Discover Tokaj with Annamaria Panka Juhasz

Okay hello and Welcome to the next in our series Of wine webinars uh this evening we are Looking at Discover tokai uh we are Very happy to be back this is our first Event of 2021 Uh nice to be back with you again and i Hope you are looking forward To an interesting session um So just a bit about wct school london to Start with Hopefully uh you are aware of who we are And that you’re here um we are Uh the flagship um qualification Provider for the wsup we have our uh Building In london bridge where we’d normally be Teaching all of our courses Um but once again we’re in lockdown so No more classroom courses um but it Gives us an opportunity to get back Online And bring you something a bit different Today So with me tonight we have anna maria Uh who is going to be taking you through All the intricacies Of tokai um anna maria is a diploma Alumna so some of you i know will be Studying diploma already others uh may Be considering it Um she lives in budapest currently And is uh a similar as well as a wine

Consultant and a wine educator uh So multifaceted uh In the wine world there um i will let Her Take over from here and yeah just pop Any questions you have in the q a and We’ll get to those At the end thanks very much thank you Julia So welcome everyone it’s an absolute uh Delight and pleasure pleasure to see So many people from all over the world And uh A special um delight to be able to host A webinar air for wsct School london where i actually completed My Diploma myself and hopefully i’ll be Able to Show you uh sort of slightly more In-depth or different view on Tokai other than what you can find in The textbooks And wikipedia so we’ll not really be Focusing on wine making per se And sugar levels etc but a little bit Looking behind Sort of why tokai is such a complex wine Region and so special In the world of wine hopefully you have A glass of tokai with you Please do share if you do and share what You Are drinking in the chat and we will be

Tasting what i will be tasting some wise Uh let me know if you actually managed To source the same wines And what you think of them and uh for The first 45 minutes i will be Um talking a little bit about history Geology grape varieties And um other interesting facts relating To this wonderful wine region So um So a little bit of an overview of tokai So we are in the northeast of hungary Actually you can see it on the map on The next line where we are And uh just south of the zamplain Mountains Uh which provides a sort of cooling Effect um to To the vineyards here and uh it’s very Important there’s a huge Influence of two uh main rivers in the Area Tsa and bordrog which which are Sort of modulating the uh the weather And the humidity And also are essential to the Development of uh botrytis or noble rot Um just a little bit of a few facts as Well about the Climate so 600 millimeter average and New rainfall About 13 and a half celsius average Annual temperature And just under 2 000 hours of sunshine

Per year Also there’s quite a being located in The north of the country Uh it’s quite a cool uh continental Climate So um there are a huge diurnal ranges in Temperature uh between Night and day which helps as well with The ripening of the grapes So one of the pillars of complexity Of tokai is that it’s uh it’s a it’s got Volcanic soil So it goes back to sort of 20 million Years Old volcanic activity that carried on Um up until about 50 000 years ago And uh it’s and it created all these Layers Um of different uh volcanic soils um And basically uh due to tectonic plate Activity uh convergent tectonic plate Activity Where uh tectonic plates approach each Other As opposed to sort of getting away from Each other Um this created all these volcanic Eruptions About 350 extinct volcanoes exist In the tokyo hedyon region and there’s Also some alluvial components so all This Volcanic activity was actually Underneath

The pannonian sea so As the volcanoes erupted they sort of Created this layer of volcanic Soil and geology and then from the sea Some sediments uh formed on top and then Again with volcanic activity There was another layer of volcanic Soil so so it’s very sort of like a Sandwich-like Um structure and uh The main grapes in the area are food Means which accounts for about 60 Of the uh plant plantations hash level Which is more or less about 30 percent And the rest is uh Zeta cobor and curve As about not about eight different wine Styles are produced so this adds to the Versatility and the Complexity of the region and uh It’s very um sort of Divided in terms of the areas there’s 18 000 different parcels An average size of about 0.3 hectares And the average actual winery size is Only half a hectare so there’s only About 15 larger producers who have a Larger holdings and um it’s still a lot A lot of Farmers who farm on a Sort of around half a hectare size Vineyards and Actually sell their grapes to um to to

Winemakers So here you can see the zen plain Mountains on the on the north Which is the sort of green color and Then the rivers on the south Um and uh in terms of history Uh tokai has got a lot to offer very Very complex Got real rich historical background um It’s actually first archaeological Evidence for winemaking Uh goes back to uh roman time so about Third century ajd Uh and from the 14th century they Actually started Focusing on naturally sweet wine making So yeah very very long tradition And uh the first there’s been a lot of Different classifications Of tokyo vineyards the first is uh 1450 By uh janos where they basically divided The Styles of wine from uh For up to these uh different categories That you can see there Uh saving a magnum villa medium venom uh Minor and until the 19th century has Actually been 17 different Classifications In terms of um the sort of uprise of Tokai As a winemaking region came from the Middle End of the 15th century where there’s

