T O KA J I
A CLASSIC - LOST & FOUND
BEN HOWKINS
1999
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T O KA J I
A C L A S S I C - LO S T & F O U N D
BEN HOWKINS
T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l W i n e a n d Fo o d S o c i e t y
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Page 2
IN THE BEGINNING
Page 6
THE GONCI CASKS
Page 8
TTHE WINEMAKING PROCESS
Page 9
THE VINEYARDS
Page 10
FIT ONLY FOR A SOVEREIGN
Page 12
A SECOND RENAISSANCE
Page 14
THE THIRD RENAISSANCE
Page 16
VISITING TOKAJ
Page 19
BEHIND THE TOKAJI LABEL TODAY
Page 20
WINE AND FOOD PAIRING
Page 22
INTERNATIONAL WINE & FOOD SOCIETY
Page 23
BEN HOWKINS
Page 24
W W W. R O Y A L -T O K A J I . C O M
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INTRODUCTION
H
ungary's Tokaji wines have always had a powerful yet mysterious reputation.
One reason was the exotic location of the tiny picturesque vineyards,
sheltered from cold easterly winds by Russia's Carpathian mountains.
As Michael Broadbent said in his Great Vintage Wine Book: "Perhaps
the most remote and strange of all the great classic wines, Tokaji comes from a small
district in Hungary which is little more than a perfectly formed vine-clad hill about 30
miles from the Russian borders - surely conceived by the romantic imagination of
some Transylvanian god."
Its fame also owed something to the reputed healing powers of the wines, for the Princes
of Transylvania (now part of Romania) insisted that these rich, fragrant vintages be
nurtured to almost magical potency. A legend, propounded by several Italian humanist
authors, asserted that the hills of Tokaj contained strains of gold ore and there were
golden shoots (aurea virgula) on some vine stocks.
Paracelsus, the famous Swiss alchemist, had even performed prolonged experiments with
Tokaj's famous grapes, but lamented that he failed to extract gold from them. Nonetheless,
in the early part of the 20th century doctors would prescribe Tokaji Aszii to their favoured
patients, possibly in the belief that the gold rumoured to be in the subsoil was responsible
for the alleged health-giving properties in the wine.
The greatest reverence has always been reserved for Tokaj's unique Aszii wines. These
refreshing, yet sweet, vintages produced in limited quantities were always scarce and often
rare, produced against the odds during the region's frequent invasions and battles. In
addition, they attained almost unimaginable longevity: just before the Second World War,
the great Fukier cellar in Warsaw contained 328 bottles of the 1606 vintage. Those privileged
to taste them reported that the bouquet and flavour had undergone a marvellous
transformation. Cocoa, strawberry and vanilla were said to be among the key aromas.
Sweetness and richness are, of course, signs of wealth. Tokaji Aszii was simply the world's
first great sweet wine. The Hungarians, whose Magyar ancestors had settled in their
kingdom speaking a language unknown to their neighbours, had discovered the value of
the botrytised grapes long before anyone else. Tokaji bottles were always expensive
and brought up from the cellars for grand occasions. Weddings and feasts gave them an
association with romance.
But for the last half century, Tokaji Aszu has lain, or stood, unhappily and uneasily out of
reach behind the Iron Curtain. It was not until 1994, when the first vintages of private
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production reached the West, that one famous wine writer ushered in the Tokaji
renaissance with the words: "Tokaji as our ancestors knew it, is back."
Today, Tokaji Asziis still come in the familiar sloping-shoulder 50cl-bottles, as they
have for the last 400 years - a continuity that adds to Tokaji's nostalgic and mysterious
reputation. It is also the only wine that traditionally matures upright in underground
cellars, and is recorked every six years.
A modern benchmark bottle of Tokaji Aszii would be a 5-puttonyos from the 1991
or '93 vintage. The colour is a clear, golden amber; the bouquet is full of honey, fat
apricots and orange peel, elegant and complex, and the taste envelops enormous
length and a richness seared by the wine's hallmark of lively acidity. One's eyes cannot
but light up at the first sip.
To appreciate the glamour and the reasons behind Tokaji's resurgence, we need to
look at the history of Hungary, which clearly mirrors that of modern Europe.
