Dear Readers:

Dry Tokaji wines, once nearly impossible to find in the US, have finally, and justly, established themselves in the American market. For decades, individual wineries would bottle their dry wines in any sort of bottle shape. "Dry wines" really meant "Table wines" from truly dry to cloyingly sweet. If one could find them at all, this lack of uniformity of bottle shape and style, coupled with some very confusing label language made navigating a purchase of dry Tokaji very challenging. Only very recently (since 2010) has bottle shape for dry Tokaji become more uniform. Similarly, stylistically, wineries have turned to making truly dry wines instead of off-dry and semi-sweet. In turn, dry Tokaji has become significantly easier to identify both in look and taste. The "modern" dry Tokaji bottle is a 750ml enlargment of the traditional 500ml Aszú bottle and is pictured below. -Adam Aceto, 2020.

Tokaji Styles

Dry, Semi-Dry, Semi-Sweet, Sweet & Very Sweet

 Tokaji in 750ml bottles - Table Wines

The 750ml "Bordeaux" or "Burgundy" or "Rhine" or new large "Tokaj" style bottle is typically used for dry or semi-dry table wine.  Yes, all four styles are currently used for table wine, adding to the confusion. In Hungary, you can also buy Tokaj in 1L and 3L plastic jugs!

There is no consensus between makers and no legal mandate for a uniform 750ml bottle for table wine. While some producers use the 750ml Rhine-style wine bottle for their semi-sweet table wine, in general, the large bottle is an indicator that the wine is not sweet.  For some companies, the clear "Bordeaux" bottle is used for non-wood aged wines, and the "Rhine" bottle used for wood-aged wine. This is interesting to note, but is only a guideline and is not universal to all producers.

The process of making dry Tokaji table wine is the same as every other table wine of the world; selection, pressing, fermentation, bottling. Tokaji wines are primarily made from three Hungarian grapes. (There are also three secondary Hungarian varietals which will be discussed later). The three primary grapes in Tokaji are Furmint, Hárslevelű and Sárgamuskotály. Each has a unique character and lends a different component, be it structure, acid, aroma, to the blended wines. All three are made and sold as varietals in at least two forms: Dry (Száraz) and Semi-Sweet (Felédes) and can be sold as true varietals, a blending of two varietals, or a blend of all three varietals  Dry Tokaji wines are seen occasionally on the US market but are often confused by consumers (and retailers!) who think that Tokaj is always a sweet and only dessert wine. Adding to the problem is often confusing or mistranslated label language along with these unfamiliar grape varieties.

Again, the main Tokaj grape varieties are:

Furmint (pronounced "foor-meent")

Hárslevelű ("linden leaf")

Sárgamuskotály ("yellow muscat")

The sweetness of the table wine is influenced by ripeness at harvest and reads on the label:

száraz (dry)

félszáraz (medium dry)

félédes (medium sweet)

édes (sweet)

Note: The terms "sweet" for table (750ml bottles) here refers to no more that 15 grams per liter or residual sugar.

Tokaji in 500ml bottles - Dessert Wine

Tokaji wine in 500ml bottles always contains some juice from over-ripe, moldy grapes effected by botryis. Grapes grow on the vine in spring and summer and at the end of summer, in normal wine making, the grapes would be harvested.  What makes some Tokaji wine sweet (and special) is that most of the grapes are left on the vine in hopes that they will over-ripen and attract a naturally airborne mold called botrytis. The grapes (or sometimes called "berries") that attract the mold are called Aszú (which is a derivation of the Hungarian word "shriveled") while those that are simply over-ripe but did not attract this mold are called "Late Harvest" or "Késöi Szüretelésü" (see below).

