Tokaji

Tokaj cellar

Tokaji, meaning "of Tokaj" in Hungarian, is used to label wines from the wine region of Tokaj-Hegyalja in Hungary. A small quantity of wines from the Slovak wine region of Tokaj also use the Tokaj label, and are referred to as Tokajský/-á/-é, meaning "of Tokaj" in Slovak.

Contents

1 The Tokaji name
2 Cultivation
3 Types of Tokaji wine
4 Famous drinkers of Tokaji
5 References and external links
6 See also

The Tokaji name

Tokaji wines have a long pedigree and history, which has unfortunately resulted in some abuse of the name:

Historically Tokaji was wine from the region of Tokaj in the Kingdom of Hungary. In English and French the spelling Tokay was commonly used. Prior to the phylloxera epidemic, wine was grown in Tokaj from various types of mainly white grape varieties. However many historical mentions of Tokaji wine referred to the sweet aszú dessert wine.
The name Tokay came to be used in the Alsace region of France for wines made with the Pinot Gris grape. In Italy the name Tocai came to refer to a variety of grape from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.
In 1918, a small portion of the Tokaj wine region (approx. 1.75 km²) became part of the newly-created state of Czechoslovakia, the remaining much bigger part became part of the newly-created Republic of Hungary.
Under Hungary's and Slovakia's accession treaty to the European Union, the Tokaj name (including other forms of spelling) is being given Protected Designation of Origin status. This means that wine producers in France and Italy will no longer be able to use the terms Tokay or Tocai after March 2007.
Non-EU nations, notably Australia and the U.S., produce liqueurs or dessert wines which they label "Tokay".
There has also been a long-running dispute between Hungary and Czechoslovakia (since 1993 Slovakia) over the right of the Slovakian wine region to use the name Tokaj. Negotiations between the two governments resulted in an agreement being signed in June 2004. Under this agreement, wine produced on 5.65 km² of land in Slovakia will be able to use the Tokaj name. However, a number of practical issues remain. Slovakia has pledged to introduce the same standards enshrined in Hungarian wine laws since 1990, but it has not yet been decided who will monitor or enforce those laws.

Cultivation

Nowadays, only four grape varieties are officially approved for use in wines bearing the Tokaj name: Furmint, Hárslevelű (Slovak: Lipovina), Yellow Muscat (Hungarian: Sárgamuskotály, Slovak: Žltý muškát) and Zéta, a crossing of Furmint and Bouvier. Of these, Furmint accounts for 70% of the area under vine and is by far the most important grape in the production of aszú wines. Nevertheless, an impressive range of different types and styles of wine is produced in the region, ranging from dry whites to the world's sweetest wine.

The area in which Tokaji wine is traditionally grown is a small plateau, 457m (1500 ft) above sea level, near the Carpathian Mountains. The soil there is of volcanic origin, with a high concentration of iron and smaller amounts of lime. The location of the region experiences a unique climate which is beneficial to this particular viniculture, due largely to the protection of the nearby mountains. Winters are bitterly cold and windy; spring tends to be cool and dry, and summers noticeably hot. Usually autumn brings rain early on, followed by an extended Indian summer, allowing a very long ripening period.

The dominant Furmint grapes begin maturation with thick skins, but as they ripen the skins become thinner, and transparent. This allows the sun to penetrate the grape and evaporate much of the water inside, producing a higher proportion of sugar. Other grapes mature to the point of bursting, and some juice escapes; however, unlike with most other grapes, Furmint grow a second skin after this which seals it from rot. This also has the effect of concentrating the grapes' natural sugars. The grapes are left on the vine long enough to develop a "noble rot" condition.

At harvest, the grapes are collected into 28-liter (30-quart) wooden containers called puttonyos. From there, they are transferred to a gönci hordó (cask of Gönc), which holds 136 liters (36 gallons). Since the grapes are collected overripe, as the gönci hordo is filled, the weight of the grapes on top crushes the bottom grapes. The quality of a particular vintage can therefore be calculated by how many puttonyos it takes to fill the gönci hordó.

Typical yearly production in the region runs to a relatively small 10,028,000 liters (2,650,000 gallons).

Types of Tokaji wine

The list below refers to types of wine produced in the Hungarian region of Tokaj-Hegyalja. For Slovakian Tokaj wines see Tokaj.

Dry Wines: These wines, once referred to as ordinárium, are now named after their respective grape varieties: Tokaji Furmint, Tokaji Hárslevelu and Tokaji Sárgamuskotály.
Szamorodni: (Slovak: samorodné) This type of wine was initially known as főbor ("prime wine"), but since the 19th century the Polish word szamorodni ("the way it was grown") has been used. What sets Szamorodni apart from ordinary wine is that it is made from bunches which contain a considerable proportion of botrytised grapes. Because of this, szamorodni is typically higher in alcohol and extract than ordinary wine. Szamorodni often contains up to 100-120 g of residual sugar and thus is termed édes ("sweet"). However, when the bunches contain fewer botrytised grapes, the residual sugar content is much lower, resulting in a száraz ("dry") wine. Its alcohol content is typically 14%.
Aszú: (Slovak: výber) This is the wine which made Tokaj world famous and is proudly cited in the Hungarian national anthem. The original meaning of the Hungarian word aszú was "dried", but it came to be associated with a type of wine made with botrytised (i.e. "nobly" rotten) grapes. According to legend the first aszú was made by Laczkó Máté Szepsi in 1630. However, mention of wine made from aszú grapes had already appeared in the Nomenklatura of Fabricius Balázs Sziksai which was completed in 1576. A recently discovered inventory of aszú predates this reference by five years. The process of making Aszú wine is as follows:
*Aszú berries are individually picked out of the bunches, collected in huge vats and trampled into the consistency of paste (known as aszú dough).
*Must is poured on the aszú dough and left for 24-48 hours, stirred occasionally.
*After the aszú dough has soaked, the wine is racked off into wooden casks or vats where fermentation is completed and the aszú wine will be kept to mature. These containers are stored in a cool environment, and are not tightly closed, so a slow fermentation process continues in the wine, usually for several years.