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IN THE BEGINNING
The concept of Tokaji 'Aszu', a word which literally means 'dried berries', has its
origins in the raisin wine produced many centuries ago on the island of Malvasia off
the southern coast of Greece. In the Middle Ages, Malvasia had come under the rule
of Venice and it is recorded that in 1358 Hungary's King Louis the Great received
30 barrels of its wine as a war indemnity, much enjoyed by his noblemen. Supplies
were increasingly hindered, however, by the ruling Turks and had to be diverted
through Vienna.
The taste for rich luscious wines had been established at Court, but it was another two
centuries before Hungary produced its own. At first, the predominant wine-producing
region was in the south, around Lake Balaton. However, the great Battle of Mohacs in
1526 brought the vineyard in the south under Turkish rule, and many growers took
refuge in the foothills of the Tokaj-Hegyalja (Tokaj Hill) in the north east. Here they
enjoyed relative freedom between the borders of a country broken into three areas,
dominated by the Turks, Habsburgs and Transylvanians.
The vineyards sit on gentle slopes bordered by the picturesque rivers Tisza and Bodrog
beneath the dominant Hill. However, a bitter controversy raged about its boundaries
concerning the rights of villages to use the magic word 'Tokaji'. This was not just a
matter of quality control; before serfdom was abolished, Tokaj-Hegyalja citizenship
carried with it a number of privileges granted by successive Hungarian rulers, such as
exemption from tithes.
Twenty-eight villages were eventually named, all situated on soil eminently suited for
viticulture, consisting of crumbled lava deposits on top of volcanic rocks and fertile
loess (windblown dust) amassed here over the centuries.
Drainage was developed. Stones were removed, terraces built, the layout of vineyards
supervised by the Chief Justice, and viticultural rules devised and enforced by heavy
fines or corporal punishment. Tokajians refer to this period as their First Renaissance.
Thereafter the reputation of Tokaji steadily grew. The importance of the wine in the
Middle Ages is evidenced by the fact that from 1550 the grapes, which could be sold
for gold, figure in the coat of arms of the County of Zemplen. By the end of the 16th
century, the King of Hungary, Janos Szapolyai, had acquired a vineyard in those hills,
as had powerful Hungarian noblemen such as Ferenc Dobo and the Bathoris. By 1570
the term 'Aszu grape wine' was listed in a textbook glossary – a copy of which is still
treasured by the College of Sarospatak, the capital of the region.
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In the 16th century Aszu, according to Balazs' Szikszai Fabricius, was made from 12
different grape varieties. None of these, however, included the two main cepages
grown today: the sharp furmint that contributes acidity and the indigenous harslevelu
that gives a rich spicy flavour. Originally, the main variety seemed to be a grape called
porcins, now extinct, of whose style nothing is known.
Early in the next century, Mate Szepsi Laczko, a priest from the village of Erdobenye,
started experimenting with the furmint grape, producing the first Aszvi wines as
we know them. Laczko realised that the furmint grape could produce berries with
more juice than harslevelu, but it took more than a century for the furmint to be
widely utilised.
Some time after his initial experiments, this resourceful priest, who had by then
become steward of the household of Zsuzsanna Lorantffy, consort of Prince
Gyorgy Rakoczi I of Transylvania, was about to start the vintage when news came of
another Turkish invasion. The Hungarians flocked to the defence of their country
and no one was available to pick the crop.
Legend has it that when the harvesters returned to their vineyard in November, all
the grapes had dried on the vine. Nevertheless Szepsi instructed his men to pick
them. When they were piled up in the manner of the time, a glorious honeyed syrupy
liquid began to ooze out. They called the amazing nectar Essencia. Meanwhile Szepsi,
realising that the must of dried berries needed refreshing, blended the pulp with the
table wine from the previous harvest. Thus Tokaji Aszu was created, and Mate
Szepsi, "the man who invented Tokaji", is now one of the great personalities of wine
history, just as another man of God, Benedictine monk Dom Pierre Perignon, is
known as "the father of champagne".