Tokaj is especially damp in the late-summer mornings as there are two major rivers, the Bodrog and the Tisza, which bisect the area.  Tokaj is also quite breezy in the autumn, being located on a hill. This combination of conditions, partially due to the hills, partially to the rivers, encourages mold to grow on the grapes. The mold, as it forms, begins to leech water out of the grapes through the skin, while at the same time not breaking the grape skin. As the already over-ripe, sweet grapes begin to get moldy and their water removed, the grape get sweeter and sweeter (as their sugar-to-mass ratio increases) until after about a month or so, when they begin to look like raisins hanging on the vine. These "raisins" called ‘Aszú’ in Hungarian (sometimes called "Ausbruch" the German term for Aszú) are then picked by hand over a period of weeks. Since the mold does not grow evenly across clusters, the remaining grapes which could have been right next to a moldy grapes, are harvested and made into wine in the usual manner while the Aszú is reserved. There is no way to manipulate the mold’s growth so growers in Tokaj literally pray that the process will take place. As a point of interest, in historic cellars of Tokaj, nearly all of them contain a wine "chapel", an truly holy place in which to pray for good conditions for the Aszú.

To make the sweet wines, these hand-selected and shriveled grapes are pressed and their juice and skins added to either already made wine from a previous year or to new must (pressed grapes, just beginning fermentation). The amount of Aszú added to each batch is measured in "Puttonyos" or literally "hopper" ("Hod" or "Butt" in old English, "büttig" in German), an ancient form of measure no longer used except in name. One "Puttony" is about 25kg of Aszú grapes in modern measurement added to 136 liters of base wine. The resulting mix of wine/must and Aszú grapes and juice is fermented, barrel aged (by law), bottled and further bottled aged (also by law).

Tokaji Aszú has almost nothing to do with the Eiswein making process where water is removed from a partially frozen must. In Tokaji Aszú, no water is removed after the grapes are harvested nor is there manipulation of added sugar or alcohol as in Champagne or Port, respectively. Some experimental ice wine is being produced in Tokaji. These wines are labeled "Jegbor."

Dear Reader:

The following section about puttony and sweetness levels changed and been streamlined recent years by Tokaji wine makers. New rules exist for almost all categories including option rules about removing the work "puttonyos" from labels altogether. Bottle size (the traditional 500ml bottle) has also been changed to allow for 375ml bottles as well. The following section is retained here for your reference. Especially when handling bottles prior to 2010, it is important to remember that it is these rules, not the current ones, which are applicable to the wine inside. -Adam Aceto, 2020.

Tokaji Aszú

True Aszú wine is base wine or must with shriveled grapes added until it reaches a desired sweetness. Historically measured in buckets called "Puttony" (Puttonyos is plural) and not measured, as it is today, by sugar grams per liter. The following table indicated the MINIMUM sugar level each "puttonyos" level is required to have. NOTE: A 5 puttonyos Aszú can, by law, have as much or more sugar than a 6 puttonyos and still be sold at 5 puttonyos. Again, these are only the least amount of sugar each can have. It is better to think of the "puttonyos" as a quality indicator as well as a sweetness indicator. Import bottles often contain a misspelling: "puttonos" -minus the y. In Hungarian ny, like cs, is considered one letter (like the "ash" syllable in English: ae). On labels prepared for export you may see "n" alone substituted for the Hungarian "ny."

2 puttonyos (not made in Hungary since the 1930s) Still made in Slovakia under protest from the Hungarian government. (No minimum sugar requirement)

3 Puttonyos: minimum 60 grams/sugar per liter

4 Puttonyos: minimum 90 grams/sugar per liter

5 Puttonyos: minimum 120 grams/sugar per liter

6 Puttonyos: minimum 150 grams/sugar per liter

7 puttonyos: While historically (pre-1940) there were occasionally wines labelled 7 puttonyos and more, they were not commonly made nor were they ever sold or distributed widely in the USA.

Note: In the 1970s, US import law prohibited the importation of alcohol in bottle sizes other than 750ml and 375ml. During this time, Aszú was imported into the US in specially made 750ml export bottles. Aszú in vintages from 1974-1978 are sometimes seen in the US in these unique bottle format.

Szamorodni édes - Szamorodni száraz

Yet another Tokaji is the wine called Szamorodni. The word Szamorodni comes from a derivation of old Polish meaning "as it is born".  (At one time, the Poles were the world’s largest consumer to Tokaji). Some say that is means "as it comes" or other variations of that, however the process is the same no matter what it is called.

