Tokaj

Question 1

What did the region of Tokaj used to be called?

Answer 1

Tokaj-Hegyalja (foot-hills)

Question 2

What is the name of the mountain range important to the region of Tokaj?

Answer 2

Carpathian Mtns.

Question 3

What is the climate like in Tokaj?

Answer 3

Continental with long humid Autumns

Question 4

What are the soils like in Tokaj?

Answer 4

Volcanic with Loess and clay

Question 5

On what aspect of the hills are the best vineyards located?

Answer 5

South facing.

Question 6

What is the original classification of the Tokaj wines called?

Answer 6

Rákóczy

Question 7

What are the names of the two rivers that frame the Tokaj region?

Answer 7

Tisza

Bodrog

Question 8

How many producers are now considered to be first growth?

Answer 8

74

Question 9

What are the two principal grapes of the region?

Answer 9

Furmint

Hárslevelű

Question 10

What are the other grapes used in the production but more rarely seen?

Answer 10

Sárgamuskotály (Muscat Blanc à Petite Grains), Zéta (Oremus), Kabar and Kövérszőlő are authorized but generally used in small quantities.

Question 11

Why is the Furmint grape so critical to the production of Tokaji Aszú?

Answer 11

It is naturally high in acid - particularly conducive to botrytis.

Question 12

What is the most fundamental component of the Tokaji wines?

Answer 12

Aszú berries - berries that have been affected by Botrytis Cinerea

Question 13

Did Botrytised wines in Hungry predate those in Germany?

Answer 13

Yes.

Question 14

What are some of the leading estates that produce Tokaj now? After the rebound from the fall of communism.

Answer 14

Royal Tokaji Company
Vega Sicilia’s Tokaj Oremus
Disznókõ
Királyudvar

Question 15

What is the difference between Tokaji and Tokaj?

Answer 15

Tokaji is the ajectival form that refers to the wine. Tokaj is the name of the overall region and the region at the convergence of the two rivers.

Question 16

Traditionally what are the Aszu berries collected in?

Answer 16

Hand picked into Puttony - which are roughly 25 kg in size

Question 17

What does the term Esszencia refer to?

Answer 17

It is the wine made from the free run juice before the pressing of the Aszu berries.

Question 18

What determines the final sweetness of a Tokaji Azsu wine?

Answer 18

How many puttony added to a gönc

Question 19

What is a gönc?

Answer 19

A Hungarian Oak cask of 136L

Question 20

What was the original indication of sweetness on the label before 2013?

Answer 20

The # of punttonyos. Tokaji Aszu was 3-6 puttonyos

Question 21

What are the current 2013 onward requirements for Aszu wine from Tokaj?

Answer 21

Simply labeled “Aszú”;
3 years w/ min. 18 months in barrel
At least 120 g/l of residual sugar and achieve an actual
At least 9%

Question 22

What was the preferred Tokaji of the Czars?

Answer 22

Esszencia

Question 23

What are the Esszencia wines like?

Answer 23

They take forever - up to ten years to ferment all the way which means just barely reaching 4-6% alc.
At least 450g/l residual
Richer than honey.

Question 24

What is Tokaji Szamorodni?

Answer 24

(“as it comes”) is produced from a mixture of aszú and non-aszú grapes and is often oxidative in style as it is matured in cask for a minimum of two years—sometimes under a film-forming yeast similar to flor

Question 25

What are the two styles of Tokaji Szamorodni that can be made?

Answer 25

édes (sweet)

száras (dry)

Question 26

What is the Circle of Mád?

Answer 26

A small contingent of producers committed to elevating the stature of dry wines in the region founded by István Szepsy

Question 27

István Szepsy is a key founder of what two producers?

Answer 27

Johnson’s Royal Tokaji Company and Királyudvar

Question 28

Besides Tokaji Azsu wines what are the other types of wines allowed to be made under the Tokaji label?

Answer 28

Late Harvest wines in varying sweetness levels and dry wines.

Question 29

How are the Fordítás and Máslás wines made in Tokaj?

Answer 29

product of refermenting wine with the pressed paste or spent lees, respectively, of Tokaji Aszú

Question 30

When did Tokaj, Tokay and Tocai become 100% owned by the region of Tokaj?

Answer 30

2007