The history of Törley

In the 17th century, the Törley family ancestors were professional soldiers; they arrived in southern Hungary fighting the Turks under Charles of Lotharing. During this time, the family name was Schmierl. One of their early antecedents, Ágoston Károly, was imperial and royal fourier (responsible for re-supplying troops) in Újvidék (now Novi Sad), during the bottle against the Turks. Ágoston Károly’s son, János (1768-1825), was a messenger for General Laudon, who in the course of duty, was seriously injured and disabled. Laudon wrote to the city council of Szabadka (now Subotica), requesting that the injured soldier be given a position. Ha was made the registrar for Küllöd, Bács County. Later, because of his disability, he died in a fire. His son Bálint (Valentin, 1823-1900) changed the family name to Törley during the 1848/49 revolution. The explanation for the “Hungarianization” of the name was that in German it meant “streichen”, or “to strike out”. The Hungarian equivalent is “törölni”, hence Törley. When the revolution was suppressed, he accompanied Lajos Kossuth in his emigration to Sumla, Turkey. Bálint Törley and his wife Mária Vojnits had four children: Antal (1853-1899), Gyula (1855-1934), Ilona (1858-1890), and the youngest, József (1858-1907). After finishing secondary school, József Törley continued his studies at the Graz Academy of Trade. After this, he worked as a German language correspondent in France for the Reims champagne producer, Theophil Roeder. Later he moved to Delbeck et Cie, one of the oldest champagne houses. There he became familiar with and studied how to prepare champagne. He began buying raw champagne from wine producers, and after processing (disgorging), he marketed the champagne under his own name (Törley) in France and Hungary. Distribution in Hungary met with many difficulties. József Törley became acquainted with Budafok, already a major centre of wine trade at the time, while on a trip to obtain champagne wine. Realising that producing on location would make selling simpler, and established his own company in Budafok. The Törley name was trademarked on July 31, 1882, and the company registered on August 1st; with that Törley transferred his champagne production from France. What was it that induced Törley, a novice champagne producer, to want to make another place known for sparkling wine? The answer can be found in the domestic champagne- consumption habits of the time. The upper-class clientele of elegant establishments were accustomed to foreign, brand name beverages. The majority amused themselves most of the year in Vienna or Paris – drinking French champagne exclusively. Törley felt it would be easier to conquer the domestic market with products that were known and successful abroad. When in Promontor (Budafok), he realised the location was exceptionally well-suited to sparkling wine production, with kilometres of cool cellars for storing and producing high-quality base wines, and a dynamically developing capital nearby for commerce – all together in one place. In his opinion, if he could transplant the French traditions for preparing champagne among the ideal conditions he found domestically, commercial success couldn’t be far behind. Gyula Törley, József’s elder brother and Bácskatopolya landowner, supplied the additional capital needed to equip and begin production at the Péter Pál Street facility. Until 1885, Gyula was a silent partner in his younger brother’s company. French experts were enlisted and directed by French supervisors, under Törley’s guidance. The production supervisor for four years was Louis François, who (according to his contract) was an independent cellar master, and whose bonus was every fifth bottle of wine. In their first year, they filled approximately 25 000 bottles. The facility was built quickly, modern machines were installed, and production began that year. Since Louis François saw a good opportunity for making a living in Hungary, in 1885 he invites Cesar, his younger brother by ten years, to join him. Also practising in the champagne trade, Cesar worked as an employee at the company. In 1886, Törley and François had a disagreement, allegedly over who should have the key to the cellars. Since they couldn’t come to terms, the contract was cancelled, and Louis François started his own business. In 1890 Törley moved to its present location at the foot of Hofried path. For several months in 1900 it was called “Champagne Street”, then in 1901 it was renamed Anna Street. When it was founded, the company’s main problem was acceptance. Society’s leading “top ten thousand” and the middle aristocracy viewed Hungarian products with suspicion. Törley began a huge advertising campaign. Realising the importance of advertising and consciously working toward the acknowledgement and recognition of his sparkling wine, he employed advertising skilfully. He used the Budafok castle, the Törley pavilion in Walfisch Gasse, the house in Eszterházy Street to advertise, and famous French caterers to launch his sparkling wines. The artistic posters used made the brand famous even beyond the Hungarian borders; his delivery trucks, the first in Hungary to carry advertising, caused a great sensation. József Törley made Hungarians love sparkling wine. According to him, the rules of drinking and love were the same: anytime, anywhere, any way; but whether here or there, the circumstances were important. The wine or sparkling wine must suit the season and the time of day. There are languid wines, flirtatious wines, story-telling wines, tragic wines; of course, these categories apply more or less to sparkling wine as well. There must also have been erotic sparkling wines; on all his advertisements, the promoters were either beautiful women or wistful men. Also according to Törley, it is necessary to