Been free Trade deals and then subsequently Elimination of Tax payments for awesome grapes so it Really sort of helped to propel Wine making sweet wine making in tokyo And then um in 1700 There was uh the most famous Classification By a prince and the landowner called uh Raputi ferenz the second And he was helped by uh bill mccash uh Martial to uh to make these Classifications It’s actually uh 56 years before the Classic first time location of the dura Valley and quite A long time before the bordeaux Classification So um so yeah it’s a pioneering region In terms of uh Classifying its vineyards as well as The wines themselves in the 1800s Actually yeah there’s an interesting Story from the early Sets of 1703 uh martial Courtsy so his prince he sends uh some Tokuya To uh king louis the 14th in france And they’re really taken aback by this Wine It starts to spread all over uh europe In the aristocracy And the um kings and queens

And apparently it’s louis xiv who um Basically Labels tokai as vino ragoon wrecks you Know Him so wine of the king and king of the Wines So it’s already very popular all across Europe And uh and then in the 1800s Uh there’s a lot of jewish people moving In Uh from um uh surrounding countries who Are very successful at Making tokoyosu and trading it so this Again um Is actually a very good time for sweet Tokai wines Then from there on there’s a lot a lot Of difficulties um which actually Um in my opinion tokoi has only started To recover from in the last Sort of 30 years uh so first philosopher Hit Tokai in 1855 Then obviously as world war 1 and then The great depression and world war ii Uh so uh first it was a devastation by Philosopher’s And uh they reprimandly replanted their Vineyards Uh but production um severely decreased Um in in the first um the first and the Second world war And then just as the second world war

Finished and you know most of western Europe could start sort of developing Uh the winemaking and vineyards uh we Had 50 years of a communist Era which really started focusing on Not quality of wine making but rather Quantity So they they were using Lesser value or you know sort of flatter Lands Uh for great growing which are easier to Be mechanized and easier to To be made um into um You know like a sort of lower quality But Larger quantity of uh of tokoi So this sort of carried on for 50 years So Until 8 1989 1990 when finally Uh communism ended in hungary and Wineries Uh started to get privatized um From a lot you know a lot of foreign Investors Actually um came into hungary as well so Axon militia For example and uh and also some Traditional wine making families Um actually um started to buy more land And and take Winemaking seriously again uh so Also since 2002 uh tokohedeo is a Unesco world heritage site to sort of um [Music]

Put into put into um Focus of how important history and The history of winemaking is in this Area of the world So yeah historically a lot of ups and Downs Are very complex and in my opinion it’s Only Sort of we just started uh in tokai Um not so long ago so there’s still a Lot of Development ahead and exciting times Ahead But also another uh another area of Complexity is Its grapes and styles uh in terms of the Grapes Um actually food mint is the main grape Variety Which was uh it’s it’s really Intertwined With the geology of the region Because foramen is quite um hot it Tolerates acidic soils quite well It likes this volcanic soil and actually It’s quite high vigor So it needs um to really um Poor soils to to thrive and to not not To be Too vigorous and to produce uh good Quality fruits for wine making Um and it’s often blended with hash Leveling Height level is slightly more disease

Resistant it brightens uh A lot earlier and it adds a sort of Floral Aromatic spicy character because uh food Mint is not really aromatic At all it’s a more sort of a stir Style of wine and uh Format is also susceptible to disease so Powdery and uh down immediately also Virus That destroys the the roots of the wine Esca Is susceptible to frost damage So it’s not very easy to work with it But It’s really suitable for the soils and The geology Of tokai and that’s another Really important uh fact about four mint Is Uh of course to make these beautiful uh Naturally sweet wines You need a grate that can accumulate Sugar and Acidity and retain acidity at the same Time as Accumulating sugar and it’s a full mint Is excellent for that also hash level Has got a similar characteristic and uh Sotoko is most famous for its sweet Wines and you probably All know asu is really well known Worldwide Perhaps you know about summer rodney and

Then also late harvest styles are Quite popular as well um being able to Um To offer a torquay wine for um Um sort of a more affordable uh price And uh also is just so i’m just going to Give her like a little overview of Uh also somewhat on the styles with it Without going into the detail of how Exactly they are made However my email address is on the top Of the chat so if anybody Perhaps has any questions about Anything that we we might be just Mentioning in passing i’m very happy to Um To uh provide an answer Through my email so with also Um the minimum residual sugar content is 120 grams per liter Um they used to be uh three And four put onions as well currently It’s only five and six Or so is produced Although you can declassify your five Foot on your Three foot if you like but the the Minimum required sugar content Is now the same for three four and five Poutine Which is 120 grams per liter For six putting it’s a minimum of 150 Grams per liter Um but often it really exceeds this

Uh by quite a lot So um the aging requirement is minimum Two years With uh 18 months in barrel and uh Osu wines are very very long lived very Concentrated And they give you lots of layers or sort Of dried fruit and apricot and with aged Mushrooms and Honey and nuts and all these wonderful Wonderful flavors it’s probably the most Complex or the most complex From torquay wines and then samorodni is A Slightly less sweet style and it’s more Flexible in terms of wine making A minimum 45 grams of residual sugar For sweet and there’s also dry style of Summer rodney Which is nine grams maximum per liter I would love to tell you about all the Details of how these wines are made but Unfortunately 45 minutes would not be Enough And so for someone on this slightly less Aging requirement And you usually get a sort of more fresh Fruit Uh aromas more sort of mango and peach And less nutty characters um And uh it has a real um sort of Renaissance i think or it’s Starting to uh become more and more Popular in restaurants for wine pairings

