Tokay de Espagna

Hi Frank

I am sorry but I'm not able to give you a positive answer.

I think the gentleman was in error. The wine concerned is the hungarian "Tokaji ezsencia, which is often miss spelt to Tokay Essencia. (Aka "Imperial Tokay") It's not a vast step to "Tokay d'espagna".

Eszencia was indeed well known at the time. One of the Frenck Kings (sorry, no references while I'm on holiday) called it "The King of wines and the Wine of Kings", and many miraculous cures have been attributed to it. After some 40 years under communism, when the wine was mainly used to improve Tokaji aszu for the Russian mass market, some examples are to be found nowadays. It is probably about the most expensive wine in the world.

All the best

Ian

It is quite possible that the Hungarian Tokaji wine was meant, since it was used for medical purposes. By the way, this wine is made from a mixture of a few grapes, none of which include Tokay or the Hungarian equivaent in the grape names. Some other wines around the world have been called Tokay, probably because of the fame of the true Hungarian wine. There is a Flame Tokay table grape in California. California "Tokay" long was sold and may still be. Since wine laws were often not so strict in the distant past, it is quite possible that a "Tokay" might have been mane in Spain and several other countries. There was even a "Yquem" made in California in the 1800s. Ch. d'Yquem was perhaps even more famous then than now, and apparetly the California "Yquem" was banned fairly soon. I read about this in an old wine book many years ago, but I do not recall the tite of the book.

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I have not researched that term, but it might be related to the years of Hapsburg control of Spain (directly, 1506-1700). In 1687, Hungarian aristocracy accepted Hapsburg claims to the Hungarian throne, hence the legendary "dual monarchy" of Austria-Hungary. Political connections between Spain and Hungary therefore, presumably, existed around 1700 and the story may well be wider than that. Or unrelated. (Did the wine that is so famously Hungarian today become established in Spain during that period? I am curious also.)

In another and better-known case, Hapsburg dynastic connections (via Anne of Austria to France, bringing Spanish cooks and establishing fashions) are credited for the French saying "sauce Espagnole" or "Spanish sauce" for the basic brown sauce that is one of A. Escoffier's four "foundation" or "primary" sauces. (The others, if anyone wonders, being "velouté, Béchamel, and tomato." _Guide Culinaire,_ 1921 edition, and if, like a number of restaurant chefs, you dislike his list, please, for a change, argue with Escoffier, not with me!)

-- Max

In 1687 there was nothing like a dual monarchy. The Hapsburgs were Roman-German emperors, and reigns in their hereditary territories ("Erblande"), part of which (Austria) were part of the "Holy Romen Empire", others (Hungary, Bohemia etc.) were not.

The dual Monarchy came into effect almost 200 years later, with the "Ausgleich" in 1867. The official name from 1804 to 1867 was "Kaisertum Österreich" (Austrian Empire), from 1867 to 1918 "Austria-Hungary".

M.

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Hence the "hence." (AHD fullsize def. 1a, "For this reason" or 1b, "From this source.") Sorry for any impression that the K u. K began in 1687, that was not my intent.

Herr P, können Sie uns irgend etwas erklären uber diese interessant "Tokay de Espagna" Frage?

-- Max

Leider nein, ich habe keine Ahnung, sonst hätte ich schon was geschrieben.

M.

I just found another article mentioning that mysterious wine:

Duncan Macbride, "General Instructions for the choice of wines and spirituous liquors; ... and an account of ... disorders cured by the wine, called Tockay de España" (London, 1793)

This makes the "essence" --> "espagna" theory less probable.

Although Tokay had long been praised for its medical effects (e.g. Crato Kraftheim, Daniel Fischer, Pápai Pariz, Samuel Dombi, Friedrich Hoffmann), it became an official medicine in the Hungarian, Austrian and later German Pharmacopoeia only in the second half of the 19th century.

Frank