József Törley (10 January 1858 – 28 July 1907) is credited as having established one of the most successful brands of sparkling wine outside of the Champagne region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1882, Törley moved his factory from Reims to Budafok and proceeded to replicate every aspect of the champagne production he had learned in France, including the methods used to grow grapes at his vineyards in Etyek, Hungary.

Törley also had 45 miles worth of cellars carved out of Budafok's limestone hills to ensure the uniform temperature required for maintaining the quality of the wine throughout production.

In addition to having produced a high quality crémant (called pezsgő in Hungarian) and remaining innovative, Törley also had keen insight into the marketing of the beverage.

With his great emphasis on marketing and advertising, by around the start of the 20th century, Törley's plant was one of the most modern wine producing facilities in the world.

The two buildings were linked by a secret tunnel allowing Törley, much like Henry Ford would do, to make a sudden, unannounced appearance at any time in the factory.

The progressive industrialist Törley was also the first to buy trucks in Hungary for the transportation of goods, and was the founding member of the Royal Hungarian Automobile Club.

After World War I ended and the Trianon Peace Treaty was signed, the level of champagne production by the Törley plant significantly decreased and touched bottom during the Great Depression.

Despite the demand that the war had created, the hostilities quickly reversed the Törley plant's fortune when a bomb destroyed the main building and the majority of the factory's stocks in July 1944.

After World War II ended, Communism took control of Hungary and the winery shrank to only four employees and the scope of the business was limited to selling what wine remained in stock.

The constantly increasing demand and the export possibilities encouraged the factory to develop an annual capacity of 30 million bottles by the end of the 1980s through continuous expansion and purchasing production lines of the latest technology.