Living the Tokaj dream in Hungarian wine country

Ever since my very first introduction to Tokaj wines I have strived to learn more; so when I visited Tokaj (toe-kye) last May it was, for me, a dream come true. I was so excited to visit the Tokaj wine region for the first time. The Tokaj Wine Region, which takes its name from the town of Tokaj, was established in 1737. It was the first wine region in the world to create an official vineyard classification. While the region is best known for its Tokaji Aszú, a noble sweet wine, it has also received attention for its sparkling and dry white wines.

Tokaj Vineyard, Hungary © Spaswinefood

Federation International of Wine Brotherhoods (FICB) International Wine Tasting and Rating Challenge, Hungary 

I had returned to Hungary to attend the 2024 Federation International of Wine Brotherhoods (FICB) International Wine Tasting and Rating Challenge, Hungary 23-28 May 2024. It was hosted this year by Pannonia Wine Sisterhood. The main program was held in Budapest, from May 23-May 26, 2024, followed by the extension program in Tokaj, from May 26-May 28, 2024. After the main program in Budapest off we went to explore and more.  Its Furmint wines are produced in a variety of styles, range from bone dry to extremely sweet. It has taken me some time to develop an understanding of Furmint wines from Tokaj. Since 2014 Tokaj's sweet wines have been categorized as Late Harvest, Szamorodni, and Aszú wines. My efforts have including attending Master Classes at Rovinhud Wine Shows, and tasting wines from this wine region during stopovers in Budapest. The result of these earlier efforts I developed insights into Hungary's best known wine region.

Off to Tokaj Wine Country

Our FICB group traveled from Budapest to Tokaj, stopping in Ager. We concluded our day at Tokaj's Wine Research Institute where we received an intro to the region. Next, we met three of Tokaj's female winemakers: 

1. Judith Bodó, Bott Winery,

2. Stephanie Berecz, Kikelet Tokaj, and

3. Sarolta Bárdos, Tokaj Nobilis

They introduced themselves, their winery, and shared their wines during dinner (see article).  

Stephanie Berecz, Sarolta Bárdos & Judith Bodó © Spaswinefood

Next day, we participated in the following four activities: 

1-2. visit Oremus and Patricius wineries, 

3. have lunch with Dereszla wines, and 

4. conclude the day with Sezpsy wines, which were introduced by Europe’s 2022 Winemaker of the Year, Ivan Sezpsy. 

1. Oremus Winery

We met up with winemaker and was introduced to its fabulous wines. Oremus wine estate in Tolcsva was established in 1993 by the Spanish wine firm, Vega Sicilia owned the Alvarez family. It history dates back to the 1620s. 

Welcome to Oremus © Spaswinefood

Today's estate includes historic Tokaji vineyards, with each vineyard characterized by different soil and microclimatic conditions. Besides Furmint they also grow smaller amounts of Hárslevelü, Sárga Muskotály, Zéta, Kövérszolo, and Gohér. The winery utilizes both traditional and contemporary wine production methods. Their botrytized dessert wines (Aszú and Eszencia) undergo a slow fermentation process, and are aged in small barrels in their ancient underground cellars before release. A jewel of the Oremus estate is the ancient, kilometers-long system of cellar labyrinths, which have been protected as a World Heritage Site since 2002. Oremeus is credited with producing the first Tokaji Aszú ever made. Winesearcher notes:

Legend has it that in 1650, fearing an attack by the Turks, harvest was postponed for two months. Grapes were able to dehydrated on the vine and eventually produced an exceptional, intensely sweet wine.

Oremus Tokaji Aszu wines were amongst the wines we tasted.

Oremus, Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos 2017

Oremus, Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2017 © Spaswinefood

They also produces a single dry Furmint wine called Mandolás.

2. Patricius Winery

I so enjoyed our visit to Patricius Winery, where tradition, values, uniqueness and balance walk hand in hand. It was an awesome experience.

Welcome to Patricius © Spaswinefood

After an introduction to the vineyards, we toured the winery, and concluded with a wine tasting.

Intro to Patricius Vineyards © Spaswinefood

I so loved being introduced to Patricius wines.

Tasting Patricius Wines © Spaswinefood

Amongst the wines we tasted was:

Patricius, Tokaj Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2018

Patricius, Tokaj Aszú 5 Puttonyos, 2018 © Spaswinefood

In the Glass: Patricius Tokaj Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2018 © Spaswinefood

Yes, it is most delicious.

3.  Lunch at Dereszla Bistro

Our introduction to Chateau Dereszla wines was over lunch at Dereszla Bistro. The bistro was a beautiful setting for lunch.

Lunch at Dereszla Bistro © Spaswinefood

We were welcomed with a glass of sparkling wine. 

