Hungary

Question 1

Aszu

Answer 1

Shrivelled and dedicated grapes used in Tokaji

Question 2

Hungary- History

Answer 2

Vines planted since 400 BC. Part of a military highway. Hungary has seen a succession of conquerors, meaning wine production has been sporadic over the years. From fall of Romans until 10 century AD vine growing was absent. Monastic orders created the vineyard areas still in existence today. The fall of the eastern bloc led to a collapse in economy as main export markets suddenly became unavailable. A bid to occupy western shelves meant indigenous varieties were replaced by international varieties. Recent counter reaction has occurred with outside investment and a new generation of proud Hungarian wine makers.

Question 3

Wine Laws- Hungary

Answer 3

Based on French appellation control system; geographical origin determines quality. Three zones with 22 regions. Wine classified as:
Asztali Bor- table wines
Minosegi Bor- Quality wine, recognised QWPSR category.
Kunloneges Minosegi Bor- Special Quality Wine. Bottles carry offical state seal. Special quality wine divided into 4 groups:

1. Late harvested wines (similar to Austrian Spatlese)
2. Special selection late harvest (Auslese).
3. Shrivelled grapes (BA or TBA)
4. Aszu wines

New governing structure introduced in 1995 with a national council for wine an overall supervisory role, regional council for each region with a representative from each commune and a local council for each wine commune. All growers over 0.15ha must register. Only registered growers can sell on the domestic and export markets. Council is responsible for grape quality, setting harvest date, vilification methods but not the finished wine quality.

Question 4

Regions- Hungary

Answer 4

Central European climate, short, cold winters, long warm summers. Long autumn for ripening. Average temperature throughout the year 10.5 degrees. Annual rainfall approximately 600mm per year.
Three zones (Great Plain, Transdanubia and Northern Massif) divided into 22 regions.

Question 5

Northern Massif

Answer 5

Tokaj is the most prestigious wine region. Northern mountains on Slovak border, also banks of the Bodrog and Tisza rivers. Wines split into two categories. Quality wine and Special Quality Wine, latter bottled in 50cl bottles. Noble rot affected; some of the world’s greatest sweet wines. Rivers create mists for noble rot production. Tokaji Aszu- Aszu means nobly rotted grapes. Botrytis affected grapes separated in vineyard. Healthy grapes fermented to dry. Alcohol content around 10.5- 12.5% abv. Aizu grapes then added to must or dry wine to get the sweetness required. Final residual sugar classified in puttonyos as follows:

3 puttonyos= 60g/L
4 puttonyos= 90g/L
5 puttonyos= 120g/L
6 puttonyos= 150g/L

3-6 years cask ageing before release. Traditionally wine was oxidised to a certain level before release. Foreign investors and wine makers questioned this, now more likely released without oxidation. Wine is deep amber in colour with high acidity, aromas of orange marmalade, apricots and honey. The best show complexities of bread, smoke, coffee and caramel.

Question 6

Aszu Eszencia- Tokaji

Answer 6

Made in the best years from best vineyards. Sugar in excess of 6 puttonyos.

Question 7

Eszencia- Tokaji

Answer 7

Made from free run juice of aszu berries. Very sweet, with minimal alcohol. (can be over 400g/L sugar, and 3-4% abv). Concentration of flavours allows long ageing without loss of intensity. Expensive. On par with Chateau d’ Yquem.

Question 8

Szamarodni Szaraz- Tokaj

Answer 8

Dry Special Quality Wine produced also showing limited Botrytis characters. It is aged traditionally in Goncs. Left on ullage, enabling flor- like yeast to grow. This dry wine develops sherry characters.

Question 9

Eger- Hungary

Answer 9

Extension of the same hill range as Tokaji. According to legend, this once made a full bodied powerful red. Agri Bikaver or ‘Bulls Blood’ is now a blend, usually including Kekfrankos and Bordeaux varieties. Some are aged in casks in cellars cut into the tufa rock under Eger. Most modern wine is light in tannin and body.

Question 10

Trans- Danubia- Hungary

Answer 10

Around Lake Balafon, protected from winds. Ideal climate for wine production, volcanic, iron rich soil gives body to the wine. Range of varieties, including international ones are planted. Two important areas are Aszar-Neszmely and Vilany-Siklos.

Szekszard- Long warm summers, red wines similar in style to those of Eger.

Villany-Siklios- A small number of premium producers make powerful, age worthy (and expensive) reds.

Question 11

Great Plain- Hungary

Answer 11

Sandy and phylloxera free. Many vineyards, but little quality wine grown.

Question 12

International Grape Varieties- Hungary

Answer 12

Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc

Question 13

Furmint- Hungary

Answer 13

Powerful white wine, apple character when young, developing nuts and honey with age, prone to botrytis. Grown in Tokaji and Somio.

Question 14

Harslevelu (Linden Leaf)- Hungary

Answer 14

Late ripening, prone to Botrytis. Used for Tokaji, wine has a spicy character.

Question 15

Sarga Muskotaly- Hungary

Answer 15

(Muscat a Blanc Petit Grains)- aromatic orange blossom character. Used for Tokaji.

Question 16

Olaszirizling (Welschriesling)- Hungary

Answer 16

Crisp and light, flavour of bitter almonds, grown around Balaton.

Question 17

Cserszegi Fuszeres and Kiralyeanyka- Hungary

Answer 17

Both produce aromatic dry wines.