With some elias Because the price is slightly lower than Of oscillos And it’s easier to sort of open it and Serve it by the glass or to pair it with Desserts there are not super super sweet For late harvest there’s no aging Requirement and there is a special Category called essentia Which is minimum of 450 grams of Residual Sugar per liter but it often uh goes up To Eight nine hundred grams basically Essentia is just The grape juice that sort of drips out Of the ocean berries while they are Being collected So it’s like um nectar very very special If you have the chance To try it um so just to give you an idea Of how these Grapes look and uh because uh To achieve both righteous Uh that are uh suitable for making usual Uh you can see on the Bottom right corner uh the asu berries So so it has to be completely completely Shriveled Uh in order to to give you um uh Grapes that are um there are good enough To make Awesome wines uh dry wines or completely Healthy

Grapes late harvest you can see they Start to shrivel a little bit And somewhat oddly they still have a Little bit of juice in But they’re not completely uh raisinated And you can see on this on the left Picture actually the bottom Uh bottom grape uh that is not that Trivial That would be uh actually not used for Us all the rest of the berries could be So this is why also is also very Expensive because you need to pick the Hustle berries one by one um Whereas with someone on the you can just Basically pick uh Part of the bunch or even the whole Bunch with some muscle berries Uh but yeah you get a lot more Flexibility Um so Uh botrytis scenario is noble rot And um i actually read this um A while ago someone um likened it to the Dr dracula and mr hyde of winemaking Which i i really like this Uh so i thought i’d share it with you so It’s actually genetically identical To uh gray rot so it’s a fungi Um there’s been some studies looking at It whether they’re really Genetically identical and they actually Are It needs uh very specific weather

Conditions to spread in the vineyards so Quite like sort of Misty humid conditions but with a warm Afternoons However if you get uh gray rot In your vineyard uh most of the time Sort of 90 Of the time it’s unwanted and you will Lose your crop Uh however for us all we really want This to happen So you you you want the uh gray rot to Spread Right at the end of october sort of uh Or throughout october Because without that you will not be Getting those beautiful resonated Berries so yeah it can be devastating Most of the time But sometimes it just gives you this Beautiful uh Nectar um if it comes when you want it To come Um so the best interviews for us i Thought i’d just collect it for you Uh 2000 2003 2007 which is a little bit Warm but still gave good quality hustles 8 13 17 and 19 so you can see in the Last 20 years uh there’s only been seven Outstanding Vintages um so it’s not only um Very risky uh to wait for this botrytis To happen on the grapes

Because it might not happen or it might Not happen the right way You might lose all your crop um It’s uh it’s also um quite rare Uh in terms of vintages that it happens And then uh you can see here the sort of Evolution From the healthy a little bit over ripe Grape berry until right at the end You can see the the mortar ties are so Berries And then i just thought i’d just give You a little bit of a geeky um Side of uh what happens inside the grape Uh when a botritis attacks it uh So another sort of literature literature Um Uh example for this is a sort of romeo And juliet of Um the wine making so basically they Start they start When the uh noble rot starts to attack The berries which you can see on the So the healthy berries on the top with Green now as you can see the noble rock Starts to attack the berry On the first um picture and then as It sort of proceeds to to stage two Stage three and stage four Uh it sort of sucks the life out of the Berry And then by the time you achieve a Complete botratization Uh they both die at the same time

And so the grape and the fungus as well It’s a little bit romantic i suppose um So um so yeah there’s the suite styles Uh which actually uh the pre like for Example also Only accounts for five percent by volume And fifteen percent by value uh To the whole of uh wine product for the Whole of wine uh production in turquoi And uh dry styles are on the rise First of all because of economical Viability um the vintage variations it’s It’s more and more Important that winemakers do have Something to Pull back to as well it’s uh it’s a Beautiful style of wine Produced from foreign but um yeah it has A Huge importance uh for the future of Tokai So it actually really increased since 2003 when it was four percent of the Total Wine production right now it accounts For uh Just over 20 percent of the total wine Production And the experimentation with dry styles Began In the sort of early mid 90s but the First Sort of milestone cited by many in the Region

Is a 2000 vintage of kirayudvar uradio Fuerment which is had about Still about um 11 12 grams per liter Residual sugar But it was the first uh of course Piercing acidity So that sort of balanced it out and it Still is perceivable as A dry wine and uh then from there on a Lot more Uh winery started experimenting with dry Styles of food mint So sapshi was a winery that contributed Hugely To the development of dry styles and um And right now it’s gaining more and more Market share And abroad as well as in Hungary So uh from uh so okay so we looked at The uh The difference in styles the array of Styles Um the um a little bit about geology But actually geology is um the most Uh the biggest contributing factor to The complexity of of the region So on average about 50 million years old Geological Structures are present here we mentioned These sandwich-like volcanic and Alluvial Layers actually it started about 20 Million