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THE GONCI CASKS
Hungary was a continuous battlefield for many years. Christian armies fought the
Turks, Hungarian separatists tried to win independence by defying the troops of the
Habsburg emperor and Polish armies straddled the Magyar countryside.
Despite this continuous warfare, which brought untold suffering and immense damage,
not only did the Hungarians invent one of Europe's most valuable wines, but they
continued to make it against immense odds. They then had to hide the precious produce
from marauding soldiers. So they excavated rock or earth cellars, known locally as 'rock
holes', the locations of which were kept secret. These single vaulted cellars provided
surprisingly ideal maturing conditions. They were so small that a special sized cask was
required. As the barrels were made in the local village of Gonc (or Gonz), the 30 gallon
gonci (or gonczi) casks thus evolved as a local speciality. The humidity and mould
created in these underground cellars contributed to the characteristics of Aszu wines.
The first record of the gonci cask appeared in 1577. In 1611 the Polish Diet defined
precisely the size of gonci barrels in which the Tokaji wines should be transported.
By 1620, maximum yields per hectare had been legally defined. The value of Aszu
grapes was considered so high by 1641 that to take home even one handful became
punishable by caning.
The vineyards at that time covered 6,000 hectares and the 28 villages within the area
were designated Tokaj-Hegyalja.
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THE WINEMAKING PROCESS
The principles involved in producing Tokaji Aszii wines have varied little over the centuries.
Gradually the start of the harvest was moved from St Michael the Archangel's
Day - 29 September - to Simon & Jude's Day on 28 October to allow more grapes to
be affected by the botrytis fungus, which concentrates the 'noble rot' sweetness.
Quantities differed enormously from year to year, but each Aszu berry (ie. each grape
affected by noble rot) was hand picked and collected in a puttony. A puttony is a hod
that contains 20-25 kilos of Aszii berries and it is also a measurement used in
determining the sweetness of the final wine.
These delicate berries were until recently processed by treading into Aszu dough or
paste. This intense pulp, nowadays produced by crushing, is then blended into the base
wine from the previous year's harvest. This gives the wine more body and acidity and a
rich refreshing quality. The number of puttonys added to a barrel containing 130 litres
creates the level of richness or sweetness in the resultant Aszii must. So the more
puttonyos are added, the richer and more intense - and precious - the wine will be.
A second fermentation then starts, and this can continue for months and even years,
since the high sugar content slows down the process, as does the fact that the Tokaj
cellars are mostly deep and cool. This is the secret of the amazing longevity of Tokaji.
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T H E V I N E YA R D S
In 1700, each slope was classified by Prince Rakoczi into 1st, 2nd and 3rd class (or
growth). Seventy-six vineyards were classified as 1st class, or Primae Classis in
contemporary Latin. Exceptionally, two were raised to the heights of Great 1st
Growth, Mezes Maly and Szarvas. Fifty-nine vineyards were classified as 2nd class, and
38 as 3rd class. This was 56 years before the Pombal demarcation of the Douro Valley
and 155 years before the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce's classification. Vineyards
that were too high or too low (or facing the wrong way) were listed as 'unclassified'.
The principal vineyards were to be found close to a string of neighbouring market
towns and villages. Tokaj is the main market town because it lies at the junction of the
rivers Tisza and Bodrog, which gives the region the necessary surface water to produce
the early morning mists that encourage noble rot to affect the grapes. The dominant
Tokaj Hill or mountain rises to 1,372 feet, but although it gives its name to the whole
district, "it is not considered as the place where the best wine of the whole district
grows." That distinction properly belonged to the two neighbouring market towns –
Mad and Tarcal. It was in Mad that all the great vineyard proprietors gathered and
"magnificent entertainments" were given. It was important for foreign wine merchants
to come to Mad, as it was here that the prices of Aszii wines were fixed for the whole
region. It also boasted seven Ist-class vineyards, including Nyulaszo, Szent Tamas and
Betsek, which exist today.
