Словакиядағы Токай шарап аймағының тарихы

Tokaj wine region in Slovakia

Tokaj wine region is a wine growing region located in south eastern Slovakia and north eastern Hungary. The two vine growing areas were once part of the greater Tokaj wine region (also Tokaj Hegyalja wine region or Tokaj Hegyalja) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Following the Treaty of Trianon, a smaller part (3 villages and about 175 hectares of vineyards) became part of Czechoslovakia, and after 1993, Slovakia. The majority of the region (around 28 communities and some 5,500 hectares of vineyards) remained part of Hungary. Nowadays, the Slovak part of the Tokaj wine region comprises 7 communities and approximately 908 hectares of vineyards.

Vine growing in Tokaj wine region goes back to the Roman times, when the area belonged to the Roman province of Pannonia. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the vine growing tradition was continued by Slavs. It is believed that the name of the village and mountain Tokaj has a Slavic origin. It is derived from the word “Stokaj,” loosely referring to a confluence of two rivers, in this case the rivers Bodrog and Tisa. Legend says that when Hungarians, led by Álmos and his son Árpád, reached this area, viticulture had already been flourishing. Árpád's valiant knight Turzol was first to climb the summit, and on return he reported to his master that the hillside was covered throughout with tranquil vineyards. Árpád then awarded Turzol not only with the hill, but also the entire area up to the intersection of the Bodrog and Tisza rivers. The village of Turzol was built here (today Tarcal). In 1241, the invasion of Tatars left the area plundered and its vineyards destroyed. King Béla IV of Hungary (1235 1270) decided to bring a new life to the region and colonized it by Latin people. The settlers were probably Walloons from northern France, although some researchers claim that those were Italians. The Slovak village of Bara (Hungarian: Bári) was colonized by Italian settlers who brought with them new wine growing skills and traditions, as well as a base variety Furmint. After the Turkish wars which began in 1528, the region stayed under Turkish rule for 170 years. Most of Tokaj cellars date back to that period, when they were built as hideouts for people and property from the plundering soldiers. Around 1620 the emperor imported a wallonian French winefarmer Duvont, who later invented the later known "king of wines" methode in the Tokaji district. In honour of Mr. Duvonts exceptional skills, the emperor ennobled this farmer, and gave him one of his many villages (Kiralyfalva) now Königsdorf in Austria. The emperor then named the family Királyfalvy. Tokaji wine became an increasingly important commodity for the region from the 17th century, its export being a major source of income for the ruling princes of Transylvania to which the Tokaj region belonged at the time. Indeed, revenues from the increasingly renowned Tokaji Aszú wine helped to pay for the wars of independence fought against Austrian Habsburg rule. The repute of Tokaji wine was enhanced when in 1703, Francis II Rákóczi, prince of Transylvania, gave King Louis XIV of France a gift of numerous bottles of wine from his Tokaj estate. Tokaji wine was then served at the Versailles Court, where it became known under the name of Tokay. Delighted with the precious beverage, Louis XIV declared it "Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum" ("Wine of Kings, King of Wines"). In the 18th Century, Tokaj reached the height of its prosperity. Both Poland and Russia had become major export markets for its wine. Such was the importance of Tokaji in Russia, that the Russian emperors maintained a de facto colony in Tokaj in order to guarantee the supply of wine to the Imperial Court. The partition of Poland in 1795 and subsequent imposition of customs duties dealt a severe blow to the exports of Tokaji wine and precipitated the economic decline of the region. However, this was only the first of three major crises for Tokaj. The second occurred when the phylloxera epidemic reached Tokaj in 1885 and destroyed the vast majority of the vineyards in a matter of years.

Tokaj wine is, by its unique character, a luxurious commodity with a strong appeal to the international market. The dispute started in 1964 when, for the first time, the then Czechoslovakia exported its excessive production of Tokaj wine to Austria, the market that used to be solely supplied with this commodity by Hungary. The conflict of interests was settled in a bilateral agreement according to which Slovakia at the expense of the Czech beer related concession on Hungarian part was only allowed to export its overproduction of Tokaj wine to Hungary (which consequently re labeled and re exported it). This agreement expired in 1990 after which date the dispute arose again. In November 2012, the European Court ruled against Hungary’s request to erase the Slovak entry “Vinohradnícka oblasť Tokaj” from “E Bacchus”, an electronic database containing a register of designations of origin and geographical indications protected in the EU. Hungary lodged an appeal against the judgement of the General Court. In February 2013, the EU Court of Justice has turned down the Hungarian appeal against an earlier ruling concerning Slovakia's registration of “Vinohradnícka oblasť Tokaj” (Tokaj Wine Region), which contains the name of Hungary’s Tokaj region. In its ruling, the court said that Slovakia’s registering its “Vinohradnícka oblasť Tokaj” in the European database E Bacchus did not constitute an actionable measure. As a result, under the current EU legislation the wine growing region of Tokaj is located in both Hungary and Slovakia. Therefore, wine producers from both the Hungarian Tokaj region and the Slovak Tokaj region may use the Tokaj brand name.