Due to the peculiarities of viniculture, some kind of a community organizing force has always existed in every European wine region. The Hungarian system of local wine administration
bodies is however unique. The foundations of the system have hardly changed throughout the centuries and the communities’ function as a socio-organizing power has been historically proven. In this essay I am attempting to demonstrate this power and ability using social, ethnical, sciences, anthropological, landscapeeconomical and occasionally mathematical methods. As former leader of a local wine administration body in Egerbakta, the member of the same body in Eger and also a vine-grower in Létavértes I also have first hand information about the practical issues of the system. The paper could not be more timely after the 2006’s modification of legislations governing wine administration. One element of the modifications is the creation of large and centralized administration bodies over the ruins of small ones that
were presumed to be indispensable for a long time.