However, of all the Hungarian market towns and villages that are beginning to be
recognised on the international wine map, Tarcal historically is the most famous
because its Ist-class vineyards are continually exposed to the sun or have a situation
open both to east and west. The two great 1st-Growth vineyards, Mezes Maly and
Szarvas, are here, together with 18 Ist-class vineyards. The chapel built in the reign of
Maria Theresa is still standing at a height above sea level of 586 feet. Zombor has six
Ist-class vineyards, including Disznoko.
The market town of Tallya is renowned for the fact that in 1562 Pope Pius IV proclaimed
that its wines surpassed all others. In his astonishment he exclaimed: "Sumtnum
Pontificetn talia vina decent." ("The Supreme Pontiff prefers these special wines.")
Monok was the home of Count George Andrassy, famed for his cellars as well as his wines.
From 1733 to 1800 a company of Russian soldiers was regularly stationed at
Bodrogkeresztiir to buy wines for the Czar's Court. Count Falkenheim maintained
his beautifully situated vineyard at Kisfalud. At Erdobenye, a place of some 2,300
inhabitants, the "shady foliage of a wild romantic valley" concealed a mineral spa
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whose source was in an abandoned gold and silver mine. Tolcsva was another market
town overlooked by an old castle built on its hill.
Sarospatak, on the right bank of the River Bodrog, was then - and is now - one of the
north's largest towns and features the only important castle still standing.
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F I T O N LY F O R A S O V E R E I G N
The rulers of Hungary and the producers of Tokaji Aszii soon realised the wine's
potential as a bargaining tool. As a result, it became an unlikely instrument of war
when Prince Ferenc Rakoczi II of Transylvania sent a small cask to Czar Peter the
Great, hoping for his support in the Hungarian War of Independence.
By the end of the 18th century, the fame of Tokaj's Aszii had spread throughout
Europe. Over the following 150 years great bottles in great years became available only
to privileged customers. Pope Benedict XIV wrote to Maria Theresa, Archduchess of
Austria and Queen of Hungary, in grateful acknowledgement of a gift of Tokaji
wines: "Happy is the country which grows them. Happy is the Queen who sends
them. And happier still am I who drink them."
Louis XIV kept supplies for his mistress Madame de Pompadour, and successive
Popes slept with bottles by their bedsides. Voltaire, who had perhaps tasted the wine
on his visit in 1751 to the Court of Frederick the Great, waxed lyrical on the subject,
and English poet John Betjeman's Summoned by Bells begins:
Balkan Sobranies in a wooden box
The college arms upon the lid
Tokaji and sherry in the cupboard ...
Most of the finest vineyards were owned by the Hungarian Royal Household, and the
Emperor Franz Joseph made the princely gesture of sending Queen Victoria a gift of
Tokaji every year on her birthday - a dozen bottles for each year of her age. Year by
year the present augmented in size until in 1900, her penultimate - 81st - birthday, she
received 972 bottles of the rarest of all wines (history, alas, does not tell us how many
she drank).
As chronicled in Romance of Tokaji, published by London's famous wine merchants
Berry Bros & Rudd ca. 1933, the incomparable 'Haley's Comet' vintage of 1811 still
tasted superb after 114 years, thanks to its high sugar content and penetrating acidity:
"Its bouquet was overwhelming in its intensity and silky richness and the first sip
bewildered the palate with a harmonious multiplicity of exquisite sensations."
Even the great 'Waterloo' port vintage of 1815 was judged by Christie's Wine Review
of 1973 to have lasted only to the mid-1930s. Berry Bros, by then the authorised
custodians of Tokaji under successive Hungarian governments, proclaimed: "We do
not advocate the indiscriminate use of fine Tokaji Wines, for the good reason the
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supply is limited." They did, however, print some fascinating unsolicited testimonials,
including one from a customer who wrote: "Send immediately one case of the wine
that removes the screws from the coffin lid."
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A SECOND RENAISSANCE
Demand diminished in the war-ridden mid-19th century. In 1864 the Tokaj-Hegyalja
Vinicultural Association, in an effort to reverse the trend, circulated a scholarly and
beautiful album (written by Stephen Tovok) in Hungarian, with its text translated into
three other languages - German, French and (rather quaint) English. Its declared
objective was: "To make known to the civilised countries the birth place of the far
famed Tokaji wine, to show with what prodigality of beauty and grandeur Nature has
endowed the place where the King of Wines has fixed his throne ... and to show this
mountain district is of no small importance both in a financial and a commercial
point of view."
