Mount Somló is a huge basalt-pyramid standing independently from other mountains in the county of Veszprém, Devecser region, near Somlyó-Vásárhely, its hight is 435 ms. On it's peak the ruins of a fortess can be seen, with more or less intact walls. In the lower fortress one can distinct the guard-rooms and dwellings of the lord and the kitchen with it's high chimney. On the middle of the court there was a well, nowadays its almost filled up with stones and soil.

The fortress existed as a royal property already in the 15th century. King Sigismund gave it in 1389 to the two sons of palatine Garai Miklós, Miklós and János in return for the property of Ivánkaszentgyörgy in the county of Valkó.

It remained property of the Garai family until 1457, when the palatine Garai László, who appeared in front of the convent of the St. Benedict monastery of Pannonhalma and revealed that his father Miklós, ruled the episcopate of Győr with wordly hand and used it's incomes for himself, and did not keep his promise to pay Győr church everything back. Thus he, to save his father's soul from the vengeance of God, offered the family fortress to the church of Győr.

In 1464 it becomes the property of Anthimi János. In 1495 Bakócz Tamás, bishop of Eger got it from the king and left it as a legacy in 1517 for his nephew Bakócz Péter of Erdőd. From then on the Erdődy family owns the fortress in the 16th century. From 1603 it belongs to Nádasdy Tamás, who on the 6th of January sold it together with the castels of Ugod and Devecser to Megyeri Imre and his whife, Viczai Magdolna for 6000 hungarian forints. Count Liszti János is the proprietor in 1675.

In 1707, Bottyán János general of II. Rákóczi Ferenc, when hearing the the news that Starhemberg, Rabutin and Pálffy are coming, supplied it with food and put a defence in the more or less rebuilt fortress. It had no military significance by then, so after the riot they left it to destruction.

The "Somlyai" wine growing on Mount Somló is one of the best ones in Hungary. The whole vineyard is 517 ha., on which aproximately 3500-4000 hl. wine is made. Mount Somló is divided into four sections: Vásárhely, Jenei, Nagyszőllős and Dobai sections; the best wine is made on the Vásárhely section. The main grape kinds: sárfehér and rakszőlő, the furmint, green of Buda and riesling, cultivated with care, hoed five times and extra manure added; too bad that the filloxera has caught firm ground here too. The vintage is customary on the 21th of October, on the day of Ursula and the first tun in December or January. The "Somlyai" is a white vine of exquisite flavour, with a light green colour, that needs many years of thoughtful care before ready. It's care is similar to that of "Balatonmelléki" and "Badacsonyi" wines.

From: A Pallas nagy lexikona (1911) online