Tokaj renaissance - wine travel

There are few things for which Hungarians thank their 16th century Ottoman invaders. The brief list might include the Rudas steam baths of Budapest, the superb former mosque in the southern city of Pécs and the crescent-shaped kifli pastry, which sits so well beside a cup of coffee.

For many Hungarians, however, the sweetest reminder of 150 years of Ottoman rule may be a fungus called botrytis cinerea. This fungus attacks grapes and, when dry weather follows damp, can take a form with the more palatable name of `noble rot,` which helps dry out the fruit, intensifying its taste, color and sweetness, and is an indispensable element in the making of Hungary`s most famous wine: Tokaji.

Legends abound as to how shrivelled, discolored grapes were first used in wine-making, but one holds that it resulted from an Ottoman attack on the town of Tokaj in north-eastern Hungary, which forced farmers to flee when they should have been harvesting the vines.

When danger finally passed and they ventured back out into the rolling hills around the town, they found their grapes wracked by botrytis, and apparently ruined. With nothing else to work with, however, the farmers used the grapes to make wine, and were astonished by its extraordinary sweetness - and the first late-harvest dessert wine had been born.

Wine had already been produced in the region for at least 400 years, and some historians say the Romans brought vines to what is now Hungary when they invaded at around the time of Christ.

But the revelation that was noble rot gave Hungary a prominent place in Europe`s wine-growing firmament, and made Tokaji a tipple of choice for the continent`s rulers and aristocracy. From the hills at the confluence of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers, close to Hungary`s current border with Ukraine and Slovakia, Tokaji wine travelled to the courts of admiring kings and tsars.

Enthusiasts insist that Russia`s Peter the Great adored Tokaji, that Frederick the Great of Prussia sipped it with Voltaire in Berlin, and that it could unite in appreciation such diverse characters as Oliver Cromwell and Pope Benedict XIV, who reportedly exclaimed upon receiving a gift of Tokaji from Austrian empress Maria Theresa: `Blessed be the land that made you; blessed be the woman that sent you; blessed am I that drink you.`

For Hungarians, Tokaji is also inextricably linked with Ferenc Rakoczi II, an aristocrat whose powerful family owned a swathe of vineyards in the area and used the proceeds from wine sales to fund resistance to Hungary`s Ottoman and Habsburg rulers. The Rákóczi vineyards passed into Habsburg hands in 1715, after the uprising led by Ferenc finally foundered, and the family cellars are still in operation today, along with scores of others that meander for up to 20 miles through the region`s volcanic rock.

Historic sites

As part of what is being dubbed a `Tokaj renaissance,` vineyards and cellars in and around picturesque villages like Erdôbénye, Tállya, Mád and Tolcsva are welcoming growing numbers of visitors to a region with the world`s oldest system of appellation control, and to historic sights like the ruined Boldogkô castle (pictured above), which offers impressive views across this UNESCO-listed area.

Hotels like the Gróf Degenfeld mansion in Tarcal, the Mádi Kúria in Mád and scores of other guesthouses dotted around the region offer ample accommodation to tourists.

There is fine food to be found as well - one outstanding place is the French-run Ôs Kaján in Tolcsva, where excellent cuisine made from fresh local produce is served in a stylishly renovated house and shady garden.

No reason to delay then, in discovering why the likes of Beethoven, Liszt and Goethe were devotees of Tokaji, and why, when Louis XV served a glass to his mistress, Madame de Pompadour, he felt moved to declare, `This is the wine of kings, and the king of wines.`

Dan McLaughlin
www.budapestsun.com - Wednesday, July 25, 2007