The concentration of aszú was traditionally defined by the number of puttony ("hods", Slovak: putňa) of dough added to a Gönc cask (136 liter barrel) of must. Nowadays the puttony number is based on the content of sugar and sugar-free extract in the mature wine. Aszú ranges from 3 puttonyos to 6 puttonyos, with a further category called Aszú-Eszencia representing wines above 6 puttonyos. Unlike most other wines, alcohol content of aszú typically runs higher than 14%. Annual production of aszú is less than one percent of the region's total output.

Eszencia: (Slovak: esencia) Also called nectar, this is often described as the most precious wine in the world, although technically it cannot even be called a wine because its enormous concentration of sugar means that its alcohol level never rises above 5-6 degrees. Eszencia is the juice of aszú berries which runs off naturally from the vats in which they are collected during harvesting. The sugar concentration of eszencia is typically between 500 g and 700 g per litre, although the year 2000 vintage produced eszencia exceeding 900 g per litre. Eszencia is traditionally added to aszú wines, but may be allowed to ferment (a process that typically takes at least 4 years to complete) and then bottled pure. The resulting wine has a concentration and intensity of flavour that is unequalled, but is so sweet that it can only be drunk in tiny quantities.

Eszencia is incredibly costly, and generally not available at any price on the open market. The vast majority of it is stored away to be added to azsú of lesser-quality vintages. Storage is facilitated by the fact that, unlike virtually all other wines, it maintains its quality and drinkability for 200 years or more. A newspaper account of the 1933 wedding of Polish president Ignacy Mościcki notes that toasts were made with 250-year-old wine, and goes on to say "The wine, if good, could only have been Essence of Tokay, and the centuries-old friendship between Poland and Hungary would seem to support this conclusion."

Fordítás: (Slovak: fordítáš) Meaning "turning over" in Hungarian, this wine is made by pouring must on aszú dough which has already been used to make aszú wine.

Máslás: (Slovak: mášláš) Derived from the word "copy" in Hungarian, this wine is made by pouring must on the lees of aszú.

Other sweet wines: In the past few years reductive sweet wines have begun to appear in Tokaj. These are ready for release in a year to 18 months are harvest. They typically contain 50-180 g/l of residual sugar and a ratio of botrytised berries comparable to Aszú wines. They are usually labelled as késői szüretelésű ("late harvest") wines.

Famous drinkers of Tokaji

Nothing better illustrates the pedigree of Tokaji wine than an account of some of its famous drinkers. In 1703, Francis Rákóczi II, Prince of Transylvania, gave King Louis XIV of France numerous bottles from his Tokaj estate as a gift. Tokaji was then served at the Versailles Court, where it became known under the name of Tokay. Delighted with the precious beverage, Louis XV of France offering a glass of Tokaj to Madame de Pompadour entitled it the "Wine of Kings, King of Wines" ("Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum"). This famous refrain is used to this day as a marketing device for Tokaji wines.

Emperor Franz Josef had a tradition of sending Queen Victoria a gift of Tokaji Azsú every year on her birthday, twelve bottles for each year of her age. By her eighty-first birthday (1900), this totalled an impressive 972 bottles.

Tokaji wine has received accolades from numerous great writers and composers including Beethoven, Liszt, Schubert and Goethe. Besides Louis XIV, several other European leaders are known to have been keen consumers of the wine. Louis XV and Frederick the Great tried to outdo one another in the excellence of the vintages they stocked when they treated Voltaire or Dumas to some Tokaji. Napoleon III, the last Emperor of France, ordered 30–40 barrels of Tokaji for the Court every year. Gustav III, King of Sweden, never had any other wine to drink. In Russia, customers included Peter the Great and Empress Elizabeth of Russia.

The papal devotion to Tokaji wine is even older. Pope Pius IV, after a sip of sweet wine from Tállya, exclaimed at the Council of Trent, "This wine is worthy of the Supreme Priest of God." When Benedict XIV received a gift of Tokaji from Empress Maria Theresa of Austria he famously opined, "Happy is the Queen who sent thee, happy is the soil that hath grown thee, and happy am I who drink thee."

References and external links

A number of English language books have been published in recent years about Hungarian wine all of which, naturally, include a section on Tokaj and its wine. However, the most comprehensive English-language text (which was the principal source for this article) is Tokaj - The Wine of Freedom (Laszló Alkonyi, Budapest 2000).
Harold J. Grossman and Harriet Lembeck, Grossman's Guide to Wines, Beers and Spirits (6th edition). Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1977, pp. 172-4. ISBN 0-684-15033-6