Wines of Character and Grace

A visit to Tokaj and the Heimann family in Szekszárd

Words and photos by Mary Bailey

In the cellar at Royal Tokaji

How to understand a wine area? Start in the vineyard. We are at the top of the Szent Tamás vineyard with Zoltán Kovács of Royal Tokaji.

“Single vineyards are Royal Tokaji’s strongest asset—55 per cent of our total planted area is in first growths.”
– Zoltán Kovács

Tokaj is in the north of Hungary, bordering Slovakia, close to Ukraine. The wines have been known for millennia. The vineyards cluster around four wine villages, including Mád, where we are. (Similar to Burgundy vineyards, organized around villages and the vineyard is classified, not the owner. In Tokaj, like Burgundy, classified vineyards can have more than one owner.) These vineyards were awarded cru status in the 1700’s, based on their sweet wine producing capacity.

By the end the 19th century Tokaj was the most expensive wine in the world. Post WW2 it was a different story. Tokaj became the source of high volume, low quality wine destined for Russia.

“During the Communist era we lost a generation of knowledge and practises,” says Zoltán, while he points out first growths Betsek and Nyúlászó, shimmering in the morning haze.

Royal Tokaji was formed early in the post-Communist era by 62 vineyard owners and investors led by British wine writer Hugh Johnson. Their goal was simple, but not easy: bring back the glory to these vineyards and to Tokaj.

Zoltán Kovács in the Szent Tamás vineyard

“From 1947, when the Soviets established here, a lot of things changed. All Soviet countries relied on mass production,” says Zoltán; “they needed to be able to move large tractors between the vines. Now, of course, we don’t need that— all the grapes are hand-picked.

“Single vineyards are Royal Tokaji’s strongest asset—55 per cent of our total planted area is in first growths. Our oldest vineyards are being renovated now—we are looking for less yield per plant for better quality. We kept 50 per cent of the old vines and planted in between rows to increase density.” Which means less fruit, but riper berries, ready for the arrival of botrytis in the fall.

Royal doors at Royal Tokaji

Three grapes dominate Tokaj’s plantings. Furmint, with its razor-like acidity, affinity for botrytis and beautiful minerality, is distantly related to Chardonnay and Riesling. Thick-skinned, aromatic Hárslevelű  (linden leaf ), also has racy acidity, and lovely, evanescent green notes. Super aromatic, reminiscent of orange blossom and tropical fruit, Sárga Muskotály is Hungarian for Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains—about 10 per cent of Tokaj’s grape harvest, with fresh acidity and floral notes.

“We have a continental climate, but drier—we have three times less precipitation than Bordeaux and less disease pressure.”
– Zoltán Kovács

Zoltán continues to show us what makes the terroir of Tokaj unique. “From the Great Hungarian Plain, the good weather and winds. That helps with the drying of the berries,” says Zoltán. “The Zemplén Mountains protect from the north and provide the oak for barrels. We have a continental climate, but drier—we have three times less precipitation than Bordeaux and less disease pressure.

“Our biggest issue is the starling,” says Zoltán. “If close to the forest, we have a second pruning of the green shoots done by the deer. And during harvest, the wild boars are harvesting too.”

The area is volcanic, the soils high in mineral content. The humidity of the Bodrog and Tisza rivers create the mists which encourage botrytis (noble rot) to thrive, and the volcanic tufa creates the vast cellars found in the area. The characteristic mossy fungus found in the cellars is unique to Tokaj.

Botrytis created Tokaj’s most revered wine styles, the Aszú and Essencia. Essentially, berries get affected by botrytis, which dries them out, increasing the ratio of sugar to liquid. The grapes are picked when fully shrivelled, little nuggets of flavour. Several passes through the vineyards are required to fully harvest aszú (what the shrivelled berries are called, also the name of the wine they make). “We finish harvest for dry wines in September when we only harvest ripe bunches,” says Zoltán. “We select, then leave the grapes that are starting to shrivel on the vine. It’s a long harvest period and labour intensive.”

Macerating aszú berries at Royal Tokaji.