Question 18

Kardarka- Hungary

Answer 18

Black grape, almost completely replaced by international varieties. Ages well in oak.

Question 19

Kekfrankos (Blaufränkisch)- Hungary

Answer 19

Light, purple coloured wine, high in acidity.

Question 20

Kekoporto (Portugeiser)- Hungary

Answer 20

Needs warmth, good in blends, adds soft tannins and soft acids.

Question 21

Zweigelt- Hungary

Answer 21

Austrian variety, widely planted. Often produces high yields.

Question 22

Bull’s Blood

Answer 22

Once a wine brand named after a historic style of red wine made in hungary, known as bikavér in Hungarian.

Question 23

Hugh Johnson

Answer 23

Johnson’s passion for wine began when he was at Cambridge University, where he read English. One of the great stylists of the literature of wine, he was immediately taken on as a feature writer for Condé Nast magazines on graduation. As a result of his close friendship with André simon, the founder of the International Wine & Food Society, he became General Secretary of the society and succeeded the legendary gastronome as editor of its magazine. At the same time he became wine correspondent of the Sunday Times and embarked on his first book Wine, whose publication in 1966 established him as one of the foremost English gastronomic writers of the time. More than 750,000 copies have been printed, in seven languages. He revised it in 1974. His next book was even more successful, even though it allowed only limited scope for Johnson’s matchless prose. The World Atlas of Wine represented the first serious attempt to map the world’s wine regions, and first appeared in 1971. More than 4.5 million copies in a total of 20 languages have been sold of this and subsequent editions in 1977, 1985, 1994 the fully updated 2001 edition, 2007, and 2013 editions, co-written with J. R. Pausing only to write a best-selling book on trees, The International Book of Trees, inspired by his acquisition of an Elizabethan house in 12 acres of Essex countryside, he went on to devise and write a best-selling annual wine guide, The Pocket Wine Book, which has sold more than 12 million copies in a dozen languages, since its first edition in 1977. The more expansive Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion followed in 1983 and was revised in 1987, 1991, 1997, and 2003. It sold widely in the US as Hugh Johnson’s Modern Encyclopedia of Wine, and in France as Le Guide mondial du connaisseur de vin, and in Germany as Der Grosse Johnson. This prolific output, encouraged by Johnson’s publishers Mitchell Beazley, was supplemented by The Principles of Gardening, another bestseller, and a succession of co-authored and less serious wine books (including even a ‘pop-up’ version). Johnson’s most distinctive work, however, did not appear until 1989. The Story of Wine is a tour de force, a single-volume sweep through the history of wine in which Johnson’s literary skills and breadth of vision are headily combined. The book was written to coincide with an ambitiously international 13-part television series, Vintage: A History of Wine, written and presented by Johnson. In 1992, he co-authored The Art and Science of Wine with Australian James Halliday. A Life Uncorked (2005) is his most reflective and autobiographical work. Between 1986 and 2000 Johnson sold the Hugh Johnson Collection, glassware and other wine-related artefacts, with notable success in Japan, where he was a consultant to Jardines Wines and Spirits. He also served (1986–2001) on the administrative council of first growth Ch latour, as a consultant to British Airways, and has been president of the Sunday Times Wine Club run by laithwaite’s since its inception in 1973. In 1990, Johnson co-founded The Royal tokaji Wine Company, a reflection of his interest in wine history. Other activities include regular journalism on and enthusiastic gardening. For 25 years from 1975 he was editorial director of the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society. In 2005, none too hastily one might argue, the French made him a Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite. Johnson is one of the most vocal opponents of scoring wine, and his writing has been characterized more by a sensual enthusiasm for wine in all its variety than by the critical analysis of individual wines which characterizes writers such as the American Robert parker. His daughter Kitty followed him into wine writing.

Question 24

Vega Sicilia

Answer 24

Concentrated and long-lived red wine that is Spain’s undisputed equivalent of a first growth, made on a single property now incorporated into the ribera del duero denomination. The wine was being made long before the present do region took shape in the 1980s. This 1,000-ha/2,500-acre farm either side of the main road east of Valladolid has been making wine in its present form since 1864 when Eloy Lacanda y Chaves planted vines from Bordeaux alongside Tinto Fino, also known as Tinta del País (a local strain of tempranillo). The current style was defined around 1910, when the winery was leased by Cosme Palacio, a Rioja grower. A succession of different owners has since managed to maintain the quality and reputation of Vega Sicilia as Spain’s finest red wine. However, Vega Sicilia fell on lean times at several junctures, and was able to make a substantial leap in quality and, more importantly, in consistency after being bought by the Alvarez family in 1982. The more than 200 ha/500 acres of vineyard on limestone soils overlooking the River Duero (douro in Portugal) are planted mainly with Tinto Fino but cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and a little malbec together make up about 20% of the total production. A tiny quantity of old-vine white albillo remains. Bodegas Vega Sicilia produces three wines, all red. Valbuena is a five-year old vintage-dated wine aged in American oak. Vega Sicilia Unico, which is restricted to the best vintages and is often released after spending about ten years in a combination of wooden tanks, small, new barriques, large, old barrels and bottles, attracts the most attention. The best vintages of Vega Sicilia Unico and the third wine produced here, the rare multi-vintage Reserva Especial, last for decades. In 1991, Bodegas Vega Sicilia acquired the nearby Liceo winery and created the immediately acclaimed Bodegas Alión, which makes much more modern reds from 100% Tempranillo grapes, aged in new French oak. In 2001, Pintia, Vega Sicilia’s bodega in the toro region, produced its first vintage. Then, in a joint venture with Benjamin de rothschild, Vega Sicilia created the Macán estate in Rioja. As the bodega celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2014, tensions between different members of the Álvarez family who accquired it in 1982 were widely publicized.

