Appellation · Hungary
Tokaj
A historic sweet-wine region with a classification predating those of France, and now a major source of dry Furmint.
About Tokaj
Tokaji Aszú is made by adding hand-picked botrytised berries to a base wine and macerating them. Sweetness is expressed in puttonyos, historically the number of hods of aszú berries added; the modern regulation defines it by residual sugar.
Eszencia, the free-run juice from the aszú berries alone, is so high in sugar that it can take years to ferment and reaches only a few percent alcohol.
Dry Furmint has grown rapidly since the 1990s and is now the region’s commercial mainstay — high in acidity, structured, often smoky.
What the name means
- Legal name
- Tokaj PDO
- Type
- Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)
- Set by
- Hungarian National Council of Wine Communities
- Recognised
- 1737
- Regulates
- Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields.
The EU-level category under which national appellation systems sit. Used directly here for countries whose national term is simply the PDO — and for the UK’s own post-2020 scheme, which mirrors it.
The Tokaj vineyard classification of 1737 is among the earliest anywhere, predating the 1855 Bordeaux list by more than a century.
Grapes
Wines from here
sweet
Tokaji Aszú
Hungary’s great botrytised sweet wine, from a region classified before Bordeaux — honeyed, smoky and held up by ferocious acidity.
white
Dry Furmint
Tokaj’s modern commercial mainstay: structured, smoky, high-acid dry white that barely existed thirty years ago.
sweet
Szamorodni
Tokaji made from whole bunches without separating the botrytised berries — made either sweet (édes) or dry (száraz).
Climate
The confluence of the Bodrog and Tisza rivers generates autumn mists that make *Botrytis cinerea* reliable, followed by dry sunny afternoons.
These are influences on how a wine turns out, not determinants of it. Picking date, yield, vine age and every winemaking decision sit between the climate and the glass.
Rules worth knowing
Confirmed in the EU register
Tokaj is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-HU-A1254, protected at EU level since 2006.
Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013
Specification published: Official Journal L, 2026/1556, 6.7.2026 · Official Journal
Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.
The designation is confirmed above. WineHQ has not read this appellation’s production specification, so it publishes no yields, ageing minima or permitted-variety lists for it — those come from the document linked above, not from a summary of it.
What to eat, and how to serve it
Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.
Dry Furmint
Serve at 10–12°C (lightly chilled).
Try with fillet steak, grilled chicken or grilled salmon.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Tokaj wine region regulatory information — Hegyközségek Nemzeti Tanácsa / Tokaj regional body, Hungary
- eAmbrosia — the EU geographical indications register — European Commission