Tokaji Wine Guide: A Brief History of Hungarian Tokaji Aszú

Tokaji is shorthand for Tokaji aszú, a style of dessert wine made from botrytized grapes. Tokaji means "from Tokaj" and is used to describe most of the wines from a town in Hungary and the country’s most famous wine region. Located in the northeast part of the country, the humid climate in Tokaj encourages the growth of botrytis cinerea (noble rot).

The history of Tokaj wine is deeply rooted in Hungary and a terroir that supports botrytized grapes.

• Seventeenth-century beginnings: Tokaji aszú is believed to be the world's first botrytized grape wine. Lady Zsuzsánna Lórántffy pioneered this type of wine around 1650 by pushing the grape harvest into autumn, allowing noble rot to affect more grapes. During the seventeenth century, 27 different communities labeled their wines Tokaji, and individual vineyards were classified in the following century.
• Eighteenth-century popularity: During the eighteenth century, sweet wines were incredibly popular and Tokaji wines were drunk in the Russian and French royal courts. Louis XIV is reported to have called it "the wine of kings."
• Nineteenth-century setback: In the mid-nineteenth century, Tokaj was affected by phylloxera, a type of pest harmful to grapevines. The town’s recovery was slowed by two world wars and subsequent Soviet control, under which wine production focused on quantity over quality.
• Twentieth-century comeback: Some growers and winemakers held onto their traditions through those difficult decades, and the collapse of the Soviet Union around 1989 saw the beginning of a Tokaji resurgence. Foreign investors—primarily Lord Jacob Rothschild, British wine writer Hugh Johnson, and Bordeaux winemaker Peter Vinding-Diers—partnered with local winemakers to form the Royal Tokaji Wine Company. Over the next few years, foreigners continued to inject money into Tokaj, bringing the wine back from obscurity.

The Tokaj region is perhaps most famous for the unique winemaking process used to produce its Tokaji aszú wines.

1. 1. Picking: Botrytized grapes, known as aszú berries or aszú grapes, are hand-picked in the fall.
2. 2. Making a paste: The botrytized grapes are then kneaded into a paste.
3. 3. Second picking: During this base wine production phase, the grapes not affected by botrytis are picked and pressed into a base wine.
4. 4. Soaking: The botrytized-grape paste is soaked in the base wine for at least eight hours and up to three days.
5. 5. Second fermentation: The wine is then strained away from the paste to ferment a second time. The high sugar levels and cold conditions of the cellars mean that fermentation happens slowly over a period of months to years.
6. 6. Aging: The resulting wine must be aged in oak barrels for at least two years, and then another year in the bottle.

Two of the best wines from Tokaj follow a slightly different method: Tokaj Eszencia and Tokaj Aszú Eszencia (also spelled Tokay Essencia). The best of the best, Tokaj Eszencia is only made during years when enough grapes have been infected with botrytis that a wine can be made from those grapes alone. The affected grapes are put in a cask and the free-run juice—which has a sugar content of 45 percent—is then fermented to create Tokaji Eszencia, an incredibly rare and expensive wine. Slightly more common is Tokaji Aszú Eszencia, made from a blend of the Tokaji Eszencia free-run juice and wine from non-botrytized grapes.

The most important grape varieties in the region are those used to make Tokaji aszú. In order of importance, they are:

1. 1. Furmint: This late-harvest white wine grape is prone to botrytis and accounts for 60 percent of plantings in the region, making it the dominant grape in aszú blends. Furmint's natural acidity helps balance the sweetness of Tokaji wines. Non-botrytized grapes are also made into varietal dry wines.
2. 2. Hárslevelű: Descended from Furmint, this white grape is also acidic and prone to botrytis but more aromatic with a fruity, flowery scent. Like Furmint, Hárslevelű is also made into varietal wines.
3. 3. Sárga Muskotály: Also known as Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains, this aromatic, acidic variety is mostly used to flavor blends.
4. 4. Zéta: Also known as Oremus, this variety, which is susceptible to botrytis, was permitted in Tokaji aszú starting in 1993.

Puttonyo ("basket") is an old term used to describe the sweetness of Tokaji aszú wines. Most aszú wines are made by blending a paste of botrytized grapes with still wine. The number of puttonyos refers to the amount of paste used in the blend—the more paste, the sweeter the wine. Today, only five and six puttonyos are permitted on labels, with sive puttonyos containing 12 to 15 percent residual sugar and six puttonyos containing 15 to 18 percent. So if you see a wine labeled "Tokaji Aszú 5 puttonyos” or "Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos," it's sure to be very sweet.

Sweet wine isn't as popular today as it was during the eighteenth century, and climate change has limited the number of botrytized grapes available, making a rare wine even rarer. Tokaji aszú only comprises about 10 percent of the Tokaj region's wine output.

The grapes used to make Tokaji aszú can also be made into dry and semi-sweet white wines in a variety of styles. For example, Szamorodni (“as it grows”) is made without separating the botrytized grapes from the non-botrytized ones. Szamorondni can be dry, semi-dry, or semi-sweet, and is traditionally matured under a film-forming yeast, making it slightly oxidized (like sherry).

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