Question 25

Eger

Answer 25

Much-disputed town in north-east hungary whose wines have been exported with success since the 13th century, although various Turkish incursions interrupted this trade. Eger’s most famous siege was during the Ottoman occupation of the 16th century when, according to legend, the defenders of Eger were so dramatically fortified by a red liquid which stained their beards and armour that the Turks retreated, believing their opponents to have drunk bikavér, or Bull’s Blood. The town gives its name to a pdo on the foothills of the volcanic Bükk Mountains where rainfall is low and spring tends to come late. This is one of Hungary’s cooler wine-producing areas, and therefore the wines have good aromas and acidity. The geological makeup is diverse, with calcareous sections alternating with patches of loess, alluvial soils, and extensive volcanic rocks, especially tuff. The southern slope of the Nagy Eged Hill, reclaimed from woods and shrubs, is one of the three most valuable vineyard sites in Hungary. The topsoil here is not volcanic. Pajdos, Síkhegy, and Grőber are all very distinctive sites, too. The renowned grape of Eger’s halcyon days, kadarka, is being rediscovered, and Pinot Noir and Shiraz are also being planted. Grown on over 200 ha/500 acres, kékfrankos (Blaufränkisch) continues to dominate and tends to have firmly etched acidity that demands malolactic conversion. As for white wines, Eger, like Balatonfüred-Csopak and Somló, produces some of the finest Olaszrizlings (welschriesling) in all Hungary. Other fine whites are made from Chardonnay, Leányka, Királyleányka, and Hárslevelű.

Question 26

Szekszard

Answer 26

Wine region and pdo in southern hungary with a special loess soil as deep as 10 to 15 m (35–50 ft) in places. The landscape is very varied, which allows different mesoclimates to shape the wines. The Szekszárd Hill is 100–120 m/330–395 ft high on average. The steep slopes are dissected by erosional valleys and ravines with the eastern and southern slopes generally providing the best wines. The kadarka grape, once the chief component of bikavér, made Szekszárd’s viticulture famous in the 18th and 19th centuries and its attractively scented, relatively soft wine can once again be found fairly easily, either as a varietal Kadarka, Kékfrankos, Bikavér (a blend now based on Kékfrankos), or a bordeaux blend.

Question 27

Imperial Tokay

Answer 27

Historical name used for wine produced on the vineyard properties of the Austrian Habsburg emperors in the tokaj-Hegyalja region of Hungary, especially during the 19th century. The Habsburg holdings were concentrated in the village of Tarcal, particularly the highly respected Szarvas vineyard that had been confiscated from the rebellious Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II in 1711. The term became widely known in western Europe following the creation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1867. However, Imperial Tokay was usually misunderstood either as being necessarily far superior to all other Tokaji wines, or as being an alternative term for Eszencia.

Question 28

Tokaji

Answer 28

Town, pdo (Oltalom alatt álló eredet megjelöléssel or OEM in the local language), and the most famous wine region in hungary, whose sweet wine was once revered throughout Europe. Mount Tokaj is the prominent volcanic cone at the southernmost tip of the region, which includes the foothills of the entire Zemplén Mountains (which, in turn, form the southern range of the Tokaj-Eperjes Mountains). Hungarians often use the name Tokaj to mean the whole region, but the people living in the area refer to themselves as being from the Hegyalja, to emphasize their separateness from the residents of the town of Tokaj itself. However, even they prefer to call their wine Tokaji (the –i ending is a suffix indicating place of origin, as the –er in New Yorker) regardless of any more precise location within the region.

Question 29

Tokaji- History

Answer 29

The first known occurrence of the name, in the form ‘Tokay’, is in a 13th-century genealogy and history entitled Gesta Hungarorum. The Gesta, and many sources after it, refer to the emblematic hill of the region not as Tokaj but as Tarcal, today the name of a village at the western foot of the hill. Remarkably, Tarcal was also the name of the hill in Syrmia far to the south, today known as Fruska Gora in serbia, which yielded the most famous wine of medieval Hungary. Records enumerating the administrative units have existed since 1641, but these early sources are rife with gaps and contradictions. Hungarian wine legislation of the time lists 27 communities with a right to label their wines as Tokaj. The vineyards around most of these communities were first classified in the 18th century, in a manner that was rigorous at the time but is not entirely useful today. By the 18th century, this extraordinary wine had been introduced to the French court (see hungary, history), and was subsequently introduced to the Russian imperial court by the Habsburgs. Only constantia from the Cape of Good Hope, and to a lesser extent Moldavian cotnari, rivalled the reputation of this wine, generally known outside Hungary as ‘the wine of kings and king of wines’ during this period of sweet-wine worship, with Tokaji Esszencia regarded as an all-purpose restorative. During most of the 20th century, Tokaj languished however. Its recovery from phylloxera was slow, and was far from complete even at the outset of the Second World War. Its reputation suffered with the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. Under Soviet domination, quantity rather than quality was encouraged, although a surprising number of individual growers and winemakers continued to uphold traditions and some exceptional wines were made. As the birthplace of a world-famous wine, Tokaj has a better-documented history than most Hungarian wine regions. It potentially encompasses 11,149 ha/27,549 acres but only 5,946 ha/14,692 acres are planted today. It seems unlikely that all of the 9,829 hectares/24.287 acres rated Class I will ever be fully planted.