Welcome to Dereszla Bistro © Spaswinefood

Lunch was a most delicious three course meal. Over lunch we were served the following wines:

Dereszla Wines © Spaswinefood

Château Dereszla, founded in the 15th century, like other Topkaj wineries was nationalized during the communist period. Later the property was privatized in 1991. In 2000 the D’Aulan family from France took over the Estate. They strongly believed that a winery in this historical region was worth being revived again. Their vineyards are eight different locations provides a diversity of perfect conditions for, blending and producing exceptional sweet dessert wines, and high quality dry white wines. They also started production of sparkling wines in 2015.

It was a very enjoyable visit and a great lunch!

4. Dinner with Szepsy Wines 

That evening, during our farewell dinner at the hotel, we were introduced to wines from Szepsy Winery. Tokaj's Szepsy Winery has been a family-run winery since at least the 1500s. It is considered one of the emblematic estates of Tokaj. 

Time for Szepsy Wines © Spaswinefood

We were so lucky to spend time with the current winemaker István Szepsy. He is regarded as a master of the region's renowned wine styles.

István Sezepsy, Winemaker © Spaswinefood

Over dinner we were introduced to the following three wines:

(1) Szepsy Furmint, Tokaji Furmint 2022

Szepsy Furmint, Tokaji Furmint 2022 © Spaswinefood

(2) Szepsy Úrágya 63, Tokaji Furmint 2020

Szepsy Úrágya 63, Tokaji Furmint 2020 © Spaswinefood

(3) Szepsy Szamorodni, Tokaji Édes Szamorodni 2017

Szepsy Szamorodni, Tokaji Édes Szamorodni 2017 © Spaswinefood

YES, Szepsy wines will spoil you!

What a great conclusion to our day it was, with Szepsy wines being introduced by Europe’s 2022 Winemaker of the Year, Ivan Szepsy. 

This article resulted from my attending the 2nd FICB Wine Tasting and Rating Challenge in Hungary, 23-28 May 2024. As a member of the KOV (Knights of the Vine) Tahoe Chapter it was a pleasure for me to attend the FICB in Hungary. For sure each visit to Hungary, this was my third time visiting Hungarian wine country, has provided me with the most amazing wine adventures. Moreover, since each of the above activities will be discussed in other posts, at the end this post I will add an earlier article on Tokaj's sweet wines, for which the region is best know. 

Now, is also the time explore Hungarian Wines! I invite you to join me in my wine adventures in Hungary at Wine Travels with Dr. Sharon and at Spaswinefood  on  Twitter and Facebook. 

CHEERS!

Sharon

May 2024, Tarcal

Tokaj, Hungary

© Spaswinefood

Spring Time Vineyard, Tokaj, Hungary © Spaswinefood

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Understanding Tokaj's sweet side: Late Harvest, Szamorodni, and Aszú wines

Golden Treasures from Tokaj, Rovinhud 2018 © Spaswinefood

November 2018 at the Rovinhud Wine Show, Timisoara Spaswinefood attended a Master Class entitled Golden Treasures of Tokaj: From Late Harvest to Aszú.

Presentation on Tokaj Wines, Rovinhud 2018 © Spaswinefood

The class was given by Barca Károly from Barta Prince, Filep Gergely from Disznókő, and Kovács Zoltán from Royal Tokaji.

 Late Harvest, Szamorodni, and Aszú Wines © Spaswinefood

Three producers came together to share some of the most amazing sweet wines in the world. I walked away at the end of the session with an introduction to categories used to describe these wines.

Tokaj's Late Harvest, Szamorodni, and Aszú Wines

Tokaj's sweet wines have been categorized as Late Harvest, Szamorodni, and Aszú wines since 2014.

Aszú Wines

Let's begin with what makes Tokaji Aszú wines so special. The Aszú´s acidity characterizes this dessert wine, which is one of the slowest maturating and most long-living wines in the world. The great balance in Tokaj Aszú comes from the natural acidity in the grapes, particularly furmint, the dominant grape variety. Three other grapes are commonly used (harslevelu, muscat blanc à petit grains, zeta, and a few other grapes are also permitted). While the Aszú wines are usually blends, occasionally you’ll find a 100 % Furmint Aszú.

The basis of this wine are hand-picked, dried and noble rotten berries. After selection, the dry berries are processed into an Aszú dough. Aszú wines are made by pressing the grapes shriveled by botrytis into a paste, and then blending that paste with a still wine. The taste and quality of the Aszú mainly depends on the number of hods (puttonyos) filled with dry berries, which are added to a cask of dry base wine. The word puttonyo, or basket, is an old method of gauging the sweetness in the wines. Moderately sweet wines contain three puttonyos of paste, with a sweeter wine containing four, and so on, up to 6 puttonyos. The proportion of aszú berries to dry base wine for a 6 puttonyos Aszú is about 1:1. Before 1945, also 2 puttonyos Aszú was marketed. 

