The wines of Chateau Chizay

Chateau Chizay is one of the largest and best-known wineries in Ukraine. It is located near the town of Berehove in Transcarpathia, a few kilometres from the Hungarian border. The winery makes its wines exclusively from grapes grown in its own vineyards. Chateau Chizay is best known for its Furmint, its Carpathian Sekt sparkling wine and also its sweet wines. The winery aims to restore the former glory of the forgotten wine region of Transcarpathia.

Check out our 3 wines made by Chateau Chizay

The wine history of the Chizay valley goes back centuries. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Hungarian king granted land here to a subject whose son, Chiz, inherited it in 1230. The estate was therefore called Chiz-tai, "the estate of Chiz", from which the name Chizay later developed. As early as the fifteenth century, Hungarian maps show a wine estate here that supplied wine to Mukachevo Castle and to European courts. During the Austro-Hungarian period, the region enjoyed a true golden age.

That golden age came to an end when Transcarpathia ceased to be Hungarian at the end of the First World War. The region changed hands several times during the twentieth century and became part of the Soviet Union after 1945. In the 1980s, under Gorbachev, the Soviet Union waged an anti-alcohol campaign, and in Transcarpathia too most of the vineyards were grubbed up. Winemaking had all but disappeared from this old wine region.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hugo Gutman built a new winery on the site of the old wine estate in 1995. Born in Transcarpathia, Gutman returned from the United States as a successful businessman to realise his dream. His Chateau Chizay became the first private winery in Ukraine to be built entirely from the ground up.

In 2005 the building was given the look of a French-style manor house, and in 2006 the winery planted its own vineyards. From 2016 onwards, Chateau Chizay's best red wines were aged in French oak. The winery later expanded its oak-aged range to include white wines.

Chateau Chizay plays a wider role in the region. It opened a wine museum, founded the Chateau Chizay Academy for professional training and welcomed thousands of visitors every year – at least before the Russian invasion of 2022. It was also the first Ukrainian winery to sign the Porto Protocol, an international sustainability initiative in the wine sector.

Chateau Chizay currently has three large vineyards in Transcarpathia: near Berehove (70 hectares), Zavydovo (81 hectares) and Midianytsia (121 hectares). The soils are mainly volcanic, with limestone and loam in places. The vineyards mostly lie on south-facing slopes in a mild climate, sheltered by the Carpathian Mountains. Berehove lies about 130 kilometres east of Tokaj in Hungary and shares its volcanic subsoil with this renowned region.

The vines were planted in 2006 with the help of Austrian specialists, using Austrian techniques and planting material. In total there are more than a million vines, spread across fourteen varieties. White grapes include Furmint, Cserszegi Fűszeres (known locally as Chersegi), Riesling, Traminer, Muscat Ottonel and Pinot Blanc. For its red and rosé wines, Chateau Chizay uses Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Blaufränkisch. We currently have three wines from Chateau Chizay in our range. You can view all our wines from Chateau Chizay here.

If you want to know more about this winery, here you will find the link to the website of Chateau Chizay.