Question 30

Tokaji- Geography

Answer 30

Located in north-eastern Hungary, the Zemplén Mountains have a cool climate, as does the entire Tokaj-Eperjes range within the Carpathian volcanic chain. The mean temperature in the foothills is 9–10 °C/48–50 °F annually, 21 °C in July, and −3 °C in January. The favourable south-south-eastern aspect of the foothills contributes to the excellent mesoclimates found on the slopes. High levels of humidity, due to the location of the vineyards above the confluence of the Bodrog and Tisza rivers, encourage special fungoid flora, including the all-important botrytis. The best vineyard sites occupy the southern slopes, where they are sheltered from northern and north-westerly winds by relatively high, forested peaks. Of these, the top sites are open to the east or the west to promote air circulation and to discourage frosts. The volcanic activity which began 15 million years ago and dominated geological processes here for 6 million years created a great topographical diversity in the Tokaj-Eperjes range. The spectrum of volcanic rocks that can be found in the area includes rhyolite, rhyodacite, dacite, andesite, and even basalt, which is much more typical of the volcanic hills of western Hungary. These various rock types occur as lavas and differ mainly in terms of silica content. In addition, pyroclastic rocks, most significantly tuffs, are also found. During and after the principal eruptions, a variety of post-volcanic alterations left their stamp on the rocks of Tokaj. Volcanic rocks tend to weather faster than other igneous types and the process is accelerated here by the flow of post-volcanic groundwater and hot springs, which deliver to the surface large quantities of potassium and trace elements, which enrich the volcanic detritus. The major centres of post-volcanic changes are in the area of Mád (sites such as Szent Tamás, Úrágya, Betsek, Urbán), Erdőbénye, Tolcsva, and Sárospatak. The southern fringes of the range were overlain by loess at a much later stage, during the Quaternary period when the region’s main soils were developed. On the steeper slopes, the thin soils are typically mixed with weathered andesite, and are quite hard to till. In the low valleys, loess soils of the slope, clay, and glacial deposits evolved. Easily weathered volcanic glass still mingles with the soils today, enriching them in nutrients that are available to the vines. The most widespread soil type is the clayey nyirok, a red soil created by weathering volcanic rocks, particularly stony andesite. When too wet, nyirok is so sticky that it adheres to the spade; if it dries out, it will yield to nothing short of a pick-axe. It does not absorb water very well, and has low permeability. Its red colour, from ferrous hydroxide, turns darker as its humus content increases. Slightly less common is the soil type known as yellow earth, which forms from loess and clayey loess, as well as sandy loess on the Kopaszhegy near Tokaj and the hills north of Olaszliszka. Loess has good drainage, and here has a low lime content. Szarvas near Tarcal is a famous example of a vineyard with loess soil. Loess is not found in the interior of the Tokaj-Eperjes chain nor in the valleys, but on the south eastern slope of Mount Tokaj it can be found at elevations as high as 405 m/1,330 ft. A further soil type is the rock flour that forms from the mechanical weathering of white rhyolite, pumice, and perlite. It is crumbly, does not retain water, and has a low heat capacity, so vines planted in it may easily dry out during a drought, or freeze in extreme cold. Rock flour is the soil type of the Pereshegy at Erdőbénye, the Tolcsvaihegy, and the Oremus vineyard at Sátoraljaújhely.

Question 31

Tokaji- Nomenclature

Answer 31

The two leading grape varieties, furmint and hárslevelű, have their genetic origin in Tokaj and seem to be related. Both varieties tend to produce dry wines worth ageing based on acidity, tension, body, and balance. For centuries, the two main categories of Tokaj were szűrt bor (filtered wine) and csinált bor (made wine). The former were wines made much the same way as most wine is made today, by simply pressing the grapes and fermenting the must. The latter were wines produced by the more complicated Aszú process. Clearly distinct from this noble sweet category was the typically dry ordinarium. Even in the old days, a distinction was made between free-run juice and press juice, although they were not necessarily handled separately. Főbor (principal wine) was the old name of Szamorodni-style wine, at least insofar as it was made by pressing the harvested fruit as is, without separating botrytized berries from grapes unaffected by noble rot. From 1707 onward, Eszencia, the highest grade of Tokaj, was also increasingly referred to as legfőbb bor, meaning ‘supreme wine’ (legfőbb is the superlative of the adjective fő).

Question 32

Tokaji- Dry and Semi Dry Wines

Answer 32

An increasing proportion of dry wine is made from Tokaj grapes. These are wines matured only briefly. They are typically fermented dry but may contain some residual sugar (even if at a level well below semi-sweet wines). With a few exceptions, they are fermented in stainless steel and will last three to five years, depending on the vintage.

Question 33

Tokaji- Matured Red Wine

Answer 33

These are invariably matured in wood, with a small proportion also fermented in wooden casks, and have a very long cellaring potential. As botrytis is undesirable in these wines, the grapes must come from high-elevation vineyards (about 250 m/820 ft) designed specifically for this purpose. These are mostly single-vineyard wines and expensive wines.

