Szekszárd sits on the eastern edge of the Szekszárd hills in Tolna county, where the loess hills meet the flat Sárköz along the Danube. The loess here is deep and the slopes are gentle and south facing, which gives a warm, sheltered growing season. Around 2,600 of the roughly 6,000 suitable hectares are planted, spread over fifteen settlements around the town.

The region makes red wine almost exclusively and has a longer unbroken tradition of it than anywhere else in Hungary, going back to Roman plantings. Kadarka is the historic grape, pale, spicy and difficult to grow, nearly lost in the twentieth century and now carefully brought back; Kékfrankos covers more ground. Szekszárd is one of only two regions permitted to make Bikavér, and its version is generally rounder and softer than the Eger style, which growers here attribute to the loess.