It’s impossible not to be impressed by the big-sky landscape of Tokaj, with its dark, volcanic hills offering expansive views. In the foothills of the Zemplen mountains with Slovakia behind and the Great Plain of Hungary spreading out in front, the summer heat rises to meet the vines.
Tokaj lays claim to being one of the oldest wine regions in the world and was the first to classify its vineyards, in the early 18th century (50 years before the first Bordeaux classification). But while wine is the main driver of Tokaj’s economy it is also a Unesco World Heritage site, which makes it worth visiting.
The defunct volcanoes provide unique, mineral-dense soils that define the terroir of the region – it’s possible to find several different soil types within a square metre of a single vineyard vineyard – and the trademark high acid in Tokaj grapes is the ‘treasure’ winemakers value so highly.
For me the revelation of Tokaj was not the sweet wines but the dry and sparkling ones. Still relatively new additions to the Tokaji lineup which is so well known for the lusciously sweet botrytised dessert wine Aszú, they are made both for easy drinking and gastronomy, at home on a riverside picnic blanket or in a fine dining restaurant setting.
In the Tokaji wine choir Aszú is the soprano soloist, singing sweet liquid notes at a fine feast. The alto section is dry Furmint, flinty and sometimes sparkling; the tenors are glued by warmer, softer Hárslevelü, and Szamorodni delivers the bass line – in its dry style an extremely culinary, sherry-like, flor-driven wine that has long ageing in oak barrels.
Szamorodni (the word means ‘as it comes’ and applies to the last of the grapes picked at the end of harvest, after the prized botrytis-infected fruit has been selected for Aszú), can be sweet or dry.
Dry Furmint is a fabulous pairing with rich seafood such as lobster or crab (or a cheesy fried croquette), while sweeter late-harvest wines can be served throughout the menu, off-setting a pâté or terrine at the start, with truffled risotto, goose, duck or game main course and matching perfectly with both desserts and cheeses at the end. Sweeter wines are also a winning match with warm spices, taming fiery Thai curry or tingling Szechuan pepper.
At a recent Tokaj lunch we matched a sweet Zsamorodni with a meaty Middle White pork chop served with peach ketchup, the tangy condiment picking up on the stone fruit character of the wine, and the salty fattiness of the pork offset by the wine’s acidity. It was a delicious combination!
Tokaj producers export their wines all over the world, and in London they are increasingly to be found on wine lists and in bottle shops. They are well worth exploring when you’re fed up with the usual wine-shelf suspects and fancy something different. Your friends at the dinner table will be impressed too.
MATCH(ES) OF THE DAY
Sauska Brut NV sparkling, £15, with oysters, langoustine or a haggis Scotch egg
Royal Tokaji dry Furmint Special Reserve 2020, £13.99 with smoked salmon, fish soup or fish and chips
Tokaj Nobilis Barakonyi Single Vineyard Hárslevelü 2018, £19.99 with pheasant, guinea fowl or rabbit
Tokaji Szaraz Szamorodni, Chateau Megyer 2011, £19.40 with sweet-and-sour pork, fried chicken or baked Camembert
Füleky Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos 2007, £62.86 with blue cheese, mince pies, treacle tart
© Linda Galloway 2022
Picture credit: © Dancsecs Ferenc