Question 34

Szamorodni- Dry

Answer 34

The grape ripeness level is comparable to that of beerenauslese, but they are fermented dry (száraz) and subjected to subtle maturation under a film-forming yeast. These wines, which contain botrytized berries, are very like the Jura’s vin jaune.

Question 35

Fobor

Answer 35

This category was known and used for centuries, but has become extremely rare. Closest to Szamorodni in style without being matured under oxidative conditions, Főbor can be either dry or sweet, depending on the natural proportion of over-ripe fruit and shrivelled, possibly botrytized, berries.

Question 36

Szamorodni- Sweet

Answer 36

Typically made in the sweet style (édes), when the sugar content of the grapes is so high that the must will not ferment fully dry. Average residual sugar is 80–120 g/l although the minimum is 45 g/l. This barrel-aged, selected botrytized wine is matured for two or three years partly in oak. It is lightly oxidized.

Question 37

Tokaji- Late Harvest Cuvee

Answer 37

These are mostly reductive sweet wines ready for release 12–16 months after harvest. This new style emerged in the early 21st century as a consequence of the substantial time and capital investment required to mature Aszú wines for a longer period in compliance with regulations. Often marked by a mineral character, they may contain 50–180 g/l residual sugar and (optionally) a proportion of botrytized berries similar to that for Aszú wines. Cuvée wines are generally made from botrytized grapes but barrel ageing is not mandatory. These two categories are made in the same way as other natural sweet wines in other regions, by a single fermentation of selected bunches.

Question 38

Aszu and Aszueszencia

Answer 38

This is the classic sweet Tokaj and usually the sweetest wine of any producer. The table above shows minimum residual sugar and extract required for these designations.

Tokaj Aszú always has a high concentration of residual sugar and is made from hand-selected shrivelled, botrytized grapes. Before pressing, the harvested botrytized grapes are soaked for a period of 16 to 36 hours in fresh must, murci (fermenting wine), or new wine that has completed fermentation. The wine is then matured under oxidative conditions without any fortification, including at least two years in barrel. The unique second fermentation gives a special, deeper character to the wines. The classification of sweetness by the number of puttonyos is no longer part of Hungarian wine law.

Question 39

Eszencia- Very Rare (Tokaji)

Answer 39

The free-run juice of hand-picked botrytized berries. Residual sugar should be at least 450 g/l but levels of 800 g/l or more are not unheard of. Eszencia takes years to achieve a modest alcohol level of 4–5%. It is rarely sold commercially, and smaller wineries will not handle it separately. It is typically used for blending to improve the concentration of Aszú wines.

Question 40

Fordita- Very Rare (Tokaji)

Answer 40

Made by refermenting wine or must poured on Tokaj Aszú ‘paste’ (marc) left after pressing sweet wines, typically with more than 60 g/l sugar (minimum 45 g/l).

Question 41

Maslas- Very Rare (Tokaji)

Answer 41

Rarity made by refermenting new wine or must poured on Tokaj Aszú lees. Sweet wines, typically with 50–90 g/l sugar. No longer an official category. The Mádi Kör, the local wine authority, has drawn up a rather Burgundian vineyard classification which means in practice that the member wineries are obliged to follow stricter regulations in vine-growing and winemaking than are required by general Hungarian rules. The most highly regarded producers include István Szepsy, Tokaj Hétszőlő (owned by the Michel Reybier of Ch Cos d’Estournel), Holdvölgy, Tokaj Oremus (owned by vega sicilia), Disznókő (owned by axa), Királyudvar, István Balassa, Zoltán Demeter, Judit Bott, Barta Pince, DemeterVin, and the Royal Tokaji Wine Company. Wine writer Hugh johnson and other private investors set up the Royal Tokaji Wine Company in 1989 and the early 1990s saw an unusually cosmopolitan range of investors dedicated to restoring the image of this noble wine.

Question 42

Villany

Answer 42

Wine region and pdo in hungary on the terraced southern and eastern slopes of the Villány Mountains, which protect the vineyards from cold northern influences resulting in a special sub-mediterranean mesoclimate. (See map under hungary.) The Villány Mountains consist of calcareous rocks deposited in the marine basins of the Mesozoic. Dolomite, marl, and limestone are covered direct with sandy loess. This layer is sometimes mixed with limestone debris, having a higher concentration of calcium. This is the cropland of more acidic wines, while the purely loess soil produces softer wines. Villány is mostly known for its red bordeaux blends, sometimes rather heavy and tannic but with good ageing potential. Cabernet Franc grows well here and Cabernet Sauvignon also produces exciting wines. The everyday drinking wine is the softer portugieser, and kékfrankos is often used in blends. In the last decade, Pinot Noir and Syrah have been planted, producing wines that can be heavy and lacking elegance. The whites are mostly grown around Siklós. As in szekszárd, wines are often low in acid, high in alcohol, and do not suit long ageing. Olaszrizling, Chardonnay, and Hárslevelű are widely planted. The region is well suited to tourism.

Question 43

Soviet Union

Answer 43

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which, following the fall of communism, fragmented into its constituent republics. See, in very approximate declining order of wine production (not the same as order by vineyard area), russia (thanks to considerable bulk imports), moldova, ukraine, crimea, georgia, uzbekistan, kazakhstan, turkmenistan, azerbaijan, armenia, kyrgyzstan, and tajikistan.

