Sárgödör square

We can find the Sárgödör square in the heart of the oldtown, it is approachable from a little street between this square and the Széchenyi square. This little cellar village is the gem of the architecture legacy of Paks, where the great presence of the past and present is found. Above the wine-press cellars, in the center of the plum seed shape square, there is a garden with hungarian native annual flowers. There are 66 reminiscent wine-press houses around the square, but there are also wine-press houses in the surrounding streets. While we take a walk in Sárgödör squre, we might think of when was the first wine-press house built. Afortime, there were straggly and branching from each other, network of cellars, not only under this square, but also under almost the whole oldtown. By tellings of old inhabitants, wine cellars already existed  in 16th century in Sárgödör square, which were storages and also shelters for locals who were hiding from ottomans.

In the 1700’s, there was an upswing in grape growing, thanks to the settling of the kraut habitants. Initially above the hatchways of cellars, which were scooped into loess, they put simple tatched roofs, and later, presumably in the first half of 19th century, they started to build wine-press houses. In the first half of 1900’s, wines of Paks made their mark nationwide. The Siller of Paks, which was already famous that time, were found in more than 40 taverns of Budapest.

In the years after the second world war, most of the wine-press houses became unnecesseary, because of the relocation of germans, the change to industrial cultivation and the step-by-step decrease of grapeyards. As a consequence, lots of wine-press houses mouldered or demolished, the Sárgödör square started to rot. Most wine cellar were used as a garage or a storage.

In the last 20 years, people bought these wine-press houses and started to use them for their original purpose. In 1999, the Municipality of Paks started the square’s preservation. They renovated the buildings, and the Sárgödör square was renewed. Since then, it is the location of town events, assosiation events and meetings of friends.

In wine-press houses, which were built above the cellars, in the ground, wine makers do the first phase of grape processing: squeezing, fermentation, and after the first decanting, they put the wine into the cellar. The demanding wine-press houses are evidences of local craftsmen’s talent.

Barnabás Bencze, who is a retired teacher and a local historian, said the following about these buildings: "The main frontispieces of wine-press houses, aside from some exception, located in the shorter sides of the buildings. The arrangements are symmetrical: window+door+window, in smaller houses window+door arrangements are also possible. During the examination of the ornamentation and partition of frontispieces, the impacts of different architectural styles can be discovered. The houses have a lot of beautiful classical windows and doors, curved main cornices in baroque style and hip roofs. We can find beautifully shaped brick frontispieces, which spread in the beginning of the 20th century. By using radious-bricks, they created various and nobel proportioned frontispieses. Almost we could not find two exactly identical frontispieses."

The general caracteristics of wine-press houses are close integral next to each other, place of 50 square metre and the traditional wooden bar ceiling. Wine cellars are 10-30 metre long. In wine-press houses there are not any room, but usually they built a loft. In some wine-press houses, there are more than one hundred years old spindle wine presses.

The name of the Sárgödör square origin from the so-called yellow earth, which was the loess material exploited during the building of cellars. The owners scooped their cellars into the ground of loess, they carried away the loess and used it to build wine-press houses. Paks was a significant grape and wine grower region. Nowadays, an aim is to reminiscence and revitalize this siginificant past.

Since 2001, the Association of Wine-Press House Owners in Sárgödör Square has officially operating in Paks. The aim of the association is to improve the square, publicity in tourism, win back the reputation of wines of Paks and to universalize the quality wine consumption. Many type of wines can be found in cellars, for example kadarka, blaufränkisch, zweigelt, cabernet sauvignon, rosé, but the real challenge for wine makers is the siller. To revive old flavours and to respect siller making the nationwide Siller Festival has born.

Only a few people know siller wine, which is neither red, nor rosé wine. The speciallity of siller wine is one important phase of fermentation, the time of grape skin fermentation is longer than in case of rosé wines, but shorter than in case of red wines. It is around 24-48 hours. During this time, the skin of the grape transmit its colour to the fermenting must, but it has not bother it with the acid tannins yet. So we get a light, fresh, fruity wine, which has fuller and spicier flavour than rosé wine. The characteristics of siller wines are colourful red colour, a fruity taste and a character smack. Nowadays this ancient hungarian wine has almost sunk into oblivion.

Wine makers from Sárgödör square perform more and more efficient in different wine competitions. Thanks to their efficient work we could predict a productive future to wine culture in Paks. The makings of Sárgödör square and its proper utilization are signify a huge tourism power. Walking among these cozy wine-press houses, not only we can visit wine cellars and taste wines, but also we can participate in town events. Year by year the National Siller Festival; the Coffee, Wine and Palinka Festival; the Puttonyos Festival; the blessing of new wines and Street Food Party on St. Martin's Day are hold in Sárgödör square and also there are unconventional wine competitions, where wine makers of the square can compete their wines with each other.