Years ago in the miocene era Epoch and so it’s volcanic Geoheritage is very important here So we have rhyolite endocytes perlite Tracheid Fatal zeolite all their toughs as well Tough is basically This lighter consistency Magma that comes uh that comes up from a Volcano just after the guesses Um and um before the sort of main um Component of the uh for example rhyolite Uh rylai tuff will be the first to to to Exit the volcano during an eruption And often uh the so you would have um A lot of variation in the Geology you’d have some vineyards that Would have some alluvial Um uh cover on top of these volcanic Subsoils uh so lows um Or mal even but uh Sometimes you have basically just Crumbled textures of these uh of these Volcanic soils so it’s very very Versatile Sort of every 15 20 meters You can have a completely different soil Composition with which really adds to The complexity of Making wine in this in this region uh Generally mostly it’s low ph Soils which are well suited for Food mint but uh and in the areas where There’s a lot of loose

Um you get a slightly higher ph As well and there’s a picture here of Like a volcanic Heel to demonstrate uh sort of the Shapes and forms that you uh that you uh Come across when you’re in tokai and uh Just in the background there you can see Uh kirai dulu which is one of the um Sort of highest uh classified uh um Vineyards in tokai in the uh mad Region and uh so slightly A little bit more geeky facts for you so Just uh to look at how You can see another respect of the Geological Diversity uh this is actually a 35 Hectare uh vineyard called sarvash doula And it’s an image of a normalized Difference Vegetation index um so it’s basically What it tells you Is how much photosynthesis synthesis is Happening In each separate area So the green yellow and red Shows a higher photosynthetic synthesis And Sort of blue and [Music] Purple and brown colors show lower Levels of photosynthesis So this is all connected to um the water Retention Capabilities of the soil and obviously

How how nutrient dense the soil is Um so it’s just i think a beautiful Demonstration of even Within one vineyard of 35 hectares How many different types of soil You can observe which which adds uh Hugely to the complexity of change you Know choosing your rootstocks and Your clones and making Many other decisions in viticulture Climate and weather is another factor That is really worth Mentioning of course it’s not unique to Tokai It’s everywhere in the world um but Even the in turkoi as well global Warming has contributed For quite a few changes in the last 10 Years alone Temperature average temperature has gone Up by one and a half degrees celsius Although there are some years that are Really really Unusually cold so there’s just a lot of Variations more Of weather is more erratic and um The pattern of rainfall is changing so It’s first of all Uh very a lot lower than it was sort of 10 years ago it was 600 millimeters Which i Mentioned uh before and uh Now in the last 10 years it’s uh often 200 millimeters less

As it could be 350 400 450 So this is um it’s prompted a lot of Research into uh into uh Clonal selection root stocks and uh Looking at how Um how the region can adapt to these Challenges Um so it’s definitely um contributing um As well to uh complexity of the region Um and also um we see Um you know sort of trends as well in In wine consumption that are you know Making it a Little bit tricky uh for tokai uh sweet Styles where you know High sugar content wines are a little Bit fallen out of fashion Uh so this is one of the other reasons Why Uh it’s very important to uh to be able To produce a substantial Percentage of dry styles as well And actually about um 85 Of um tokai uh wine production is a Semi-sweet uh in style Um so it’s not 75 and 20 percent Dry and then only five percent um Five percent asu also styles Um yeah so yeah i can see as well a lot Of questions here Very happy to answer you can email me as Well or Put them in in the q a So in terms of marketing and

Communication There’s quite a few challenges as well To communicate you know to to more Established markets abroad That um uh toco is not just about sweet Wine it’s not just about asu But there’s actually a lot of other Interesting styles So this is actually happening especially In the uk Um there is more and more interest and Curiosity towards uh dry Styles of food mint especially And um and also yeah we can’t forget That it’s a relatively Young wine making history In terms of the modern the modern times So it’s only 30 years ago That uh we had the freedom of winemakers Had the freedom to um to actually start To make quality wines again So there’s a lot of experimentation Happening In terms of geology and [Music] Different aspects of foreign And there’s a lot of because it’s quite A young Modern uh winemaking era there’s still a Lot of differing Views in the region and many many Different styles Of wines are produced a lot of producers Would

Leave a bit of residual sugar to balance Out the Piercing acidity in the wines um There are some wine makers who make bone Dry wines and And they they use a lot of oak so yeah You can find Even within dry formats so you may such An array of different styles which is a Very exciting Um exciting time for the region Uh so yeah to uh conclude um Tokai has a really really rich uh History And uh which uh you know can be inspired By and really great potential To uh to show the many faces of Foramen um and The complexity in terms of geology Is is great to express terroir and There’s been a Really increase in um terror driven you Know single vineyard Wines being released in the market Um so yeah it’s it’s very interesting For that and uh yeah there is a Quite a long uh road ahead Still of the relatively young modern History But there has been a a lot of investment Into research in recent years To better understand the soil for Example So you know we do know there is that