Question 44

Keknyelu

Answer 44

Revered but very rare white grape variety grown in hungary, notably in Badacsony on the north shore of Lake Balaton, and named after its ‘blue’ stalk. Yields are very low; wines are crisp and perfumed.

Question 45

Juhfark

Answer 45

Distinctive white grape variety once widely grown in hungary. whose total plantings had fallen to 186 ha/acres by 2011. After the phylloxera invasion it never regained its importance and is today found almost exclusively in the Somló region, where it produces tart wine which ages well. The vine, whose name means ‘ewe’s tail’, is inconveniently sensitive to both frost and downy mildew.

Question 46

Ezerjo

Answer 46

White grape variety still planted on about 1,000 ha of vineyard in hungary but scarcely known outside it. Most of the wine produced is relatively anodyne, but Móri Ezerjó produced from the vineyards near the town of Mór enjoys a certain following as a light, crisp, refreshing drink. It also produces strong, sweet wines, botrytized in good vintages. Ezerjó means ‘a thousand boons’.

Question 47

Zefir

Answer 47

Early-ripening 1951 Hungarian cross of leányka and hárslevelű producing soft, spicy white wine.

Question 48

Zenit

Answer 48

1951 Hungarian cross of ezerjó and bouvier which ripens usefully early on just under 560 ha/1,384 acres in 2011 to produce crisp, fruity but not particularly aromatic white wines.

Question 49

Dinka

Answer 49

very ordinary but widely planted white grape variety in croatia. It is known as Kövidinka and Kevedinka in hungary and serbia respectively.

Question 50

When is Tokaji thought to have begun?

Answer 50

In the 17th Century

Question 51

Furmint

Answer 51

Fine, fiery white tokaj grape variety grown most widely in Hungary, just over the Slovakian border from Tokaj, and in ‘Styrian’ Slovenia and Croatia as Šipon. It is also being revived in Austria’s Burgenland, particularly Rust where both Heidi Schröck and Triebaumer make fine dry and sweet versions. dna profiling has shown that it has a parent–offspring relationship with gouais blanc and hárslevelű. Helpfully for the great sweet wine that is Tokaji, the grapes are particularly sensitive to noble rot, yet the wine is characterized by very high acidity, which endows the wine with long ageing potential, high sugar levels, and rich, fiery flavours. In Tokaji it is usually blended with up to half as much of the more aromatic grape variety Hárslevelű, and some Sárga Muskotály (muscat blanc à petits grains) is also sometimes included in the blend. Furmint can easily produce wines with an alcoholic strength as high as 14%, and sturdy, characterful dry Furmint can age well and be a delicious wine, even when drunk very young. Although most of Hungary’s just over 4,000 ha/10,000 acres of Furmint are in Tokaj, in Somló it can also make extremely concentrated dry wines. The vine buds early but ripening slows towards the end of the season and the botrytized (aszú) grapes may not be picked until well into November in some years. The vine has been known in Tokaj since at least the late 16th century, and it is still grown to a limited extent in South Africa, where it was imported in tandem with the other Tokaj grape Hárslevelű. Some think it may be identical to grasă.

Question 52

Harslevelu

Answer 52

White grape variety, whose name means ‘linden leaf’, which is most widely grown in hungary, where it produces characteristically spicy, aromatic white wines. This is the variety which brings perfume to furmint, the variety that has been shown to be its parent by dna profiling whose grapes make up the majority of the blend for the famous dessert wine tokaji. Hárslevelű is widely planted elsewhere in Hungary, to a national total of 1,659 ha/4,098 acres in 2011, and produces a range of varietal wines which vary considerably in quality and provenance. Good Hárslevelű is typically deep green-gold, very viscous, full, with the powerful flavour of linden honey. In Somló, it produces a less aromatic wine with some minerality while in Villány-Siklós it gives a softer, more perfumed wine. The variety is popularly associated with the village of Debrö in the Mátra foothills (although much of the wine sold as Debröi Hárslevelű has been a much less specific and less distinguished off-dry blend). The variety is also grown over the border from Hungary’s Tokaj region in slovakia, in Austria’s Burgenland, in Romania, and in South Africa.

Question 53

Zeta

Answer 53

Hungarian vine cross of furmint and bouvier, formerly known as Orémus, which, with Furmint, Hárslevelű, and Sárga Muskotály, is permitted in tokaj where there were 120 ha/296 acres in 2011. The Bouvier character can dominate unless it is very ripe.

Question 54

Kekfrankos

Answer 54

Hungarian name for the increasingly fashionable red grape variety known in Austria as blaufränkisch (of which it is a direct translation) and grown on 8,000 ha/20,000 acres of Hungary, mainly on the Great Plain, in Eger, and, most successfully, in Sopron near the Austrian border where it is responsible for some of Hungary’s finest reds.

Question 55

Kadarka

Answer 55

Eastern European late ripening red wine grape of uncertain origin. As Gamza, it is most widely planted in Bulgaria where it is considered indigenous. Some Albanians stake a claim to it, called Kallmet there. And it is also said to be native to western Romania where it is known as Cadarča. bulgaria’s 3,000 ha/7,500 acres of Gamza are planted mainly in the north, where it can produce wines of interest from long growing seasons if yields are restricted. In Hungary the variety grew on a total of only just over 500 ha/1,250 acres and has been substantially replaced by the viticulturally sturdier kékfrankos, and by portugieser in Villány. It is still cultivated on the Great Plain and in the Szekszárd wine region just across the Danube to the west but its tendency to grey rot and its habit of ripening riskily late limit it to certain favoured sites. The vine is also naturally highly productive and needs careful control in order to produce truly concentrated wines, ideally trained as bush vines. Fully ripened Szekszárdi Kadarka can be a fine, soft, full-bodied wine worthy of ageing but is produced in minuscule quantities. Kadarka is too often over-produced and picked when still low in colour and flavour. Because of its—largely historic—fame, this is a variety which is often included in any large nursery collection of vine varieties.

