AmericanWinery.com

1. This esteemed Hungarian wine ranks as one of the world’s best sweet white wines. It comes from the area around the town of Tokay, which Hungarians call Tokaj. Hungarian wine labels include the name of the originating area by adding an i, which makes it a possessive form. Therefore, labels for this wine display Tokaji or Tokaji Aszú, though the wines are commonly referred to as Tokay or Tokay Aszú. Tokay-area wines are made primarily from Furmint grapes, although a small amount of Hárslevelü is used and, occasionally, some Muscat. The Tokay area is located in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in northeastern Hungary. Warm summers combined with the humidity from the area’s streams and rivers can create an environment where Botrytis cinerea (which Hungarians call Aszú) develops. The shriveled, botrytis-infected grapes are picked separately and set aside in large vats. Tokay Essencia, the rarest and most expensive of the Tokay wines, is made from the small amount of juice that is squeezed out naturally by the weight of the grapes on top of each other. Over a period of years, this syrupy juice slowly ferments in casks called gönci (which are approximately 140 liters or 37 gallons in size). This extremely slow process produces a liquid so sweet that the alcohol level rarely exceeds 2 percent. There are numerous stories of the restorative powers of Tokay Essencia, including the fact that it was once reserved principally for dying monarchs. Tokay Aszú is made from those same botrytis-infected grapes that gave up much of their juice to make Tokay Essencia. These grapes are kneaded into a paste, which is measured in traditional puttonyos (baskets or hods that hold about 25 kilograms or 55 pounds). The sweetness and richness of a Tokay Aszú depends on how many puttonyos go into a gönci (along with regular must from uninfected grapes). The more puttonyos, the sweeter and richer the wine. Tokay Aszú labels indicate how many puttonyos have been used—three, four, or five are the norm, and six on rare occasions. Even sweeter and richer than a six-puttonyos Tokay Aszú is the Tokay Aszú Essensia, which is made without any regular must. A Tokay Aszú Essencia is not too far removed from a Tokay Essensia and is likened to a German trokenbeerenauslese. The sugar content of a Tokay Aszú Essencia is so high that it takes several years and the use of a special yeast for it to ferment. Tokay szamorodni, which means “as it comes,” is a basic wine made from uninfected grapes without the intentional addition of any Aszú grapes. It can range from sweet (édes) to dry (száras), depending on whether or not and, if so, how many Aszú grapes were picked along with the uninfected grapes. 2. In Australia, the Muscadelle grape is called Tokay, as are the fortified wines made from this grape.