There is huge Variation in soils and there’s all these Different volcanic layers But we don’t really have a lot of Studies Looking at this um on a sort of global Scale in the region so Yeah we have a lot of partial Information But yeah we it’s very difficult to Actually get a Full picture of what’s going on Underneath The the top soil and a little bit below And also sustainable viticulture is is Gaining Popularity a lot of wineries are already By dynamic or organic or Starting to move towards that Which i think is quite interesting and Exciting And uh there has been some exciting Um news as well about the dna Parentage of formint It’s about eight years ago uh When wine grapes was released they still The only thing we knew is that it’s one Of its parents is great blanc Which is also paired with chardonnay Many other european Wine grape varieties and that it has a Parent offspring relationship with hash Levelly which we since we found that Actually hash level is the offspring so

We are still looking for the other Parent But there has been some um uh Interesting Um uh studies lately some archaeology or Biological Studies uh looking at uh Potential um parentage of food mint Originating from georgia perhaps so That’s something that should um Hopefully uh give us some more Information in 2021 And uh yeah i think Uh pretty much covered everything That i wanted um a little bit sooner Than I thought so we have a little bit more Time to to talk about these wineries But i’ve chosen four different wines for You To showcase the um uh the versatility And of the of the region so as we Mentioned Before we have eight different styles so So it’s quite a Lot so we have sparkling wines in tokyo We have Dry styles we have off dry Semi-sweet we have lusciously sweet um We also have some other we have we have Odd me dry and sweet we have also Uh two different um methods of uh making Wine from The pressed uh ossu berries which is

Called mashlash and forditash where you Actually add some more base wine Sort of like water it down or like after You use the arso berries you you add Some more wine Which has got um its roots in in Communism But you know some people are still Making these wines There’s just so many styles uh to choose From But i thought i would choose um first of All uh sparkling which is quite rare to Find Uh in tokai um from uh quite um Historic and very very important winery In tokai and uh and then the three Different wines from the same vintage 2017 which was really Outstanding vintage in tokai or For dry and for sweet styles as well Um so kira ayudvar is a Winery that was found in 1999 By anthony huang who’s also the owner of Uh doman In uh and uh you know his influence is Really Apparent on the styles of wine so in the Dry Uh styles they have a sack and a demi Sack And then also this um sparkling is is Made in a little bit of a Sort of a petion approach so not too

Much uh pressure Only about four bars and uh it’s made From Percent four mint and thirty percent Hash level The wine maker is uh sabor has and They’ve been making this wine for since 2007. They actually like to age them for quite A lot Before uh discordant age only so this Had 22 months but actually the 2017 we Introduced still on the lease So that’s going to get um over three Years On the lease and why i really like them As well Personally because they actually keep Their wines um for quite a long time Before they release them to the market And they release them to the market when They think that they are Perfectly ready for the market and they Hold back Quite a large stock as well from uh Different vintages To see how they develop um so Yeah so i’ve had spontaneous Fermentation they they basically ferment All their base wines or all their wines In uh used barrels so they can be Anything from 10 to 15 years old um and um And would their wives have this sort of

Textural richness And a lot of layers um so yeah if you Can get them Uh in your country i definitely Recommend it to try their wines They also make sweet wines as well and I put the uk retailer the bottom of each Slide So in the uk it’s imported by indigo Wines And i also managed to find a few bottles Um On the drinks and co website uh the Sparkling is quite Um difficult to uh get hold of Abroad but if you can then Should definitely try it i thought i’d Try it With you so cheers if you’re having a Glass of wine It’s got a a lot of uh sort of this Sort of ginger shortbread and ripe Citrus character I think it would uh really stand up very Good to um A lot of foods Slightly like slightly oxidative but you Know in a good way And so sort of this aptly quincy Character Is is really apparent show you the Bottle so the bottle is actually the Same as what you can see On the label there but i’ll show you the

Bottle They’re very fine elegant bubbles And um a lot of structure and and Richness In the flavor highly recommended so this Is from Helia vineyards single um vineyard But yeah with from two different grapes And then The next wine Is um a food means from Uh homeowner attila so kira is I believe they’re farming around 35 to 40 hectares at the moment so it’s a Medium-sized uh winery Uh hormone is a smaller site so about Three and a half hectares And and he makes mainly dry wines a Little bit of uh Sweet uh asu very rarely So he’s um yeah he usually makes two Single vineyard Dry vitamins and that also um State a couple of estate plans as well So it was the winery Is called hormone and the wine maker is Artillery They founded the winery in 1999 in Erdogan And uh which is uh sort of north west of Tokai town is actually at this i haven’t Mentioned who’s the toco is actually a Town as well As well as a region and a wine from

