Hello,
Several months ago I asked in this forum about the origin of the term TOkay
d'Alsace - soon to be prohibited by EU law. THere is, as everybody who has
taken an interetst in Alsace eines know, a legend concerning the (toatally
historical) LAzare Schwendi who is said to have imported the variety (really
pinot gris) from Hungary, and that´s why it is called Tokay - the problem
being that, historically, pinot gris has not been cultivated in Tokay.
Now, after pestering various knowledgeable Alsatians, I have learned, from
the very friendly and helpful Mr Daniel Bornemann, that, in fact, the first
mention of Tokay was c 1750, and that the variety was imported to Würtemberg
by an official, from Hungary, a few years earlier. From Würtemberg it was
spread to parts of Alsace apparently under the same jurisdiction (Alsatian
history is difficult to get a grip on, I thought it was French from 1648).
So, it would seem that the "legende aimable" is little more than a legend.
That, if Lazare imported vines from Hungary, these most likely disappeared
in the very chaotic century that followed his death (1584).
Interested? Maybe not. But this appears to be the true story.

Cheers

Nils Gustaf