An emblem of world-renowned fine wines, the Tokaj region is celebrated even in the official national anthem of Hungary: "May the silver rain of nectar fast ripen the grapes of Tokaj."
During the Renaissance, Louis XIV proclaimed the famous sweet wine Tokaji Aszú from the Tokaj vineyard "king of wines and wine of kings." For centuries, Tokaj has shone throughout the world thanks to the exceptional quality of its sweet wines. This wine region is indeed the cradle of wines made from botrytised grapes. Unfortunately, winegrowing in Tokaj suffered the consequences of the communist regime until the end of the 90s and it is therefore only since the beginning of the 21st century that the famous Hungarian vineyard has started to produce quality wines again.
In the northeast of Hungary, Tokaj stands out for its unique terroir shaped by its extraordinary volcanic soil, its microclimate and its native grape varieties. Since 2002, UNESCO has recognised the exceptional character of the wine region and classed Tokaj as a world heritage site.
Ideally located in the foothills of the Carpathians where there were once nearly 400 volcanoes and wedged between two rivers, the Hungarian vineyard is naturally predisposed to developing grapes affected by noble rot, the famous botrytis cinerea which transforms overripe grapes into versions that are withered but very concentrated in sugars and aromas. In addition to this ideal geographical position, Tokaj benefits from warm and misty autumns, real Indian summers, where the sun caressing the vines completes the process of giving the grapes their exceptional aromatic character.
The very complex Tokaji Aszú sweet wine has made the region famous, in particular thanks to the exceptional terroir from which it benefits and which gives this wine its inimitable character. But Tokaj is actually distinguished by a wide range of white wines, from dry to sweet, made from traditional grape varieties such as Furmint, which covers almost the entire wine-growing area, or Hárslevelü, Sárgamuskotály and Zeta.
The ancestral know-how of the Tokaj winegrowers sublimates the singularities of this splendid terroir and makes it not only one of the oldest wine regions in the world, but above all one of the most prestigious.
