Szavazás
A Cserszegi Fűszeres Ön szerint melyik borvidékünkön érzi igazán otthon magát?

Dél-Balaton
Balatonfüred- Csopak
Etyek-Buda
Kunság
Ászár-Neszmély

Összes szavazat: 1289
Eredmények »»
Hirdetések



 

Tokaj Wine-growing Region

The Tokaj region lies on the southern slopes of the Zemplén Mountains where the rivers Tisza and Bodrog meet and comprises roughly 5600 hectares with 28 villages and towns. The exquisit and deservedly world-famous wine made here is the result of the interplay of several happy coincidences such as the favourable climate, the soil, native varieties of vines and the centuries of traditions. Typical soil type is called 'nyirok' by locals; it is an exremely hard soil mixed with loess and humus on volcanic rock, which has very good heat absorption. This makes the wines of the region so fiery and rich in aroma. The area also gets a lot of sunshine and although the number of sunny hours might be higher at some places the distribution of the amount of sunshine is nowhere as favourable as here. In autumn, due to morning mist and afternoon shunshine noble must (botrytis cinerea) settles on the grapes, due to which the peel of the berries cracks and while the berries shrink as a result of their loss of water their aromas get concentrated. Dessicated, shrivelled berries are then gathered - either individually or in bunches - and processed. Altough botrytis is native in many a vineyard around the world it exercises this beneficial effect only in a few places such as the Rhine Valley, Sauternes in Bordeaux and, of course, Tokaj. Tokaji aszú is unique even among the wines from these exceptional areas thanks to the old native varieties of grapes on the one hand and the soil on the other.

Varieties of Grapes and Wines:
Instead of the broad selection of earlier periods, today only three great varieties are grown: Furmint (75%), Hárslevelű (20-22%) and Sárga Muskotály (Yellow Muscat) (1-2%). These are the varieties that are most subject ro shrivelling as a result of botrytis cinerea's action. Wines that are made with these shrivelled grapes include Szamorodni, Aszús of different amounts of puttony (picking basket) and on the top of this pyramid stands Tokaji Eszencia or Nectar. A new, not yet official category is the so called late-harvest wines.

Settlements:
Abaújszántó, Bekecs, Bodrogkeresztúr, Bodrogkisfalud, Bodrogolaszi, Erdőbénye, Erdőhorváti, Golop, Hercegkút, Legyesbénye, Makkoshotyka, Mád, Mezőzombor, Monok, Olaszliszka, Rátka, Sárazsadány, Sárospatak, Sátoraljaújhely, Szegi, Szegilong,Szerencs, Tarcal, Tállya, Tokaj, Tolcsva, Vámosújfalu

History:
Well before the discovery of the beneficial action of the noble must vine had been grown in the area. Kabars joining the Hungarian tribes before the conquest of the country, who were well versed in wine-culture, settled in this region. This viticulture florishing during the reign of the House of Árpád suffered serious losses during the Mongol invasion. Vineyards were newly tended by Italian settlers invited by King Béla IV., who brought several new varieties of grapes to the region, Furmint, for example. The process of making Aszú was first described by Máté Sepsi Laczkó, protestant minister in the service of the Lords of the region, the Rákóczis. However, sources make scholars believe that Aszú wine had been known well before that, as early as in the second half of the 15th century, well before the time when similar wines appeared in the Rhine Valley. By the end of the 17th century the fame of Tokaji brought great wealth to its makers. In the 18th century this was the most renowned wine all over the world, the drink served at royal and ducal dinner tables - Vinum Regnum, Rex Vinorum. After the War of Independence lead by Ferenc Rákóczi II. the region becames part of the royal estate. Business remained in good hands there; several decrees and measures safeguarded the high quality of wine from the area. Then came a period of historical storms: the ups and downs of Central European history, the Phylloxera epidemy, two World Wars, the extinction of the local Jewish trading community all indicated and contributed to decay. In addition, the decline of traditional aristocratic culture followed by the changes in consumer demands required a different approach in viticulture as well. After the wawe of collectivisation in the 1950's grapes from the region were processed on one large industrial estate producing cheap and low-quality wines. This was a serious blow to the reputation of Tokaji wines. But after the political changes we could witness a suprisingly fast development. Foreign investors from Germany, France and Spain and highly renowned wine-makers created model-like wineries in the region. This again, made the Tokaj region part of the intrernational wine trade.

And local small proprietors took up the challenge and produced wines of no meaner quality than products by foreign investors. This gives us hope that the future of Tokaj might be as glorious as its past used to be.



back to regions
 

HydroFlow vízkezelés profiknak