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The Tokaj wine region,
officially called Tokaj-Hegyalja, was declared a world heritage site
in 2002 and as producer of the world’s oldest botrytized wines it
has a number of unparalleled assets:
– incomparable
soil and microclimate: clay or loess soil on top off volcanic
subsoil, a microclimate determined by the sunny, south-facing slopes
and the proximity of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers, conducive to the
proliferation of Botrytis Cinerea (noble rot) and the subsequent
shriveling of the grapes (that leads to the development of aszú);
– indigenous grape
varieties that have been cultivated here for centuries: Furmint,
Hárslevelű, and Sárga Muskotály;
– a vast network
of cellars carved out of solid rock, providing a constant temperature
of around 12°C and high humidity of around 95% that is ideal for
the aging of the wines;
– a well-regulated
appellation system, established many years ahead of its time:
1571: first known
mention of Aszú wines
1630: Máté
Sepsy Laczkó describes the aszú vinification method
that is still used today
1655: the manual
selection of the botrytized "aszú" berries is
regulated
1737: the winegrowing area
is delimited by royal decree
1772: the world’s first
vineyard classification system is born in Tokaj-Hegyalja
– the knowledge of
people brought up in winegrowing traditions now dates back many
generations.
Name usage
TOKAJ is the name of the main town
lying at the confluence of the Tisza and the Bodrog, lending its name
to the region, also referred to as TOKAJ-HEGYALJA. TOKAJI is the
adjective (adjectives being formed in Hungarian by the addition of –i
to a substantive: Tokaj>>tokaji, Eger>>egri, etc.), normally used
to describe the wine as in “Tokaji aszú”. TOKAY is an
alternative, but obsolete, spelling.
Major facts and figures:
| Wine growing area: | 5967 ha | | Average property size: | 0.57
ha/property | | Villages belonging to the region: | 27 | | Tokaj as a proportion of overall
Hungarian vineyard area: | 6.3% | | Number of registered
producers: | 14575 | | Number of wineries: | 588 | | Number of wineries producing the full
range of Tokaj wines (aszús, etc.): | 48 |
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