Tokai is called toky With an i at the end and i i Believe it can be quite confusing um for Some So this uh this uh wine is made by Dynamically Um so they only use uh sort of copper Sulphate And orange oil just by dynamic Preparations and Uh all the it’s not certified but yeah They do all the Winery viticultural and uh Winemaking operations according to the Spider on the calendar So this one is a hundred percent uh for Me And uh yeah it’s sort of artillery has a Sort of very less a fair attitude To wine making so everything ferments uh Spontaneously He uses uh absolutely minimum amount of Sulfur And uh yeah super intervention approach And he uses 50 stainless steel and 50 Percent Used oak so the wines never have an oaky Wood flavors it just adds to the texture The acidity is usually quite high In his wines and and they are usually Fermented to almost complete dryness So um let’s try this one is actually he Also has a vineyard called hotari Um hotari wines tend to if you have a

Chance to try them They are they tend to be ready a little Bit sooner And they’re more more sort of juicy Fruity and um Usually takes about a year longer to Develop it’s more a Stair kind of formant So i show you this bottle as well Although it’s the same as on the present So yeah this wine is a very sort of Citrus skin driven Really fresh high acidity and it has Great potential to to evolve Even for another 10 years in the bottle Easily Um and the acidity This acidic backbone is always a Signature um The style of attila we’ve got a little Bit of leeciness A little bit of this textural richness But it’s a very Fresh um style or medium Full bodied but for forming uh it’s Quite citrus driven A lot of freshness to it And then The next one is actually a summer only So as i’ve mentioned before Odd name with someone they have a lot More flexibility in terms of uh how it’s Made compared to usual Uh it’s a lot more sort of consumer

Friendly In terms of the price point and the Style Generally um lower uh Sugar levels than with asu but it can Easily I’m sorry it can easily be a lot higher So this one is 204 grams Uh which is uh you know it’s it’s not a Rare Occurrence so uh This wine was made by picking it’s from Bomboy Vineyard which is quite high elevation In tokai So about 300 295 Meters elevation and uh [Music] Um this is really good for summer rodney Because um Us like osu berries and botrytis tends To Um tends to be more apparent in slightly Lower Situated vineyards sort of like Slightly lower maybe than 300 where The fog and the humidity is Strapped a little bit more so high Altitude get more air going through So um someone only which is not made From fully bottled eyes berries this is Really good So uh he they picked basically half Bunches

Twice i think for this one and These half bunches contained uh some Level of botulitization but they still Have this beautiful Freshness and acidity from the healthy Berries That are also mixed in and then they um They press the grapes and they basically Uh they leave it to sort of infuse with The uh Berries uh for about one night twelve Hours To just get a little bit more extraction And then they vinify it Um without without the actual um Of the grapes themselves and the whole Grapes Um so um 12 percent alcohol Acidity is yeah you definitely need that Level of acidity to support this amount Of Residual sugar and um Let’s taste the wine It’s just um a lot of uh peach A bit of uh some tropical fruit aromas And [Music] A little bit of creme caramel it’s just Uh The ideas that come to my mind for Pairing or You know very versatile [Music] It’s perfectly balanced between the um

Sugar and the acid the intensity of Fruit Well actually this wine has just about a Month ago Um got selected into the 15 best uh wine the wines of the year By decanter for 2020 which is a great Achievement So if you can get your hands on it i Would definitely recommend To try this to try this wine mr Someone’s mentioning the wines of Hungary website Is not working um i don’t know it was Working for me Just yesterday but um yeah drop me an Email Later and i can i can help you with that Um and then uh yeah again 2017 It’s a brilliant uh vintage so i just Mentioned that actually Um uh ishvan bolasha the winemaker He made um i believe six we have seven Uh single vineyard somewhat knees um so Uh that’s a really exceptional Exceptional Vintage for uh for everyone in tokai And um he actually owns 2.731 hectares From This bomb boy vineyard where it’s from One boy rodney Um bomboy is the largest single vineyard In tokai With its nearly 90 hectares

And yeah it’s beautiful somewhat of me Try it if you can And then moving on to the last wine so i Thought you know i couldn’t uh show you Wines without showing you a six-foot And so sachi is the Uh one of the leading and most Of historical and influential Uh wineries in tokyo they have been Making wine It’s family owned and the cetri family Has been making wine for uh Uh over 500 years and they were Pioneers from a lot of different Perspectives in tokai And it was the first one to bring to Begin a green harvest for example which Is pretty much Unheard of before 1990 They actually do three uh rounds of Green harvest on average Um so uh yeah they they work with um Um really really uh low Um amount of grape per per Vine and um they also pioneered on many Other fronts so as i mentioned already With the white uh dry styles of Tokai where they were amongst the first To to experiment with it and to release The wines to the market And they practice sustainable Viticulture so not uh organic or Biodermic but they don’t use any Pesticides herbicides

Or fertilizers and they actually develop Their own east culture that they work With And they don’t use any enzymes as Additives and also Minimal level of sulfur but you always Find Quite a you know prominent use of oak so They use a Um new oak generally some new Or two three year one to three years old Oaks from the zamplain mountains And uh they for the they they Leave the wires in the oak for 30 months um and they all for their dry Wise they They always ferment the wires to Complete bone Dryness um so um Yeah a very different style for example From hormona or some other Even from uh dry dry wines So yeah if you can try their dry wine so Definitely recommend it as well So this particular asu so it’s a hot Six buttons they only make six foot By the way and slightly higher Um residual sugar so 260 grams per liter Um 10 percent alcohol and uh You can see that this is mostly four Minutes eighty percent with twenty Percent uh Hash level and they do have a Selection of a single vineyard selection

