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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