What is Bull's Blood Wine?

Egri Bikavér, or 'Bull's Blood', is a historic Hungarian red wine from the Eger wine region. Egri Bikavér may be made from eleven different grape varieties. The name Bull's Blood comes from a medieval legend.

Check out our 3 Egri Bikavér wines

Eger was besieged in 1592 by a superior force of Turkish soldiers. Hungarian soldiers drank themselves courage with red wine. They stood on the city walls, babbling, their beards dripping with red wine. The rumour spread among the Turks that the Hungarians drank bull's blood. That would make them invincible. Intimidated, they fled.

The legend generally does not tell us that Eger was conquered shortly afterwards and would be occupied by the Turks for 91 years.

Bull's Blood acquired a dubious reputation at the end of the last century. The socialist regime had very mediocre 'Bull's Blood' produced on a large scale, which appeared on the shelves of the supermarket for a small price. It was nothing like the high-quality wine that has been produced again in recent times.

High-quality Egri Bikavér is spicy, fruity and expressive. As with Châteauneuf-de-Pape, there is a fairly large number of grapes (11) that are permitted to be used for this wine. The main ones are Kékfrankos, Kadarka, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Zweigelt, Menoir, Blauburger and Pinot Noir. The wine may not contain more than 50% of a single grape variety.

We currently have three Egri Bikavér wines in our range. You can view our Egri Bikavér wines here.