Question 56

Portugieser

Answer 56

Black grape variety common in both senses of that word in both Austria and Germany, its name suggesting completely unsubstantiated Portuguese origins. The vigorous, precocious vine is extremely prolific, easily producing 120 hl/ha (almost 7 tons/acre), thanks to its good resistance to coulure, of pale, low-acid red that, thanks to robust enrichment, can taste disconcertingly inconsequential to non-natives. Blauer Portugieser is synonymous with dull, thin red in lower austria, where it is particularly popular with growers in Pulkautal, Retz, and the Thermenregion. It covers about 1,500 ha of vineyard and is the country’s third most planted dark-berried vine variety after zweigelt and blaufränkisch. Such wines are rarely exported, with good reason, and are only rarely worthy of detailed study. Brought from Austria in the 19th century, Germany’s everyday black grape variety Portugieser overtook even spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) in the 1970s in terms of total plantings, thanks to the prevailing German thirst for red wine regardless of its quality. By 2012 Portugieser’s total area had fallen to 3,825 ha/9,448 acres, (Spätburgunder’s was almost 12,000 ha), mainly in Rheinhessen and pfalz, where a high proportion is encouraged to produce vast quantities of pink weissherbst. The variety is so easy to grow, however, that it has spread throughout central Europe and beyond (as portugais Bleu it was once grown widely in south western France). It was ingeniously named Oportó or Kékoportó (kék meaning ‘blue’) in romania and hungary, where its total area has fallen to below 600 ha but in the red wine region of Villány it can yield wines of real concentration in the right hands. It is also grown in northern Croatia as Portugizac Crni, or Portugaljka.

Question 57

Irsay Oliver

Answer 57

Aromatic, relatively recent white vine cross grown in slovakia and the czech republic, and in hungary, where there were 1,090 ha/2,692 acres in 2011, as Irsai Olivér. This eastern European cross of Pozsony Fehér×Pearl of Csaba was originally developed in the 1930s as a table grape. It ripens extremely early and reliably (although it is prone to powdery mildew) and produces relatively heavy, but intensely aromatic, wines strongly reminiscent of muscat.

Question 58

Welschriesling

Answer 58

Important white grape variety which, as Germans are keen to point out, is completely unrelated to the great riesling grape of Germany. Indeed it rankles with many Germans that the noble word is even allowed as a suffix in the name of this inferior variety; they would prefer that the word Rizling were used, as in Welsch Rizling or Welschrizling, which it is in many of its many synonyms. Welsch simply means ‘foreign’ in Germanic languages, which provides few clues but suggests that the variety may well have originated in a non-German-speaking country. It is widely planted in much of central and eastern Europe. Welschriesling may be the variety’s most common name in austria, but Welschrizling is obediently used in bulgaria, its most common name in hungary is olasz rizling (under which more details of its importance in Hungary are to be found), in slovenia and serbia it is laški rizling, and in the czech republic and slovakia it is the very similar Rizling Vlassky. Only in croatia, where it is also the single most planted vine variety, does it acquire a name of any distinction, Graševina. The Italians call it riesling italico (as opposed to Riesling Renano, which is the Riesling of Germany) and variants of this are used all over Eastern Europe. In romania most of the 6,346 ha/15,680 acres of ‘Riesling’ noted in 2013 are this variety, although new plantings are increasingly of the German Riesling. Welschriesling is one of the few common white wine grapes in albania, as it is in what was for long its close political ally china. It does best in dry climates and warmer soils, and has a tendency to produce excessively acid wines in cool climates. Like German Riesling, it is a relatively late-ripening vine whose grapes keep their acidity well and produce light-bodied, relatively aromatic wines. Welschriesling can easily be persuaded to yield even more productively than Riesling, however, and indeed this and its useful acidity probably explain why it is so widely planted throughout eastern Europe and, partly, why so much of the wine it produces is undistinguished (although poor-quality viticulture and winemaking equipment may also have played a part). As a wine, Welschriesling reaches its apogee in austria, specifically in some particularly finely balanced, rich late-harvest wines made on the shores of the Neusiedlersee in Burgenland, where nearly half of Austria’s total 3,436 ha/8,487 acres of the variety is planted. Welschriesling is Austria’smost planted white wine grape after Grüner Veltliner. In particularly favoured vintages, the noble rot forms to ripen grapes up to trockenbeerenauslese level, while retaining the acidity that is Welschriesling’s hallmark. Welschriesling may not have the aromatic character of Germany’s Riesling, but since aroma plays only a small part in the appreciation of really sweet wines, this leaves Welschriesling at less of a disadvantage than Riesling addicts might imagine, although Austrian tbas, sometimes a blend of Chardonnay with Welschriesling, rarely have the longevity of their German counterparts. The bulk of Austria’s Welschriesling, however, goes into light dryish wines for early drinking, notably in Weinviertel, Burgenland, and Styria. It is also used for production of Austrian sekt. Croatia grows almost three times as much of the variety as Austria, all over the country with the finest wines produced in Slavonia in the east. It is second only to Grüner Veltliner in the czech republic with more than 3,000 ha/7,413 acres planted and its 1,200 ha/2,965 acres in slovakia make it almost as important as German Riesling. According to Anderson at the University of Adelaide’s calculations this was the world’s 15th most planted wine grape variety in 2010.