drink sparkling wine at every holiday, family occasion, or romantic rendezvous, because a little angel lives in each bottle. The angel doesn’t die when it is drunk by someone, but lives inside the person with innumerable little angels and fairies. When someone drinks, this is greeted with singing and a rain of flowers. The fairies are fascinated and practically burn up with joy. These flames of joy spread inside the person and enchant him or her, too. There is no way to protect against it. It is proof of his sparkling wines’ quality that one of the company’s most important export partners was France. The domestic market only began to recognise his sparkling wine at the beginning of the century. In the 1890s annual production was 300 000 bottles. In 1905 it approached 1 million, and by the end of WW2, production had reached 2 million bottles. József Törley also improved technology: he introduced to Hungary the freezing and disgorgement techniques to remove sediment. In 1887, Törley established a cognac distillery, from which some products were used in sparkling wine production, some sold commercially. In 1885, József Törley married Irén Sacellary, an extremely well-to-do young woman whose family can be traced back to the 7th century. Törley built his castle next to the Sacellary castle; he designed it himself, using French castles as a model. He commissioned Lajos Rezső Ray to build the castle; after Ray’s death, his son Vilmos completed the construction. On the castle’s façade are two ancient Roman artefacts found in Budafok. Carved into it is the family crest, conferred on Törley by Emperor Franz Joseph on April 1, 1896 for his meritorious service to industry and economy. The crest is a shield divided down the middle. In the upper blue field, in the middle of three green hills, an armoured arm holds a gold-handled curved sword. In the upper-right corner there is a golden shooting star; in the upper-left corner, golden bunch of grapes with green leaves. In the lower red field, under a silver arch is the decapitated, white-turbaned head of a Turk with a drooping moustache. An open knight’s helmet rests above the shield, with an armoured hand rising from it. József Törley and Irén Sacellary had one child, a daughter, born in 1886. Mariska died a year later, in 1887, due to complications caused by diphtheria. In the meantime, there were ever more disagreements between Törley and the François brothers, and in 1886 they went their separate ways. Both the Törley and François companies significantly developed the reputation of Hungarian sparkling wine in domestic and foreign markets. Their competition resulted in a string of excellent brands, to the joy of sparkling wine enthusiasts. József Törley was an extravagant, sharp-witted man, blessed with good technical sense and ambition. He flew into a passion easily, but was devoted to family unity. His technical acumen was spent not only on developing the level of technology in sparkling wine production, but in general (e.g. wagon lifts, crate manufacturing machinery, automobile lighting, starters). Automation significantly decreased expenses, and a considerable percentage of profits were invested in expanding production. He paid great attention to the selection of base wines. The rest he bought in grape form, their processing directed and controlled by his own experts. Törley was the fourth person in Hungary to own an automobile, and he was one of the founders of the Royal Hungarian Automobile Club. The club was founded on November 30, 1890, with Count Pál Szécheny as president. At the Millenium exhibition, Törley already bore the title “Supplier to the Imperial and Royal Court”. At the beginning of the century, his sparkling wine was at least as popular in Pest as operettas, and it was the preferred beverage of hotels, cafés, restaurants, and music and entertainment halls. In 1907, the company celebrated its 25th anniversary. Ornamental invoices and business letters accompanied deliveries around the world, from America to Australia. They had inventories in Hamburg, Berlin, and Copenhagen; the greatest recognition, however, was that even in Paris the people drank Törley. The Hungarian sparkling wine had conquered the world! In this year, at the hight of his distinction, József Törley died. The domestic papers were filled with the unexpected news of his death: after the anniversary celebrations, Törley had travelled to Ostende to relax, but became ill one evening. The plan had been to take him by train to Brussels to be operated on, but it was too late. By dawn, the Hungarian sparkling wine king was dead – of an illness known and curable at the time, appendicitis. From Brussels, the train carried his body home. On August 3rd, he was temporarily buried at the Kerepesi cementery until the family crypt could be built. There he and his daughter were laid to rest in 1911. National sympathy surrounded his death. Attending the funeral were members of government, public figures, János Gundel – representing the entire catering industry, and Louis François – representing the sparkling wine producers of Budafok. With József Törley’s death, many of his activities came to light which had not been given any notice during his life. They had seemed a natural part of a leading citizen’s development. After his death, the Hungarian Automobile newspaper, which published many articles in both Hungarian and French, devoted a large section in their August 20, 1907 issue to Törley. “The papers have shared many events from the life and work of the recently and suddenly departed József Törley, but completely unknown to the public is his recent development of an undertaking of grand design; that, in addition to his great material success, he was not satisfied with the cultivation of that industry alone, but was working toward a much greater invention, one