Tokaji is the world’s original sweet white wine. Historically the wine and the region were called Tokay or even Tokai in English but the wine is more correctly referred to as Tokaji and the region as Tokaj. The Tokaji wine region also has the distinction of being the first in Europe to be classified.

At the end of the 17th century, Tokaji aszú wines were so well regarded throughout the Courts of Europe that Prince Rakoczi insisted on a classification of the finest vineyards around the 28 villages in the region into: Great First Growths, First Growths, Second Growths and Third Growths.

Moving forward in time, in 1993, Ben Howkins joined forces with Hugh Johnson, the world’s most published wine author, and Peter Vinding-Diers, a Danish-born Bordeaux winemaker, to found Royal Tokaji — the first non-Hungarian company to invest in the region. Royal Tokaji is a founding member of the Tokaji Renaissance, dedicated to re-establishing Tokaji aszú as one of the world’s greatest wines.

Join us as we talk with Ben about Tokaji – the region, the wine, and the history.

For more info:

Royal Tokaji: www.royal-tokaji.com/

Sponsor: Wine Exchange: www.winex.com

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Show #405
(51:42 min 49.7 MB)