Aszú berries have so much residual sugar, it’s tough to start a fermentation. Tokaj producers solve that problem by using a fermenting must. There are regulations (one kilo of aszú berries to make no more than 2.2 liters of Aszú wine) and puttony (a bucket of a certain size) are no longer used as a measurement, residual sugar is. (A minimum of 120 grams per liter is required). In the cellar at Royal, we watch while aszú berries are macerated in small tubs by foot (wearing rubber boots).

Essencia (only aszú berries) the rare, top-of-the-pyramid wine, ferments away for years, reaching only three to four per cent alcohol. You can hardly even call it wine. We taste the Royal Tokaj 2008, bottled in 2016. It’s insane, a trip really, fresh, with zingy cucumber and green leaf notes nestled among the rich stone fruit flavours of white peach and ripe apricot. Extraordinary, complex and exciting with a crazy long finish. Zoltán tells us the fashion in Michelin-starred restaurants is to serve Essencia by the crystal spoonful. With 468.8 grams of sugar per litre, the amazing thing is—it doesn’t come across as ridiculously sweet. It’s that sensational balance.

Those most expensive wines of the 19th century were always lusciously sweet. This is the style that made Tokaj famous.

Today, there is a different challenge.

“Now we are trying the find the dry of Tokaj. To find the best vineyards, like the third growth Úrágya, to produce the best quality dry Furmint,” says Zoltán.

At Zsirai Winery
I had tasted and studied Tokaj in WSET, knew it was a quality region but perhaps wasn’t paying much attention since. Not until Christina Masciangelo (Salivate Wine) brought in Zsirai. A modern wine family making delicious wines. And, when Christina said, ‘do you want to go to Hungary,’ I bought a ticket and packed.

So, a novice then. My experience with Tokaj was limited, but no one says it better than Hugh Johnson: “Perfect wine need no explanation, however exotic it may be. The rules are the same: it smells inviting, invigorates your mouth as it comes in, expands into new dimensions as you hold it on your tongue and lingers sweetly after you swallow.”

We drive to Mád from Budapest to meet Máté Csanaky, the genial export director and Kata Zsirai, head winemaker. Máté is married to Petra, Kata’s sister, pregnant with their second child and at home. They tuck us into the guest house by the winery.

Kata, Christina and Máté at Zsirai

“My father wanted a break from regular business. We bought our first vineyard in 2005,” says Kata. Kata and Petra carried on after their father’s death in 2011. Now, they cultivate 13 acres of vineyards, strategic about where and what they buy, including a land swap for .7-ha in Szent Tamás as well as parcels in Úrágya, (God’s bed) Nyúlászó and Betsek. They are most excited about Középhegy, a northwestern vineyard of Mád. They have 6.2-ha there—30-50-year-old vines, 65 per cent Furmint, 25 per cent Hárslevelű, 10 per cent Sárga Muskotály. The new plantings are organic—the direction the family is moving in.

“My father wanted a break from regular business. We bought our first vineyard in 2005.” – Kata Zsirai

Kata and Máté take us to almost every parcel. We gaze at the view, taste here, walk among the vines there. On the last day, we pick aszú. Or attempt to. Kata shows us how to choose the right berries. It’s all in the feel. About 45 minutes later I have picked, a quarter of a pail? (But they were all perfectly shrivelled.)

Kata explaining how to pick aszú berries, Mary picking

We taste wines from the other regions where they make wine, Villány and Somló. We taste new wines, old wines, wines not yet bottled. We taste the blends for the new sparkling wine. It was total immersion. And we loved it.

I ask Máté what he thinks is the soul of Zsirai. “Our first objective is to show every vintage’s identity and to make the best wines possible for that particular vintage. And of course, the main objective is to build the rep for Hungarian wines, especially for dry Tokaj because the dry is not that well known. Change the narrative.”

It’s the character of these wines—the minerality, the complexity and their transparency—that helps a novice understand the region. The family’s commitment to expressing terroir starts in the vineyard—the sustainable-moving-to-organic approach allows the individual sites to shine. The actions in the winery have the same goal, the pristine hand-picked grapes undergo minimal interference, starting with spontaneous fermentation with ambient yeast. The result? Beautiful, practically hand-made wines.