These aims led to what can really be described as the second renaissance of Tokaji.
There is also something uncannily perceptive in the cry, almost 135 years ago, for help
and recognition. As Stephen Tovok concluded in his preface: "Hungary will perceive
that she is destined to be a link in the chain of civilisation between East and West and
that she will appropriate to herself the superior advantages of the West, while transferring
them to the East." (We are mindful that Hungary is due soon to be admitted to the
European Union.)
King George V was the last British monarch known to have enjoyed Tokaji. During
his illness in 1931, Joseph Vecchi, patron of London's Hungaria restaurant, was asked
to provide two bottles for His Majesty. The 1889 vintage was proposed. Vecchi was
proud to be the only person in London able to provide it.
But the second renaissance was short lived. The Russian Revolution stripped Tokaji of
a second most important export market. The First World War had destroyed the
power of the Austro-Hungarian nobility. The Second, followed by the Communist
regime, signalled the end of quality. The prognosis was not good.
The State Wine Farm - the Borkombinat -began to control all commercial production,
and its cooperative Monimpex controlled all the exports. In exchange for natural gas,
90 per cent of all wine produced was sent to the USSR.
The Aszii grapes - which had produced unique wines - became used for mass production
in factories. Istvan Szepsy, a respected producer in Mad and a kinsman of the
17th-century priest, remembers how he was encouraged and motivated to produce as
many hectolitres per hectare as he possibly could. Vineyards were overcropped.
Pruning was ignored, individuality was ignored, quality was ignored. The Russians
preferred their imported Hungarian wines to be mellowed with oxidation, making
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them strong and darkish to give warmth. It was as though the French government
were to issue a decree that all wines from Burgundy must be blended together (goodbye
Montrachet; farewell Romanee-Conti; adieu Beaune) and sold as light burgundy,
light-medium burgundy, medium burgundy, medium-heavy burgundy and heavy
burgundy. So it was with Tokaji Aszii, which was then sold as 3 puttonyos, 4 puttonyos,
5 puttonyos, and 6 puttonyos, all of which designated the level of sweetness. The
distinctions of terroir had been replaced by a giant tank. For two or three generations,
no investment went into quality. And so it continued until 1989, when with the change
of regime, bartering for gas stopped overnight.
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THE THIRD RENAISSANCE
Tokaji Aszu - that wonderful nectar - had been ill-treated for generations, its last gasp
going almost unheeded. The knowledge and secrets of the making of this great wine
were known to only a handful of vignerons. The map was available, but could the
treasure be relocated?
In 1989, Danish-born yeast guru and historian manque, Peter Vinding-Diers, persuaded
Hugh Johnson, who had written about Tokaji in The World Atlas of Wine, to go with
him to Hungary and take a look. Their objective was to probe behind the Iron Curtain
and discover if any of the noble traditions had been preserved. They were determined
to rediscover the aristocratic wine that had once been so revered.
It was the same Istvan Szepsy, now in his late 40s, and some of his colleagues who were
found to be the custodians of the true Aszii. Although they had been obliged to sell
almost all their grapes and wine to the Borkombinat to make a commercial living, in
each good vintage they had kept back a few casks produced from a much lower crop
yield. Its fruit was not masked by over-oxidation. It was clear, golden and alive, tasting
of honey and dried fruits. Its richness seared with penetrating acidity. Its sensual
completeness rolled around the mouth for unending minutes. It did not cloy. One
sought eagerly for the next sip, the next glass, the next bottle. This was the wine that
had excited the czars and all those kings and popes.
Istvan Szepsy and his friends and family were delighted that at last someone from the
West wanted to invest in their vineyard oasis; thus a joint venture was born and the
Royal Tokaji Wine Company was created, the first foreign private company to produce
and export Tokaji in living memory. The company now owns the freehold to more than
80 hectares of vineyards and makes its wines by flickering light in the 13th century
cellars which traverse the volcanic soil some 20 metres beneath Mad. The cellars are 2
kilometres long, on three levels and hold a million litres of wine in their gonci casks.
The Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region had one of Europe's earliest vineyard classification
systems: As we saw, Prince Rakoczi had consolidated all the rules and regulations into
his detailed vineyard classification of 1700. But no one today remembered this.
Incredibly, the fact came to light only in 1990 when Vinding-Diers, browsing in a
bookshop in Buda, discovered a volume in Latin published in 1803 by the noted chronicler
of Tokaji wine, Antal Szirmay, which detailed the classification.
Peter took his new evidence to the Ministry of Agriculture. Senior civil servants were
discreetly lobbied and eventually they accepted the integrity of the new investors.
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The authorities began to realise what the true potential shift from Communism to
Western values might mean to them.
And so, in the last decade of the millennium, the Hungarian government privatised
the best wine estates which had been administered by the Borkombinat. The first to
invest were three French insurance companies: GAN (led by Jean-Michel Arcaute who
acquired the Megyer and Pajos estates), AXA (led by Jean-Michel Cazes, who acquired
the Disznoko estate), and GMF (led by Aymer de Baillenx who acquired the Hetszolo
estate). By 1992 the Spanish wine company Vega Sicilia had acquired the Oremus
estate and installed Andras Bacso, the previous Borkombinat director who desperately
wanted to produce better wines, as its manager.
Almost overnight, this remote kingdom was back in the wine atlases. The locals were
bemused, the government thrilled at the foreign investment. Their bureaucratic legacy
was the all-powerful OBI, the department within the Ministry of Agriculture which
monitored wine and quality control. Relationships were strained at first, but now
harmony prevails. Both the foreign investors and the government were determined to
recreate the great wine that was Tokaji, not just to produce a modern imitation.
There were few rules of engagement in Tokaji in the early 1990s. Now there are
various research projects under way in cooperation with the University of Budapest.
There is also a continuous need to undo the malpractices which the region's cellar
masters and vineyard managers had been encouraged to pursue. Investors have been
obliged to prune better, reduce yields, replant where necessary, renew barrels more
often and generally increase and evolve a new style of husbandry.
Probably the most important development in the past few years has been the creation
of an association of owners of Ist-Growth vineyards, happily named The Tokaji
Renaissance, launched at the great French wine fair Vinexpo in 1995. It is pledged to
respect the 18th century classification. Andras Bacso, a Hungarian moving spirit
towards quality during privatisation, was the first President, succeeded by Istvan
Szepsy, the most respected independent grower. Andras Egyedi is Director.
In September 1998, Dr George Rasko who, as Secretary of State for Agriculture
during the privatisation programme, enabled all this to happen, became Special
Advisor to the Prime Minister of Hungary, responsible for food and agriculture. The
"Tokaji Renaissance" is now a clear priority for the Hungarian leadership.
Through sheer determination, there is beginning to be a more confident and positive
culture in these almost forgotten market towns and villages. Buildings are being
restored, the workers have a new pride in what they produce. It is still said that the
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Hungarian who enters the revolving door behind you emerges in front of you, but
there is firm loyalty to the proprietors.
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V I S I T I N G T O KA J
A PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
The undernourished villages in the region - Tokaj itself, Mad and Tarcal - await foreign
visitors with a mixture of trepidation and eagerness. They desperately want to share
their unique wines with the outside world. Over many visits during the past five years,
several images clearly stand out of the unforgettable excitement of one's first tasting.
Creaky wooden doors in the side of the hillside are pushed open to reveal stone steps
descending into humid semi-darkness. The temperature outside was 82°; inside it is
always 50°. Lowering the head, one is led through blackened tunnels with single tiered
gonci casks left and right. That afternoon more than 40 wines were tasted, all straight
from the cask. The glorious fatness and searing acidity of these world-class wines left
one with a whistle-clean finish and a clear non-cloying taste in the mouth, an unusual
experience in any great cellar.
The author's second image is of accompanying a well-known international wine
editor into our 13th-century cellars. He had been a bit sceptical. He descended into
the mould-lined cellars, set up his laptop PC (the first PC ever to be laid on a gonci
cask?) and sipped 6-puttonyos 1993 single estate wines. "Wow," he proclaimed in high
excitement. "Now I can really see why you crazy guys have come here - these really
are first-class wines."
