History

I have found several statements that up to about 12 kinds of grapes were used for Tokaji before the problems in the 1880s, but I have not found a list of the names of the grapes. There is a Master of Wine Dissertation in pdf format at

If no one else can produce a list in a reasonable time, I wonder if you could get some help by writing the Hungarian embassy in your country. They may not bother to answer, but you have nothing to lose. Hopefully they could put you in touch with a Hungarian expert on the history of Tokaji or quote some publication.

"cwdjrxyz" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...

I was contemplating the ,useum in TOkaj, but they have so far not answered an e-mail I wrote them in another question. Perhaps the embassy. Thanks for the suggestion and thanks for the link!

Ceers

Nils Gsutaf

You might like to check out some of thwe resources mentioned in this thread:

"Steve Slatcher" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Thanks. Filed that! Also snipped the following for Nils: The varieties planted in Tokaj have changed over the centuries. According to Howkins, there were as many as 12 different grape varieties planted in the region in the sixteenth century, some, none or all of which may have yielded aszú berries.22 Neither Furmint nor Hárslevelü featured on a list in an account written by Balázs Szikszai Fabricius and quoted by Howkins, despite the fact that it had supposedly been brought from Italy in the thirteenth century. Howkins says that the main grape in those days was Porcins, of which nothing is known today.23 Yellow Muscat, one of four permitted grape varieties in modern Tokaj, was not planted until the midnineteenth century at the earliest, by which time there were as many as 85 varieties in the region.24

The arrival of phylloxera in 1890, and subsequent replanting following the devastation of the region's vineyards, seems to have led to a period of ampelographical retrenchment. Local growers replanted only three grapes (Furmint, Hárslevelü and Muscat) on phylloxera-resistant Riparia portalis rootstocks. Still, by the time the Communists took over the country after World War II, the number of grape varieties had increased to more than 30 and included Góhér, Balafánt. Köverszölö and Mezesfehér, as well as a few red grapes.

I'm sure more can be found in this document

Anders