Terroir 2014 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 The history of the first demarkated wine region of the world – the Tokaj wine region

The history of the first demarkated wine region of the world – the Tokaj wine region

Abstract

The optimal climatic conditions of the region were proved in 1867, when a leaf-print of Vitis tokaiensis was found in a stone from miocen age (13 million years ago). 

Concerning the viticulture, already the Hungarian tribes coming to the Carpathian basin knew it and started to practice at the end of the 9th century. 

In 1241, after the Tatar invasion IV. king Béla revitalized the region bringing also foreigner „vinitors”. 
In the 15th century, under the rules of king Mathias the Tokaji winemaking strenghtened and nothern Hungarian cities created vineyards and wineries in the region. 

In the 16th century the Turkish army attackted and later occupied the southern part of Hungary, thus the importance of Tokaj increased. 
The first written memory about Tokaji Aszú wine dates back to 1571, it was found amongst the documents of the famous Garay family. 

In the first part of the 17th century, under the ownership of Rákóczi family the viticulture flourished. In 1613 and later in 1641 the towns organized a conference, where the strict regulation of viticulture and winemaking was accepted in 48 points. 

In 1723 Mátyás Bél published a study of Hungary. Connecting to this his collegue, János Matolai created the first classification of the World rating the vineyards into three classes. 

On the 1st of October in 1737, VI. king Károly announced the first demarcation of Tokaj creating a closed wine region and giving the possibility to those 22 towns to use „Tokaji” name. The viticultural and winemaking rules were specified and the planting was allowed only with licence. 

In 1798 the vineyard classification was redeveloped by Antal Szirmay, based on the work of János Dercsényi. 

During the 19th and the 20th century the knowledge of terroirs was collected further in the families. After the political changes in 1989 detailed work started at the wineries to be able to discover the possibilities of the extremely rich and diverse terroirs created by the active and colorful vulcanism and the outstanding macro- and microcimatical circumstances. 

In 2002 Tokaj obtained the Wold Heritage title in „cultural landscape” category as “Tokaj Historical Wine Region”.

DOI:

Publication date: July 28, 2020

Issue: Terroir 2014

Type: Article

Authors

Péter Molnár PhD

Patricius Winery, Tokaj 

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2014

Citation

Related articles…

Identification of 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal, a gamma nonalactone precursor in must and wine from Bordeaux cultivars

Various molecular compounds are responsible for the complex mixture of fragrances that give wine its aroma. In particular, the ‘cooked fruit’ aroma found in red wines from hot and/or dry vintages or from the vinification of late harvested grapes has been intensively investigated in recent years. Lactones and especially γ-nonalactone were found to be responsible for the ‘cooked fruit’

Quantification of red wine phenolics using ultraviolet-visible, near and mid-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics

The use of multivariate statistics to correlate chemical data to spectral information seems as a valid alternative for the quantification of red wine phenolics. The advantages of these techniques include simplicity and cost effectiveness together with the limited time of analysis required. Although many
publications on this subject are nowadays available in the literature most of them only reported feasibility
studies. In this study 400 samples from thirteen fermentations including five different cultivars plus 150
wine samples from a varying number of vintages were submitted to spectrophotometric and chromatographic phenolic analysis.

Attractiveness and sweetness of red wines: Synergies between American oak barrels and mannoproteins

In partnership with a Bordeaux property wanting to improve the quality of its second wine, the effects of two factors, American oak barrels and mannoproteins were studied. Their impact on the attractiveness and sweetness of wines were characterized during two successive vintages (2012 and 2013). Vinification took place with a homogeneous batch of Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was then divided up into various groups of five barrels of French and American oak, new or reused. Analyses of volatile and non-volatile wood compounds were undertaken at four months and eight months of wood ageing, by LC-MS and GC-MS.

Moscatel vine-shoot extracts as grapevine biostimulant to increase the varietal aroma of Airén wines

There is a growing interest in the exploitation of vine-shoots waste, since they are often left or burned. Sánchez-Gómez et al. [1] have shown that vines-shoots aqueous extracts have significant contents of bioactive compounds, among which several polyphenols and volatiles are highlighted. Recent studied had demonstrated that the chemical composition of vine-shoots is enhanced when vine-shoots are toasted
[2,3]. The application of vegetable products in the vineyards has led to significant changes towards a more “Sustainable Viticulture”. An innovative foliar application for Airén vine-shoot extracts have been carried out to the vineyard. It has been shown that they act as grape biostimulants, improving certain wine quality characteristics [4].

Estudio de fertilidad en variedades blancas en Castilla-la Mancha

La adaptación de nuevas variedades a zonas de cultivo fuera de su área de origen presenta múltiples interrogantes. En Castilla-La Mancha se está produciendo en los últimos años una gran inquietud por la diversificación y la reconversión de variedades.