Question 59

Blaufränkisch

Answer 59

Is the Austrian name for the increasingly respected middle European black grape variety the Germans call lemberger. From pre-medieval times it was common to divide grape varieties into the (superior) ‘fränkisch’, whose origins lay with the Franks, and the rest. It is today Austria’s second most planted dark-berried variety after its progeny zweigelt, producing wines of real character, if notably high acidity, when carefully grown. Its good colour, tannin, and raciness encourage the most ambitious Austrian producers, led by Moric, to lavish new oak on it and treat it like single vineyard burgundy. For many years it was thought to be the Beaujolais grape gamay. Bulgarians still call it Gamé, while Hungarians translate its Austrian name more directly as kékfrankos. Austrian dna profiling suggests a parent–offspring relationship with gouais blanc, known in Austria as Heunisch. Its Austrian home is Burgenland, where most of its 3,225 ha/7,966 acres are situated. It is grown particularly on the warm shores of the Neusiedlersee, in Mittelburgenland, and at Eisenberg in South Burgenland. As Kékfrankos it grows even more prolifically on the Hungarian side of the lake, notably in Sopron, whose version has the distinction of having been singled out for mention by Napoleon. Today it is seen both at home and abroad as one of Austria’s best local varieties. Blaufränkisch gives varied wine styles with red fruit flavours, firm acidity, and generally good weight, deep colour, and spicy character. The variety called Frankovka in the czech republic and Serbia is one and the same and here can produce lively, fruity, vigorous wines for early consumption. In friuli in the far north eastern corner of Italy, the variety is called Franconia and can yield wines with zip and fruit. The vine buds early and ripens late and can therefore thrive only in a relatively warm climate.

Question 60

Zweigelt

Answer 60

(formerly Rotburger), is Austria’s most popular dark-berried grape variety planted on 6,539 ha/16,151 acres in 2013, even though this cross was bred only relatively recently, by a Dr Zweigelt at the klosterneuburg research station in 1922. It is a blaufränkisch × st-laurent cross that at its best combines some of the bite of the first with the elegance of the second, although it is sometimes encouraged to produce too much dilute wine. It is popular with growers because it ripens earlier than Blaufränkisch but buds rather later than St-Laurent, thereby tending to yield generously. It is widely grown throughout all Austrian wine regions and can increasingly make a serious, age-worthy, exuberantly fruity wine, even though most examples are best drunk young. So successful has it been in Austria that the variety is also popular over the border in the Czech Republic and Slovakia as well as in western Hungary. It has also been planted in British Columbia and, surprisingly widely, on Hokkaido in japan. The export fortunes of the variety may, oddly enough, be hampered by its originator’s uncompromisingly Germanic surname. If only he had been called Dr Pinot Noir.

Question 61

Tokay d’ Alsace

Answer 61

Was also for long the Alsace name for pinot gris but was officially outlawed from 2007

Question 62

Zierfandler

Answer 62

The finer of the two white wine grape varieties traditionally associated with Gumpoldskirchen, the dramatically full-bodied, long-lived spicy white wine of the thermenregion district of austria. (The other is rotgipfler.) Plantings had fallen to just 85 ha/210 acres by 2013. It ripens late, as its synonym Spätrot suggests, but keeps its acidity better than Rotgipfler. Unblended, Zierfandler has sufficient nerve to make late-harvest wines with the ability to evolve over years in bottle, but many Zierfandler grapes are blended, and sometimes vinified, with Rotgipfler. The variety, as Cirfandli, is also known in Hungary. dna parentage analysis suggests it may be a natural cross of roter veltliner and a relative of savagnin.

Question 63

Sopron

Answer 63

Wine region and pdo in the extreme north west of hungary which is geographically part of the neusiedlersee wine regions of Austria. Its climate is much more temperate than that of most of the rest of Hungary, with cooler, wetter summers and milder winters. From the 14th century, when Hungary was recognized as a useful source of fuller, richer wines than those of northern Europe, Sopron was an important centre of the wine trade, dispatching not just its own wines but those of the rest of Hungary to Austria, Poland, and Silesia. Today Sopron produces mainly red wines, more tannic than the Hungarian norm, from grape varieties such as kékfrankos, Cabernet, and Merlot.

Question 64

Szekszárd

Answer 64

Wine region and pdo in southern hungary with a special loess soil as deep as 10 to 15 m (35–50 ft) in places. The landscape is very varied, which allows different mesoclimates to shape the wines. The Szekszárd Hill is 100–120 m/330–395 ft high on average. The steep slopes are dissected by erosional valleys and ravines with the eastern and southern slopes generally providing the best wines. The kadarka grape, once the chief component of bikavér, made Szekszárd’s viticulture famous in the 18th and 19th centuries and its attractively scented, relatively soft wine can once again be found fairly easily, either as a varietal Kadarka, Kékfrankos, Bikavér (a blend now based on Kékfrankos), or a bordeaux blend.