Travel Guide Tokaj

The famous Tokaj to the famous vineyards is just a tiny village, with barely 5 000 inhabitants, from Northern Hungary, situated at the confluence of the Bodrog and Tisza rivers at the foot of Mount Nagykopasz. On the main square, a «wine sink», with a statue of Bacchus, is located in front of the entrance of the famous Rákóczi Cave, whose underground corridors, covered with thick layer of gravity, have a total length of 1,5 km. In the Pincemúzeum at the entrance to the cellar, one can learn the history of this excellent wine that is the tokaj aszú, produced here for over 200 years, and which is "the king of wines, the wine of kings", as Louis XIV so aptly said. It is probably the Celts who, the first ones, planted the vine here. The reputation of the region was at its peak between the th and th centuries, when the particular winemaking method of aszú was developed. It is the oldest classification in the world. Monarchs throughout Europe sent emissaries in the small town of Tokaj to buy them in this divine beverage. The fact that this wine was reputed to increase the manhood of man was probably also for something. It is because of its extraordinary quality and legendary reputation that the appellation has been picked up around the world, starting with the Alsace tokay, which is actually a pinot gris (a grape probably originating in Hungary). The Nagy-kopasz mountains, which dominate the small town of Tokaj from the top of their 500 m, are covered with pine and acacias forests. Vineyards stretch on the southern slopes where, on the steepest slopes, terraces are arranged in such a way that the vineyards are almost to the kopasz (chauves). Even today, volcanic stones mingle with the earth, giving the soil their specific trace elements. From the top of the Nagy-kopasz mountains, we have a beautiful northern view of the lakes, swamps and wetlands of the Bodrog River region. In autumn, these moulières cover a real carpet of the fields. It is indeed at this time of the year that on the border of the Tisza, thousands of daisy and wild gentians flourish. On the two rivers, the Tisza and the Bodrog, you can do kayaking or fishing on line. In September, the harvest festival (szüreti napok) attracts a large number of visitors.