Tokaji Flashcards
brief history of tokaj
- for centuries one of the most important wines in the world, drunk all over royal courts in europe
- 1945 hungary becomes a communist state, switch from quality to quantity
- as most land remained in private hands when the comunism ended in 1989 tokaj was able to build back faster
- investors such as axa, vega sicilia, hugh johnson
general climate of Tokaj
moderate continental (warm summers, winters can be cold)
main climatic influences in tokaj
- shelter from north cold winds by forested mountains peak
- latitude (48-49), most vineyards are planted in slopes south east-west facing
- tisza/bodrog rivers create morning fogs + sunshine helps retain noble rot and cancel grey rot
rainfall in tokaj
500-600mm (low but no irrigation is permitted)
main soils of tokaj and wine styles
- nyrok (volcanic soils) - powerful wines
- loess (sandy silt with high clay content, mostly around the tokay hill) - lighter wines
advantages of volcanic soils in tokaj
- roots can go very deep (no problems of water stress or nutrients deficiency)
- cellar are created underground with no problem of temperature as the growth of the fungus Zosmidium cellare helps regulating humidity
vine density and training in tokaj - before and after
originally - single post training, 10k per hectare now - replacement cane/cordon with VSP, 4/5k per hectare
harvest in tokaj
mostly mechanised
for expensive sweet or steep slopes all by hand (labour is not a problem atm)
main diseases and pest in tokaj
powdery mildew, grey rot (canopy management for air circulation) wild boars and birds
yields for dry wines and aszu berries
dry - 30/40hl/ha
aszu 2/3hl/ha
most important varieties in tokaj
furmint
harslevelu
sarga muskotaly (muscat a petit blanc)
most planted grape in tokaj
furmint 69%
furmint main features
- late ripening (tokaj sunny seasons)
- thick skin but still subsceptibile to botrytis
- produces high level of sugar
furmint when dry style main problem
has high sugar so can have high alcohol levels winemaking techniques to ensure a lower alcohol level
harslevelu in blends
fruitier wines supports with perfume in the blend
what aszu means?
hungarian term for grapes with botrytis
why maceration is important in aszu styles?
because sugars are so concentrated that cannot be extracted by normal pressing
pre maceration technique in aszu
grapes are mashed into a paste (crushing or breaking the grapes, or passing them through a pump even if there’s risk of bitterness from skin and seeds)
aszu general maceration time
12-60 hours
maceration aszu temperatures
12-15 up to 16-20
aszu maceration types and styles
- maceration in must (light styles)
- maceration in young finished wine (2nd lightest)
- maceration in fermenting must (strongest extraction, most complex wines)
alcohol in aszu
minim 12.08% by law
the base wine is always around 14.5/15.5 which is then lowered by the aszu sweetness
recently there has been a trend of higher alcohol levels around 12 to 13.5 for a less sweet style
post maceration in aszu
wine is drained off and azsu paste/erries are press and the must is then fermented to get balanced of sugar and alcohol
(both ambient and cultured even if latter mostly used)
aszu sugar levels and how these levels are controlled
180g/l
fermentation usually stops naturally because of high sugar levels but many prefers to stop fermentation bu chilling/racking or add SO2
aszu maturation
min 18 months oak (usually longer) traditionally in gonci (136lt barrels) now into 300/500 barrels) mixed new and old
Hungarian oak (from Zeplen mountains) both fermentation and ageing
aszu is bottled in…
traditional 500ml tokaji bottle
pre 2013 tokaj aszu classification
puttonyos scale (up to 6) measured by number of picker buckets (puttony) added to a gonci barrell
post 2013 tokaji classification
min residual sugar is 120g/l = five puttonyos only 5 or 6 (150g/l or more) can be labelled as azsu (not mandatory)
if lower needs to be labelled as late harvest or edes szamorodni
what is aszu eszencia?
wine made from free run juice of aszu
takes years to ferment, usually 5% alcohol, 450g/l minimum sugar
full body, concentrated flavours
tokaj late harvest main features (differences between aszu type)
- no maceration process
- less botrytis in grapes
- min residual 45g/l (usually around 90/110g/l)
- oak ageing is compulsory (many use stainless steel to retain fruit)
- earlier release between 12-16 months
what szamorodni means?
as it comes in polish
what szamorodni means in winemaking terms
mixture of normal and botrytis grapes
szamorodni styles and features
- sweet (edes) - 45g/l minimum (90 to 110 generally), 6 months ageing oak, same tokaji bottle for aszu, many producers are putting a lot of effort into this style as it is more traditional and authentic than late harvest, basically are aszu in fresher styles
- dry (szaraz) - aged up to 10 years with no top up under a thin film of flor yeast
what is a Dulo in hungary?
single vineyard
main problems for producer of rising category of dry wines in tokaj
used to be by product of sweet and then production tripled in 5 years
they had to learn how to make dry wines:
- planting higher sites away from fog
- canopies techniques to prevent rot
- use less ripe berries
- focus on single vineyards
what is the PGI Zempleni for
wines made from other grapes, especially international or inezpensive higher yields wines from the area
average holding of tokay
1-2ha growers contact larger producers so sell the grapes
biggest producer in tokaj
state owned Grand Tokaj accounts for 35% of total production
general production %
aszu 10%
dry 21%
rest is inexpensive no-botrytis wines for home market or eastern europe
export of tokaj
small amounts mostly to china, france, uk, us
40% of production is export
