Tokaji

Tokaji, also called Tokay, is a rich sweet wine from the Tokaj wine region spanning Hungary and Slovakia, made from grapes affected by noble rot, a fungus that concentrates the sugar within the fruit. The region sits on a small plateau roughly 457 meters above sea level near the Carpathian Mountains, on volcanic soil rich in iron and lime that suits dessert wine production. Vineyard classification in the region began in 1730, making Tokaji the subject of the first appellation control system in the world, established decades before Port wine and more than 120 years before the classification of Bordeaux. Its best known style is Aszu, a topaz colored wine rated from three to six puttonyos by sweetness, alongside the extremely concentrated Eszencia, the partly botrytised Szamorodni, and more recent dry styles made from the Furmint grape, and the wine has been known since the eighteenth century by the phrase wine of kings, king of wines, long favored by European royalty.