Thirdly, a word of caution. All underground cellars in Tokaj are cold and very humid.
Short trousers may be appropriate in the vineyards but once the producers lure one
into the cellars, they are so generous with sampling that an hour or so can easily slip
by as one sits on a bench around a table, marvelling at all the different tastes. Goose
pimples are neither pretty nor pleasant, so warm jackets are now provided.
The region is gradually edging itself into the European wine trail. The best route is to
fly to Budapest, board the Intercity express to Miskolc, a journey of exactly 1 hour
and 47 minutes, and then arrange to be driven 45 minutes to Tokaj. The director of
Tokaji Renaissance, Andras Egyedi, speaks excellent English and will arrange visits to
wine cellars where one may purchase the wines.
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B E H I N D T H E T O K A J I L A B E L T O D AY
When buying Tokaji, one should be aware that there is a clear dividing line between
high yield wines made by the Borkombinat under the Communist regime (around
1950 to 1988) and low yield wines made by private companies from 1990 onwards.
1989 yielded little Aszii wine. The former include great vintages such as 1972,1983 and
1988 which tend to have their fruit masked by over-oxidation, the latter produced
ground-breaking wines in 1990, 1991 and 1992, with the 1993 vintage being acclaimed
as the greatest of the new renaissance.
Each port and champagne marque has evolved its style over many generations of
family winemakers. The new Tokaji houses are just beginning this process again. The
main factors are terroir, vineyards and yeasts, together with the tasting style and direction
at which the house aims. At this stage, it is probably true to say that certain of the new
French-owned wineries are veering toward a more flowery Sauternes style, whereas
the others are concentrating on the old intense fruit flavours.
The first area on the label to check is the category. If the words Aszu or Essencia do
not appear, then the wine will either be a dry white table wine made from the furmint,
harslevelu or muskotaly grapes and sold in 75cl bottles, or it will be the 'poor man's
Aszii', called Szamorodni. This literally means 'as it comes': the wines can be dry or
sweet as they are generally made from vineyards where the Aszu and non Aszu grapes
are all picked together and where the incidence of noble rot is not very prevalent.
Szamorodni is always sold in 50cl bottles.
Thus all Aszu is Tokaji, but not all Tokaji wines are Aszu.
Without question, the wines attracting attention now are the great Tokaji Aszu wines.
These will show the quantity of puttonyos ranging from 3 to 6. A 3-puttonyos wine
is light-medium; 4-puttonyos wines begin to achieve the first complexities; 5-puttonyos
wines are balanced between richness and refreshing acidity, and 6-puttonyos are intense
and concentrated in their tastes.
Further up the scale, Aszu Essencia describes wines of 7 to 9 puttonyos, which can
go up to 350 grams of sugar per litre. These gloriously intense wines are produced
only in great Aszu years, such as 1993.
The ultimate nectar is, of course, Essencia, of which tiny amounts are bottled even in
the greatest years. The wine lasts for centuries, looks like honey and is extremely rare
and sought after. The wine writer Hugh Johnson and the author recently enjoyed an
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Essencia 1864 at Berry Bros, rich but magically youthful.
The next thing to look for is the name of the producer. Each new company making
wines from the 1990 vintage onwards has highlighted its name and origin on the label.
For example, the French companies have tended to call their companies after the main
vineyard they purchased from the State, so we have Chateau Disznoko, Chateau
Megyer, Chateau Pajzos and Domaine Hetszolo. The Spanish wine company Vega
Sicilia calls its wines Oremus. The independent British-Hungarian company named
The Royal Tokaji Wine Company, which started in 1989, uses Royal Tokaji as its
company and brand name. It owns parcels of several 1st and 2nd Growth vineyards,
which have always belonged to private families, and identifies vineyards such as
Nyulaszo and Szt. Tamas on the labels. These sumptuous single vineyard wines are
currently the most sought after by collectors because of their rarity value. Royal Tokaji
is the only company to make Aszii exclusively; all the others produce a range.
