🍾 Törley

Törley is a Hungarian sparkling wine house in Budafok, in Budapest's 22nd district. According to the company, József Törley registered the firm “Törley József és Társa” in Budapest on 1 August 1882; Wikidata gives the same year. Around 1900 the plant became the most modern sparkling wine factory in the country after Törley introduced disgorgement by freezing, and by 1910 it was producing two million bottles a year.

According to the company, the plant was nationalised in 1950 and restarted in 1951 as the country's only sparkling wine factory; it later merged with Hungaria and then Hungarovin. In 2025 Törley sold 17.8 million bottles of sparkling wine and 12.1 million bottles of wine at home and abroad. The cellar tour in Budafok includes the Törley Museum. The brand also appears in the portfolio of the Henkell Freixenet group.

Under EU law, sparkling wine (in Hungarian pezsgő) must have an excess pressure of at least 3 bar from carbon dioxide produced by fermentation; quality sparkling wine needs at least 3.5 bar and an actual alcoholic strength of at least 10% vol. Sparkling wine made with added carbon dioxide is a separate category, aerated sparkling wine.

Why it matters to you. The category on the label, sparkling or quality sparkling wine, tells you how the bubbles were made and what minimum applies; Törley is the producer's name. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.