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

"Nils Gustaf Lindgren" > skrev i melding
news
> Hello,
...., 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 ...

Now, what was imported to Würtemberg from Hungary and then spred to Alsace?
Pinot gris? That is not traditional Tokaji, as the allowed varieties are
Furmint, Harslevelu (sp?), Yellow Muscat and Zéta.

Answers.com tells: Pinot gris is known from the Middle Ages in Burgundy
region from whence it spread, arriving in early Switzerland and in Hungary
by 1300. It reached Germany by the end of the 16th century.

That begs the following question: What if the Pinot Gris once indeed was
grown in Tokaj and then replaced by Furmint there?

Anders

"Anders Tørneskog" > skrev i meddelandet
...
>
> "Nils Gustaf Lindgren" > skrev i melding
> news
>> Hello,
> ..., 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 ...
>
> Now, what was imported to Würtemberg from Hungary and then spred to
> Alsace? Pinot gris?

Hello Anders!
My original question, several months ago, was the origin of the term Tokay
d'Alsace, which connotes pinot gris. THere is a legend in Alsace that the
varietal was brought from Tokaj by Lazare de Schwendi in 1568, he having
sacked that town and brought with him 4 000 barrels of wine, and the vines,
back home.

However, the term Tokay in Alsace was not found in writing until c 1750. And
it referred to what is today considered pinot gris - which as you point out
comes originally from Bourgogne (where it is still cultivated under the name
of pinot beurot, but in very small quantities).

It is historically confirmed that pinot gris was imported into Hungary in c
1375, on the orders of the Habsburgian emperor Charles IV, by Cistercian
monks, and planted around Lake Balaton (Plattensee in German). THis is
where it is still found today, and cultivated udner the name szürkebarát
("grey friar").

I believe that Furmint is attested way back into the Middle Ages as the
foremost variety in the Tokaj area, itself known as a viticultural region
since the first settlements of the MAgyars c 1000-1100. There does not
appear to be any reason to believe pinot gris ahs ever been planted and
cultivated in Tokaj in qunatity, nor any reason to believe that a change of
variety took åplace there in historical times.

It appears fairly clear that the variety imported by the Würtemburgian was
pinot gris, and that he got it from Hungary, hence, from the Lake Balaton
area. Calling it Tokaj most likely was a marketing gimmick, on a par with
"Chablis from California" - according to Christian Callet on
fr.rec.boissons.vins, the practice of making "TOkaj" in the 18th century
wwas fairly widespread.
The name was indeed outlawed in Würtemberg proper in 1766.


> Furmint, Harslevelu (sp?), Yellow Muscat and Zéta.

Harslevelü

> That begs the following question: What if the Pinot Gris once indeed was
> grown in Tokaj and then replaced by Furmint there?

Unlikely, vide supra.

Cheers!

Nils Gustaf