Before we leave Tokaj we visit Grand Tokaj. Now owned by the Tokaj-Hegyalja University Foundation, it operates 67-ha of vineyards and purchases grapes from more than 1,000 small producers. Károly Áts, 2012 Winemaker of the Year, acclaimed for his 100-point Tokaji Essencia, is the chief oenologist. Ongoing educational and quality improvements in the vineyards coupled with wine making talent foretell a rosy future for Grand Tokaj. Export director Zoltán Szabó, takes us through the spectacular cellar— spooky, flickery, filled with barrels and ancient bottles of wine with passages branching off. The air is fresh, a product of the mossy fungus on the walls. It’s the largest in Tokaj, five kilometres, two stories—you can imagine what it was like when they were lit by candles. Maybe not, it was built 25 years ago out of series of 400 year-old rock mines. Grand Tokaj produces affordable wines that are a terrific introduction to the flavours of the region.

Gurvinder Bhatia, Mary, Kata and Christina in Középhegy vineyard

On to Szekszárd
Máté had suggested Christina take a look at Szekszárd winemaker Zoltán Heimann Jr., a childhood friend. Szekszárd is primarily a red wine region, completely different from Tokaj, with  different soils and grapes. It’s best known in Canada for Bikaver, or the Bull’s Blood blend. Máté dropped Christina and I off in this fairy-tale-pretty region, all hill and dale, bordered by the Transdanubian hills on one side and the Great Hungarian Plain on the other.

Heimann is a well-respected Szekszárd producer best known for elegant Bordeaux-style wines aged in oak. Zoltán and Ágnes Heimann built the business from the Communist era (.8-ha parcel owned by his father) to a 25-ha estate. Trained as economists, Ágnes left her job and went to oenology school to become the family winemaker.

Zoltán Heimann Sr. in the spectacular vaulted cellars at Heimann</>

“Kadarka is self-explanatory. The grape itself is tasty, juicy and fruit forward.” – Zoli Heimann Jr.

Zoltán Jr (Zoli) took over the estate in 2016 with a different approach. His mission? To raise awareness of the native grapes, Kadarka and Kékfrankos (Blaufränkisch).

Zoli has an extensive wine education, at Geisenheim, Montpellier, Bordeaux and Udine and work in Australia. He describes the new approach as we walk among vines and taste wines on the tailgate.

“The bigger shift—to emphasize the ferment first and the aromatics and not so much the aging,” says Zoli. “We age some of the wine in amphorae. It’s like using old wood, but cleaner and more pristine, with the right porosity. My mother is still involved—the grape selection, fermentation control. We taste once a day together and she makes the last decision, the final blending.

“Kadarka is self-explanatory. You don’t have to be an aficionado to understand and enjoy Kadarka. The grape itself is tasty, juicy and fruit forward,” says Zoli, as we nibble on second harvest bunches left on the vine. “I would like to keep this red fruit character and show it as simply as possible. It’s charming and requires only restraint, not too much ripeness.”

“Kadarka had lost its importance. We started a clonal selection in 2005 (from 30 clones found in older vineyards). My mother was making micro vinifications in trash cans. We planted the seven clones we liked the best and saw a huge jump in quality.

“Kékfrankos has depth and interest, but it needs some restraint to keep it fruit-and-terroir forward. Spontaneous fermentation adds richness to the aromatics, with more fragile aromas—green spices, herbal notes. Whole berry fermentation also adds layers of interest.”

Zoltán Heimann Jr. eating unharvested Kadarka in the vineyard

As we walk through the parcels, Zoltán Jr describes their different characteristics. “These vineyards have similar soil. We have the loess (sand, loam and silt mixture) over brown clay with red streaks. The vineyards that face the plain warm up much more quickly, but the lightness and aromatics comes from the more protected vineyards, which we pick two-three weeks later.”

“This young fellow broke all the rules—spontaneous fermentation, no preservatives, risky,” says Zoltán Sr. The result? “There is a certainty in the wines, excitement. They are alive, with many dimensions; we always open these bottles first.

“New generation, his job is to make the quality. We always try to support him,” says Zoltán Sr. “We found the beauty of giving over.”

The Wines

The following are available  in Alberta. Expect to find regional wines in the $30 range and single vineyard wines in the $50 range, excellent value for the quality. The sweet are more, depending on vintage, quality, level of sweetness and rarity.

Find at Color de Vino, Prestige Wines and other fine wine shops. Not every wine in every shop.