Szamorodni comes in the stumpy 500ml rather than the 750ml bottle because it contains Aszú grapes. (Any 500ml "barrel" bottle, must contain some Aszú.) The Szamorodni is unlike all of the other Aszú wines because it made WITHOUT selection, that is to say, the grapes are picked in clusters without the Aszú removed separately  The wine is made by pressing ripe grapes, moldy grapes and overripe grapes all together, all of which grow together on the same cluster.  The wine is not made in batches like the Aszú wines: base wine first, Aszú pressed separately. Instead, the clusters contains grape of various stages of development, are all thrown in the press together and the wine made all at once.

Two types of Szamorodni are made. Sweet (édes) and Dry (szaraz). Szarmorodni szaraz must be picked at the beginning onset of Botrytis. Making Szamorodni Szaras is a true labor of love and of tradition since the cluster, if left to grow, could attract more botryis allowing the maker to make more profitable Aszú wines. However if Aszú does not come or there are bad growing conditions int he fall, there is a bit of a gamble on the part of the vinter. Not all companies make Szamorodni szaraz on a regular basis. Dry Szamorodni has minimal sugar after fermentation and is of similar dryness as the table wines. It is fermented under "flor" (called hártya in Hungarian) like sherry and gains a similar taste profie. When bottled, dry Szamorodni often has a silver capsule differentiating it from its sweet counterpart  with a gold capsule.  Sweet Szamorodni comes from clusters harvested at the end of the growing season, usually in a bad year where there is not enough Aszú to make Aszú wine, but where the cluster are healthy enought to produce good-quality semi-sweet wine. Sweet Szamorodni is often quite sweet and can be sweeter than 3 puttonyos Aszú.

Szamorodni édes: minimum 30 grams/sugar per liter

Szamorodni szaras: maximum 30 grams/sugar per liter

Dry (silver capsure) and Sweet (gold capsure) Szamorodni

 Máslás and Fordítás

These two types of wine are rarely seen outside Hungary but are mentioned here for the sake of completeness. Essentially, these two wines are made by rinsing out the barrel and vats with new base wine which were used to make the sweet wines. There is often so much residual sugar left in the grape skins and barrels after making Aszú wine that at after the Aszu wine is made, that rather than waste it, new base wine is "rinsed" in the barrels, sweetening what would otherwise be table wine. The result is a sweet wine yet retaining the table wine's original acidity; an interesting combination.  Máslás is made by putting new wine into the fermenting vessel, after the Aszú wine has been racked. The lees (or sediment) contain so much residual sugar that the new base wine (table wine) can leach the remaining sweetness from these fermenting remnants, and re-ferments in the barrel. Forditás, on the other hand, is the rinse (with new wine) of the the Aszú paste after pressing. New wine is mixed with the remnants of Aszú pressing, and re-fermented. 

Read reader:

These types were once especially rare and almost impossible to find. Currently, more wine makers are experimenting with these styles and it is seen a bit more frequently than 15 years ago. -Adam Aceto, 2020.

A modern invention and A confusing "in-between"

Késői Szüretelésű or "Late Harvest"

bottled in 750ml or 500ml or 375ml

 In an effort to turn a faster profit on sweet wines, a new category of Tokaji wine has emerged in the last 10 years and nearly every producer has taken advantage in making this new style called "Late Harvest". Of course, all Aszú by definition are "late harvest" wine however in an attempt to skirt an Hungarian wine law that states that Aszú wines must age at least 2 years in barrel and 1 year in bottle, Tokaji wine markers can now bottle their young Aszú, Szamorodni or blends of these wines in a non-regulated bottle shape and called it "Late Harvest."

These "Late Harvest" wines are often extremely sweet and are made with Aszú grapes. The sugar can be as high as 200g/l however they lack much of the richness and nuance of true Aszú.  "Late Harvest" wines are often produced in blends (sometimes labeled "cuvées") and they can be found in varietal-specific such as "Hárslevelű Late Harvest" which contains only Hárslevelű base wine and Harslevelu Aszú however labeling is not standardized among producers. Bottle styles vary wildly between makers with some companies having chosen the 750ml "Rhine" bottle for these new wines, others having created a new, striated, 500ml bottle, and even a 375ml bottle is currently used.