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As part of the series on the The Greats (the great wines of the world), I cover the complex world of Hungarian Tokaji. As with all dives into \u201cThe Greats,\u201d I spend the first half of the show delving into the history of Tokaj and then discuss winemaking, the grapes, and the complex way in which this wine is made.

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Some notes that may be hard to understand (since I obviously know no Hungarian!):

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The main grapes in the wine are:

• Furmint (Foor-mint) 60-70% of Tokaj plantings
• H\xe1rslevel\u0171 (Harsh-level-loo) -- 19% of plantings
• S\xe1rgamuskot\xe1ly\xa0(Sharga-moose-kah-tie)\xa0-\xa09% of plantings (Muscat Lunel, Muscat Blanc \xe0 Petits Grains)

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Secondary grapes are: Z\xe9ta (Oremus), Kabar and K\xf6v\xe9rsz\u0151l\u0151\xa0(Koo-ver-sue-loo)

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And just a few words on the wines:

Tokaji Szamorodni (sam-or-od-nee) can be dry or sweet. It is made from bunches of grapes with a high proportion of botrytized grapes. These are bunches, not individual berries.

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Tokaji Asz\xfa\xa0is the\xa0world-famous sweet wine. Aszu contains exclusively all botrytized grapes, individually hand picked, trampled, and then turned into a paste/dough. The wine is then macerated in must, wine, or partly fermented must, still fermenting must or wine from the same vintage. Asz\xfa ranges from 3\xa0to 6\xa0puttonyos, which indicates sweetness levels

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Tokaji Eszencia:\xa0Is one of the most exclusive wines there is. Eszencia means nectar. It is the free run juice of botrytized asz\xfa berries. It is so sweet that the alcohol doesn\u2019t usually exceed 5-6%.

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I hope you enjoy this overview of the Great that has one of the longest recorded histories of winemaking!\xa0

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Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon.\xa0Become a member today!

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