that would serve the greater happiness of mankind and bring praise to the Hungarian name.” “A year and a half ago, József Törley made the acquaintance of the engineer István Benkő, whose name is known here and abroad. With his keen judgement and strong sense of the practical so rare among us, Törley recognised talent in this young engineer, and despite attractive offers from abroad, won him over and made him his collaborator.” “The fruit of that untiring year and a half of work, in which József Törley participated not only materially but with all the strength of his practical spirit, was an already highly-valuable electric generator. Not only did they create a battery whose electricity-generating capabilities exceed those of any generator so far; according to experts, there has never been any kind of energy source like theirs which, occupying such a tiny space and of such minimal weight, can produce so much power.” “Törley’s goal for the invention was two-fold. First, he wanted to put the automobile industry on an electric foundation. Second, he wanted to provide electric lighting to those areas of the countryside, castles and estates that have no access to high-current electricity centres.” “The significant feature of the patent registered jointly under the Törley-Benkő name is a chemical current-generating process, unheard of until now, which is capable of producing the above-mentioned power using neither steam nor dynamo.” “This excellent man’s death at the peak of life is truly a tragedy. According to all indications, this would have exceeded all his past successes.” We have reliable information that Törley had wanted to make his invention public as soon as possible; his primary goal was to establish through this invention a new branch of industry here, the as yet undeveloped electric automobile industry. He was obstructed from this noble endeavour by death...” “...the electric coach is a completely new field and, on a Törley-Benkő style foundation, would mean an entirely different branch of automobile production.” “With Törley’s unexpected and premature demise, we are faced with this Hungarian invention going abroad, and with that we will be all the poorer.” “The fate of Hungarian inventions!” During this time, Dezső Törley was studying wine production in Montpellier. Naturally, the company’s production continued unchanged, using the traditional method (méthode champenoise), filling bottles once a year in July. The base wine was composed of wines bought in various parts of the country, and arriving at the facility after the first bottling (December-January). In the first half of the year the wines were processed and blended. In terms of quantity, in the 1910s production reached then exceeded 2 million bottles per year. Because of the subsequent stormy history, however, production decreased substantially; the low point was reached during the economic crisis of 1929-1930, when annual production was around 200 000 bottles. In the 30s, demand for sparkling wine increased; at the time of WW2, production was approximately 1 million bottles. Real demand during the prosperous period of the war was even greater, but could not be entirely met because technology dictated that wines could not be sold until they were 2,5 years old, and at the time of bottling, it was difficult to predict demand three years into the future. Contributing to this was seasonal demand between the two world wars, with a peak from December to February, a decline, then a rise in May, and a decrease at the end of summer. The most famous Törley sparkling wines, some of which are still familiar, were:

- Talisman - Vin Brut - Grand Vin Réserve - Crémant Rosé - Extra dry - Grand Vin Rouge - Gout Américain - Diabetin - Talisman Casino

“At numerous domestic and foreign exhibitions, Törley sparkling wine received the highest distinction and recognition, and there is no place in the world where Törley sparkling wine is not known and preferred.” This quote comes from the pamphlet issued at the company’s 50th anniversary, and is probably not an exaggeration; at its height the company was known not only throughout Europe – its products were favoured in many countries throughout the world. The golden age of the company came to an end toward the end of WW2, in July 1944, when a bomb struck one of the facilities and the wine awaiting bottling was lost. The sparkling wine supplies in the Törley cellars were confiscated by occupation forces and guarded by Soviet soldiers. On July 13, 1945, the Soviet commander of Budafok, Colonel Krimarics, confiscated for personal use 40 000 of the 77 000 bottles of raw sparkling wine on inventory; so, on paper, 37 000 bottles were handed over. The Soviet guard stayed on – and when they left on July 26 only 8 000 bottles remained. After the war, production started up slowly. Once the occupation troops departed, the primary task was cleaning up the ruins – with four employees. Nationalisation in the spring of 1950 brought a new vigour to production. Törley became state property. But because wine-producers viewed sparkling wine as a product foreign to their own products, it came under the management of the liqueur company, for whom sparkling wine was even more foreign. The Wine Distribution Enterprise, which at that time dominated as the sole wine trading organization in the country, initially possessed no sparkling wine production facilities. The first step toward rectifying this situation came in 1955 in Budafok. In the cellars of the nationalised Bishop of Vác Estate Cellars (established in 1918), a new company was founded to produce classic, bottle-fermented sparkling wine. This was the predecessor to Hungaria, created by connecting the surrounding cellar branches.

Source: The Champaign – 2014. Author: Miklós NISZKÁCS: Lector: Károly QUIRIN Visitors information: www.torley.hu