WINES OF HUNGARY - LIQUID GOLD

Tokaji Aszú is a sweet botrytised wine from northeastern Hungary, prized by connoisseurs around the world.

- Elizabeth Gabay

Known as the “king of wines and the wine of kings”, the botrytised sweet, golden wines of Tokaj have for many centuries been sought after by Europe’s aristocracy and royalty. Located today in the region straddling the border between northeastern Hungary and southeastern Slovakia, close to the border with Ukraine, Tokaj is regarded as one of the oldest, wine appellations delimited by Royal Decree in 1737.

While much of Hungary is covered by the Great Plain, part of the Pannonian Basin — an area originally covered by a giant inland sea — the region was once a bubbling mass of volcanoes. A chain of volcanic hills across northern Hungary includes the massive remains of Europe’s largest volcano at Banska Stiavnica in southern Slovakia, once also home to one of Europe’s largest gold mines.

The volcanic hills of Tokaj (there are around 400 extinct volcanoes locally) are ancient and complex, with top soils of red clay, loess and weathered pumice. The hills themselves have hundreds of kilometres of tunnels, originally carved out between the 15th and 17th centuries as protection against the invading Ottoman armies. Thanks to their damp atmosphere and constant temperatures, the tunnels were soon used for storing barrels of wine. The cellars are covered in a soft velvety mould called Cladosporium cellare that feeds on the alcohol evaporating from cask and bottle. The high humidity, often near 95%, is perfect for long-term ageing.