Hungarian wine History

Picky picky Anders!

However, I do feel that it might be reedundant to repeat the story, concerning aszu, of the soldiers going off to war and coming hoem to find the grapes overgrown with mold and ... because, if I remember correctly, that has a definite air of urban legend.

Well, vineyard legend, then.

Referring to th monograph by Tim Atkins concerning the wine making in the Tokaj region, it might be more appropriate to repeat the perhaps more rliable story of Pasztor Mate Szepsy (c 1630-1633), and a reference to one scholar who has found the term tokaji aszu in a document dating back to 1570. I may be a spoilsport, but one of my parallell interests is history and I like to as much as possible debunk the legends and tall tales (no, I'll not start in on Lazare Schwendi again ...)

In that context, you might like to mention the Hungarian variant of Pinot Gris, the szürkebarát, grown around Lake Balaton, and brought there at the orders (possibly) of Charles IV of Habsburg by (allegedly) Cistercian monks from Bourgogne c 1375 1.

Truth to tell, I have never tasted szürkebarát and do not know how it differs from other styles of PG.

Cheers

Nils Gustaf

1 any debunking will be greeted with the utmost enthusiasm -- Respond to nils dot lindgren at drchips dot se