Late Harvest and Szamorodni
It is important to note that since 2014, only the five and six puttonyos wines are permitted to use the term Aszú. Those sweet wines in the three and four category are now labelled Late Harvest, and Szamorodni. In the case of Szamorodni, unlike Aszú wines which are picked by the berry, the grapes are picked in bunches at the end of the harvest, and depending on the sugar level of the grapes are made into dry (Száraz) or sweet (Szamorodni) wines.

Aszú Berries © Spaswinefood

Tokaji Aszú has been described as a noble sweet wine from Tokaji. I am inclined to agree with the claim because Aszú wine has a perfect balance of acidity and sugar levels. The basis of this wine are hand-picked, dried and noble rotten berries. As noted earlier since 2014, only the five and six puttonyos wines are permitted to use the term, Aszú. It is also important to note that Aszú is not made every year. The winemaker decides, if the quality of harvest allows Aszú production, or not. The Aszú´s stable acidity characterizes this dessert wine, which is one of the slowest maturating and most long-living wines in the world.

Tasting Tokaj 's Sweet Wines

During the Rovinhud Wine Show Master Class characteristics of Late Harvest, Szamorodni, and Aszú wines were discussed.

Lineup of Tokaj Wines © Spaswinefood

The list of Tokaj wines that I tasted included:

List of Tokaj Wines © Spaswinefood

The above list is not in order that the wines were poured. Let's begin with the Late Harvest wines.

Late Harvest Wines

Tokaj Late Harvest Wines © Spaswinefood

The Late Harvest wines were poured in the following order:

1. Barta Prince, Late Harvest Single Vineyard 2017

 Barta Prince, Late Harvest Single Vineyard 2017 © Spaswinefood

2. Royal Tokaji, Late Harvest 2017

Royal Tokaji, Late Harvest 2017 © Spaswinefood

3. Disznókő, Late Harvest 2016

Disznókő, Late Harvest 2016 © Spaswinefood

Szamorodni Wines

Tokaji Szamorodni Wines © Spaswinefood

The Szamorodni wines poured were:

1. Royal Tokaji, Szamorodni 2016

Royal Tokaji, Szamorodni 2016 © Spaswinefood

2. Disznókő, Szamorodni 2015

Disznókő, Szamorodni 2015 © Spaswinefood

3. Barta Prince, Szamorodni 2013

Barta Prince, Szamorodni 2013 © Spaswinefood

Azsú Wines
The Azsú wines poured were:

1. Royal Tokaji, Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2013

Royal Tokaji, Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2013 © Spaswinefood

2. Barta Prince, Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2013

Barta Prince, Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2013 © Spaswinefood

3. Disznókő, Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2002

Disznókő, Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2002 © Spaswinefood

It was for me an excellent multi-sensual presentation of the classification being used since 2014 for Tokaj's sweet wines.

Just a Little on Tokaj 's Drier Side
I still remember the 2017 Rovinhud Wine Show when I tasted Furmint wines from Barta Prince during a Master Class presented by Barca Károly on Furmint wines. We tasted wines from Barta Winery, Mád, Hungary.

Barta Winery, Rovinhud Wine Show © Spaswinefood

During the class Furmint wines produced in a variety of styles, ranging from bone dry to extremely sweet, were discussed. A list of Furmint wines from the 2017 Rovinhud Wine Show presentation included:

Barta Winery's Eight Wines Tasted © Spaswinefood 

Furmint Wines, Rovinhud Wine Show 2017 © Spaswinefood

Yes, it was an exciting lineup of Barta Winery Furmint wines, ranging from bone dry to sweet wines.

Furmint Wines, Rovinhud Wine Show 2017 © Spaswinefood

The 2017 presentation made me aware of the potential of Tokaj's dry wines.

Rebirth of Sweet Wines and Birth of Dry Wines
Clearly the Tokaj Wine Region is undergone an amazing rebirth, or a renaissance of its sweet wines, as noted by Ron Wiegand. Perhaps, equally interesting is the birth of its dry wines.

To Quote Ron Wiegand, MW, MS

I was indeed happy to have attend the 2027 and 2018 Rovinhud Wine Show. I invite you to join me in my travels in Romania and elsewhere at Spaswinefood. 

Sharon

November 2018

Timisoara, Romania

© Spaswinefood

Thanks to the presenters for a most delightful and insightful 2018 Master Class.

CHEERS to Tokaji Wines © Spaswinefood

Rovinhud Wine Show 2018 © Spaswinefood

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