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TOKAY-WINE

Volume 18 · 472 words · 1797 Edition

derives its name from a town of Hungary, where it is produced. There are four sorts of wine made from the same grapes, distinguished at Tokay by the names of essence, aufpruch, maltsch, and the common wine. The essence is made by picking out the half-dried and shrivelled grapes, and putting them into a perforated vessel, where they remain as long as any juice runs off by the mere pressure of their own weight. This is put into small casks. The aufpruch is made by pouring the expressed juice of the grapes from which the former had been picked on those that yielded the essence, and treading them with the feet. The liquor thus obtained stands for a day or two to ferment, and then is poured into small casks, which are kept in the air for about a month, and afterwards put into casks. The same process is again repeated by the addition of more juice to the grapes which have already undergone the two former processes, and they are now wrung with the hands; and thus is had the maltsch. The fourth kind is made by taking all the grapes together at first, and submitting them to the greatest pressure: this is chiefly prepared by the peasants. The essence is thick, and very sweet and delicious: it is chiefly used to mix with the other kinds. The aufpruch is the wine commonly exported, and which is known in foreign countries by the name of Tokay.

The goodness of it is determined by the following rules. The colour should neither be reddish nor very pale, but a light silver: in trying it, the palate and tip of the tongue should be wetted without swallowing it, and if it manifest any acrimony to the tongue, it is not good; but the taste ought to be soft and mild; when poured out, it should form globules in the glass, and have an oily appearance; when genuine, the strongest is always of the best quality: when swallowed, it should have an earthy astrinrent taste in the mouth, which is called the taste of the root. All tokay wine has an aromatic taste, which distinguishes it from every other species of wine. It keeps to any age, and improves by time: but is never good till about three years old. It is the best way to transport it in casks; for when it is on the seas, it ferments three times every season, and thus refines itself. When in bottles, there must be an empty space left between the wine and the cork, otherwise it would burst the bottle. A little oil is put upon the surface, and a piece of bladder tied over the cork. The bottles are always laid on their sides in fand. Philosophical Transactions, vol. lxiii., part ii., p. 292, &c.