Assessing the wine scene in Hungary's Tokaj

Wines & Vines, April, 1994 by Carole Taines

2. Stop helicopter spraying (which apparently they can't afford anyway) and use tractors and backpack spraying (in the rows that are too narrow for tractors). Stop spraying for Eutypa and paint pruning wounds instead.

3. Be extremely selective during picking when making dry wines, keep SO2 levels at 20-30 ppm free, barrel ferment as much of the juice as possible (since their tanks lack refrigeration), top regularly and bung tightly. I described sur lies aging and stirring, which they were very interested in and will probably experiment with next vintage.

4. At the moment, the Wine Law prevents them from calling any wine "Tokaj" if it is made from varieties other than the "Big Three". However, since they were interested, I suggested that Pinot gris might make a fine, delicate wine in their climate. Apparently it had been experimented with in the past, but the yield was very poor.

5. Pool resources and invest in a mobile bottling line and storage facility. Or investigate purchase of the Kombinat's bottling line, which is for sale.

6. Create a marketing staff to write a plan, make a budget and a calendar of events. Assign someone to export, specifically.

7. Have maps, brochures and business cards printed up with the new organization's logo. Start distributing them at festivals, fairs and other regional events. Develop links with restaurants, hotels, theatres, ballet, opera in Budapest. Advertise in wine journals.

Since the collapse, an estimated 4,000 (out of an approximate total of 19,000) acres of vineyard have been either removed or abandoned, and almost 2,000 acres were not pruned in 1992. Many of the abandoned vineyards are those which have been returned to their original owners as part of the land restitution process. Because these are often the oldest vineyards, their owners are too elderly or poor to care for them. Unfortunately, these vineyards have the best elevation, slope and exposure, having been too costly to "modernize" in the 1960s and 1970s because of their inaccessibility and steepness.

Some of the oldest, best and most treasured vineyards and cellars have been purchased by foreign investors. Two such vineyards are Disnoko near Mad and Hetszolo in Tokaj, both purchased by the French. Despite the government's restriction that such investment must be in the form of a "joint venture", in most cases the Hungarian share is the minority. The presidents and members of the cooperatives we worked with are 100% Hungarian, and proud of it. They recognize that assistance from outside Hungary is a mixed blessing, but they are on the verge of despair.