The Mohács Vince Day Wine Muster returns on January 24, 2026, for its 17th edition, anchoring the Mohács 500 jubilee series with a full-bodied celebration of the region’s wine culture and rituals. Hosted at the Busóudvar in 7700 Mohács, the showcase blends competition and community: the new-wine contest is back, but the event is just as much a rendezvous for winemakers, enthusiasts, and professionals from the Pécs Wine Region.
Who Was Vince?
Vince was a noble-born martyr from Hispania, commemorated with the axe—sometimes a pickaxe or clearing hoe—as the instrument of his death. That made him a patron saint in part of carpenters and forest woodcutters, especially in Scandinavian lands. In some Hungarian German communities, people skipped work on his day to attend Mass. In parts of Upper Hungary and German-settled villages, tradition says birds marry on Vince Day, so no one should enter the forest to cut wood or make noise.
Why Wine?
His Central European cult spread with relics in the 11th century, but there’s no airtight origin for his tie to vineyards. The Latin echo of his name with vinum and the meaning “victor” helped frame him as the one who defeats winter and readies spring. Weather lore clings to his date: if eaves drip and icicles form, expect plenty of wine; if carts slide on morning ice but sparrows bathe in wheel ruts by afternoon, the harvest will be abundant.
Old Vines, Living Customs
Around the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, Pécs vinegrowers feasted together in cellars, cut canes, set them in water, and read the “Vince cane” buds to forecast weather and yields—a practice seen elsewhere too. Some regions pruned a few vines just to call forth a generous vintage. Bosniaks on Pécs’s Gyükés vineyard hill, after chapel Mass, hung sausage and head cheese (kulen) on stakes to coax large clusters; growers in Mohács, Szőkéd in Szentkirályszabadja, Nagytótfalu, and beyond—especially Šokci (Sokac) communities—did the same.
Blessings and Revelry
In Mohács, vineyards were sprinkled on Vince Day with St. John’s blessed wine (after Christmas) or Epiphany holy water along borders and at the four corners. Rain on the day promises a great wine year. Dávod’s Hungarian vineyard workers buried a bottle after autumn hoeing, then dug it up now for a toast. The devotion endures: the Jakab Chapel on the vineyard hill hosts Mass, followed by ceremonial pruning and cellar revelry that still pack the slopes each January.