From um from all these vineyards that You can see Uh sorry i did put dulux there which is In hungarian for vineyards So um bertrand santomac banyas dansko And kirai do the makeup this fine Um in 2017 uh Was uh such a good year that they Actually Uh just released their best toki also Six to date according to them Uh from berchak and santoma ashluna Which has just Been released to the market um We definitely recommend to try those as Well So these are the sort of estate uh also Sort of someone was asking How much uh how much these wise cost So i don’t know exactly but uh generally The Kira edward would retail perhaps for About 30 to 40 uk pounds Hormonal probably the same Uh borussia Would be around 40 uk pounds And cersei arsenal is i think it’s More closer to about 80. so they’re all Quite um You know in the premium segment So uh these are so it’s still quite Young still quite fresh It gives you all the sort of um

Uh peach and apricot but mainly apricot And Orange rind and orange marmalade aromas That you would expect And sort of more white or golden raisins Than Uh than what you get from from longer Aging Um a lot of layers And real marks floral sort of jasmine Um aroma on the finish as well Um so yeah it’s no wonder that this um Style of wine is the Is the crown in the pyramid of of tokai Winemaking Um so yeah i hope that i have given you Some ideas of You know how um colorful torque is and How many different styles of wine You can try and i really encourage you To uh You know go out there and try all these Amazing wines and make up your own mind About them So um we have about five minutes left But i Believe that we can actually use this Time for any questions That you may have had i think this is Pretty much the end Yeah um so there’s all the contacts for Wsct school London and i’m just gonna look at The q a

To see your questions So i think i’m going to try to answer as Many as i can i hope the presentation Was not too dry and Geeky but i just thought that you know i Would try and um Include as much detail and data and Facts Um about tokai that are not usually Written in the textbooks And yeah as i said already if you have Any questions if you need any guidance For materials for reading materials Or recommendations for wines then please Hit me up I’m going to try start from the Beginning see how far we get And in about 50 minutes i think we will Stop and if anybody if i haven’t managed To answer Any other questions i will answer them In writing Uh so uh during the communism time were The tokai Vines fortified um Yes definitely they were i mean a lot of Uh Things were done to tokai wines that Would be Considered sacrilege today um But actually fortification was uh Um you know maybe Not so much to increase the volume But to sort of stabilize the wine but

Actually fortification I hope i’m correct in thinking this i Read this a while ago Um so if anyone knows otherwise let me Know but up until 2000 uh fortification was was not Illegal it was only then that it was um Made illegal so yeah a lot of things Were done to tokai wines and Uh um you know it’s just um Sort of shadowy time for a tokai wine Making It’s a four means of wine native to Hungary And okay Okay it’s uh it’s a wine native to Hungary and is it planted elsewhere in The world and if so to any success So it does look like looking at Dna analysis that foodman is indeed Grape variety native to hungary i mean There are lots of sort of stories and Legend Legends going around that it originates From italy and Uh from other regions but um countries But actually it’s quite strong evidence Now that it is native to hungary and Then hopefully as i mentioned before um In 2021 we should actually know more About The the exact parentage due to this Study that’s about to be published about It

Um so yeah in other countries i mean yes It’s planted in slovakia There are some plantings i think in South africa There are small plantings around sort of Central and Eastern europe croatia as well and Slovakia of course which is you know Historically used to be The same country as hungary until the Trial and uh treaty The versailles treaty so um so it’s also Grown in In the south part of slovakia actually There’s a really good Um sort of historical overview in the Jose vuilla’s book the wine Grapes so i’ll recommend to read that as Well a lot of good information Uh next question ascencia uh does not Have aging requirements Um so essentia is basically a very Special category Uh in terms of aging requirements uh I don’t believe there are uh but most Wineries don’t even release them to the Market so a lot of wineries actually Keep their essentia Uh to blend later to add to Their uh six foot toyota perhaps Also there is a lot of people are quite Reluctant to release these wines because Then Essentia would be their sort of top wine

And The focus would be moved from um from Footage also um so uh Yeah i i don’t believe that there is an A it’s very rare to even see it on the Market Um i i don’t believe it has a specific Aging requirement But what i will um find out for you Actually if you put in your email Address perhaps then I can get back to you on that Is the increase in quality since the end Of the communist period Mainly because of improved viticulture Or is it more in the wineries and Improvements in barrels equipment Etc um So yeah it’s improved viticulture as Well so you know Things like um you know you know you Lower yields you know green harvests Uh um you know looking at Um old uh vineyards that were perhaps Not utilized in a communist era because They were difficult to approach or Mechanize So they could only be um they could all You know they could only be worked by Hand so all these Vineyards have been not all but a lot of Them have been discovered Uh so actually the area where they plant Vines

