants from all over the world brought blue frank grapes. Affected by the epidemic of grape phylloxera in 1882, Hungarians had to introduce varieties from Lanfranco and podol. At that time, these different varieties of grapes were planted in vineyards and mixed together to make wine. It was not until the end of 19 that they were processed separately and then mixed together. During the Soviet period, Kadaka grape was largely replaced by podol grape and Zweig grape, which were easy to grow. The combination of grape variety change and industrial production made the Ego bull blood wine produced in 1970s and 1980s more glossy and simpler in taste.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a large number of Kadaka grapes were replanted in the vineyards. In the mid-1990s, the wines produced here returned to the original tradition and darker quality. In order to solve some wine quality problems, in the mid-1990s, Europe formulated stricter wine technical standards. This standard was introduced to Hungary in 1997, and Hungary established the first wine technical standard-District US Hungarian Controlled Latus (DHC for short). According to the standard, the raw materials for brewing Ego bull blood wine must include at least three of 13 traditional grape varieties.

In 2004, the product standard of self-bull blood high-end wine was established. It is stipulated that the raw materials for brewing must contain at least five kinds of grape varieties recommended by 13, and the wine yield per hectare of grape field should not be higher than 60 liters. It is also stipulated that wine must be aged for a long time before it can be put on the market, and it must be aged in wooden barrels for at least 12 months and bottled for 6 months. At the same time, the requirements of the standard for wine composition, brewing technology and minimum alcohol content are also different from those of ordinary eger bull blood. All these regulations are aimed at introducing higher quality wines to the world.

Although a lot of investment has been made in grape plantations and wineries, the quality of Ego bull blood has not been guaranteed, and the quality difference between high-quality products and popular cheap goods on the market is huge. High-quality bull blood needs 2-3 years of barrel aging, and it is best to drink it at 16- 18℃.