„Borpaloták – arany milliók”. Kísérlet a magyar borkivitel élénkítésére az 1920-as évek végén
“Wineries and Golden Millions”: An Attempt at Increasing Hungarian Wine Export in the 1920s

Summary/Abstract: The study examines the programme of the Hungarian ministry of agriculture, designed to boost Hungarian wine export after the Treaty of Trianon. The wine industry faced both the problem of a sharp decrease of consumers, and the fact that wine export became incredibly hard because of the new borders of Hungary. Therefore, the government focused on finding new markets for Hungarian wine in Europe. The study first describes the programme in detail and investigates the political circumstances and the Hungarian government’s ways to finance this initiative, which is followed by an overview of wineries in different European towns and their incidental scandals and hardships. The second part of the study explores the origin of the Hungaria Restaurant, the Hungarian winery in London, revealing that its entire foundation process was based on political connections and friendship. The figurehead of the London winery was an intriguing person with a career that took him from Lancashire to Russia and back to England. He established companies, one after the other, and found the perfect person to be a manager of the winery. Meanwhile, the government invested more and more money in building and furnishing the restaurant itself. The Hungaria Restaurant in London was successful, but the management decided to open a new venue in a nearby town up the Thames. The Hungaria Restaurant River Club in Maidenhead became popular but never attained outstanding financial success. The study then traces the decline of the Hungarian wine export programme and the failure of the wineries involved all over Europe. In conclusion, even though the attempt eventually failed to resolve the original problem, it made the treasury accumulate significant debt.

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