Um is is is also has changed a lot And uh in the wineries as well of course With modern wine making you know You have a lot better hygiene you know You have temperature control Um you know you have a cleaner cellars Because back in the day a lot of most of The wines were Actually matured in cellars there’s a Huge cellar system underneath the whole Of tokai the tokai region And um and there is this um You know it’s not very hygienic to be Honest by modern standards So so yeah equipment of course and uh Yeah i think it’s uh it’s been a whole Overhaul So you know quality over quantity and And yes definitely improved viticulture And Uh wineries technologically are a lot More advanced And just with the focus of shifting from Work from quantity to quality Um yeah it’s it’s in every area there Has been improvements What kind of barrels are being used for Aging Go to food bearing how to store ones Opened Um so barrels uh generally Sampling barrels or local cooperages In um in the turquoise area Uh but you know some people are using uh

Stockinger Um yeah or some people are using uh Barrels from france as well so it’s a Huge um Selection you know it depends on what The wine maker Really wants to achieve in terms of Flavor texture aging ability Etc well yeah there’s very good quality Oak From the champlain mountains available Go to for food pairing It depends what style you’re talking About But i think ford mint in general is Quite uh Um you know it has it’s quite an intense Wine Quite complex so definitely you can pair It with a More complex flavors most of the dry Styles or You know the dry wine that i presented Today uh they i wouldn’t recommend it For a parody Also it’s more like you compare them With more daring Complex um flavors But i think for me the go-to food Pairing is what you love You know it’s the number one um Perspective And yeah obviously that there are Certain rules uh for sweet wines and uh

Sparkling wines that you’d like to avoid Uh but generally As long as you enjoy it i i really like Actually torquay also with Savory things so like you know like a Really rich curry Or some blue cheese or you know to sort Of contrast it The sweetness with something savory how To stir once opened Just like any other wine so yeah make Sure this It’s in the fridge and uh you try and Avoid the contact with oxygen Um recommendation about tokai that one Should have Tried it depends what you have tried but I would definitely recommend to try at Least these Four different styles so try you know Sparkling you know May if you can if you have the Opportunity definitely try it but Try you know some rodney and asu I think will give you quite a good uh Overlook On on the diversity What does the word asu mean in hungarian Um so it basically means the Uh the drying out of the grapes but the Actual Uh sort of linguistic origins i’m not Too sure but i can get back to you On that as well if you leave your email

Maybe leave it in the chat and then i Can Give you some more in-depth into Information Is there a dry tokai wine you would Recommend having never tried a dry style What food would you pair it with Um it depends where you are First of all because availability for Tokai can be Quite you know varied um in the world so But any basically try any you can try it Right Royal tokai they have quite a lot of um You know really good uh dry styles that Are widely available in the us And the uk as well but you can try it You know with an Entry level and then you know experience How How that tastes and then you know maybe If you like it then move up Um to the to the next level um What food would you pair it with now Because of the acidity I think uh it goes really well with sort Of fried foods It goes really well with white meats Or fish with even uh sort of richer Sauce So the acidity cuts through a richer Source But it still has substance to to stand Up to to the flavors

But again um you know it depends on the Style It could be oaky it could be steel Fermented Could be a really fresh citrusy light Style or it could be quite heavy And layered so it really depends on on The styles there’s a huge versatility in The dry Wines as well but again you know you can Leave your email And and you know let me know what’s Available in your country Marion and i’m happy to recommend some Stuff So do wineries work on visitors which Would be among your top five to visit And where should i stay we’re visiting Uh yeah definitely they do accept Visitors Some more openly than others um So um some a lot of wineries you can Actually Just walk in if you’re for example if You’re in mad Which is one of the main villages in the Region you can just walk around and go To a lot of places and you don’t need to Make a reservation But i would definitely recommend to you Know just to check if they’re going to Be there And um and a lot of wineries actually Provide

Sort of um walks around the winery and It’s better to if You register but definitely i would um Recommend uh From mother royal tokai or remus They’re quite open as well um Um good question You could try um yeah i mean some It’s uh some are more difficult than Others for sure Um of course you caught me Call me out there i there there are There are loads Loads of wineries lenkay i think they They also accept Visitors um Bartopinza they’re great to visit They’re quite open You know they have different lines Flights that you can try But yeah again if you’re planning to Visit tokai any of you who took part Today just Just said drop me an email and you know I i can Help you out um can you repeat the Percentages about dry sweet Etc uh so generally About sort of 75 percent of the current Wine production in tokyo is Like semi-sweet wine and Dry and sweet so dry is would be about 20 roughly again these are not these are Just information that i

Am extracted from wineries and Winemakers so there There isn’t um you know a statistic that I can refer to But five percent of the total uh wine Production is is asu and then 75 yeah that doesn’t really so it’s like About 15 percent is basically all the Sweet styles And uh probably then the 20 Dry is slightly overestimated um So yeah i mean it’s quite difficult to Get these numbers But the majority is is a semi-semi-sweet Style And only 15 percent of the total Production is Somewhat odd me or so and um And the traditional suite styles