Each bottle will carry a seal of quality in Hungarian colours around its neck. There is
no need to decant Tokaji Aszu. A wine of this richness is best served cool. Hugh
Johnson has even designed a special Aszu wine glass similar to a port glass, showing off
the sensational gold and orange colours as well as concentrating the intense fruit aromas.
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W I N E A N D F O O D PA I R I N G
Traditionally, and as Patrick Leigh Fermor underlined in his delightful account of
walking through Hungary in the mid-1950s, "The evening ended in a dinner party at
the Mayor's with floods of wine all through, and then Tokaji." Tokaji was always
enjoyed after food in the same way that the British have enjoyed port.
As restaurants all over the world are now happily experimenting with more and more
eclectic menus, so Tokaji is being asked to dance and even flirt at the top table of taste.
Louis XIV and Peter the Great would surely have approved.
Foie gras, that great Hungarian product and conventional partner to Sauternes, is now
being exported and makes a fine culinary match with Tokaji. Cigar aficionados love
the wines' refreshing rich fruitiness. The great restaurants of the world are beginning
to offer Tokaji Aszu wines by the glass, when as little as three years ago it was a rarity
on wine lists. Like all great wines it is magnificent just by itself.
The new generation of honorary Tokajians have a great task ahead. Sauternes, port
and champagnes have for generations been riding the affluent tidal waves. Tokaji has
not. Sauternes has Chateau d'Yquem as its flagship. Port and champagne have long
had well known and respected companies to help the consumer identify with quality.
Tokaji has so far been denied this.
Tokaji has a great history and future, and it is rewarding and encouraging to see the
wine trade welcome back the prodigal with such open arms and confidence. It is a
great news story. Hitherto unknown single vineyard 1st class or Growth wines such as
Mezes Maly, Szt. Tamas and Nyulaszo are becoming as sought after as Romanee-Conti,
La Tache or Grand Echezeaux.
Raymond Postgate, pioneering restaurant critic, who always travelled with a bottle of
Tokaji in order that it would be with him at his moment of death, would have been
excited by the latest Renaissance. The significance of this noble wine is best summed
up by Hugh Johnson: "Tokaji does for you at the end of the meal what champagne
does for you at the beginning.
The author and editor wish particularly to thank
Mr Puszki Istvan and Ms Alison Pilpel for their meticulous hel
and the Director General and Staff of the Hungarian Cultural Centre
in London for its enthusiastic encouragement.
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THE INTERNATIONAL WINE & FOOD SOCIETY
The International Wine & Food Society is an association of men and women all over
the world who are united in their belief that a sensible appreciation of the pleasures
of good food and wine is an essential part of a civilised way of life.
The Society has members in over 40 countries, and branches in most of them. Apart
from local activities, it holds an international gathering at least once a year, organises
wine and gastronomic tours, and distributes and publishes quarterly newsletters,
monographs and the annual digest Food and Wine, as well as a yearly vintage guide.
In London it maintains an international Secretariat with club facilities and residential
accommodation for members.
The Andre Simon Collection, an important library of gastronomic books, is housed
in the City of London's historic Guildhall. The Society is administered by a Council,
currently drawn from eight countries.
Its address is:
The International Wine & Food Society
9 Fitzmaurice Place,
Berkeley Square,
London W1X 6JD,
United Kinkdom.
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BEN HOWKINS
Ben Howkins was awarded the Vintners Scholarship in 1963, the youngest person to
receive this award, and the experience gained then, in Europe's vineyards and working
with many leading vintners, inspired his commitment to educate others to the enjoyment
of wine -particularly fortified and dessert wines. He wrote The International Wine &
Food Society's guide to port -Rich, Rare and Red - and is a member of the Confreria
do Vinho do Porto and the Vintners Company. He has lectured for the Wine and
Spirit Education Trust and serves on the Council of the Wine Guild. He is a Director
of the Royal Tokaji Wine Company and, as a founding member of the Tokaji
Renaissance, is dedicated to reestablishing recognition for Tokaji Aszu as one of the
world's greatest wines.
W W W. R O Y A L -T O K A J I . C O M
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