observations

 Observation

For the observation part I translated a short excerpt from the book, where the my grandfather, the author of this book, describes the course of events of the wine laws and his stance.

 

Until 1970 it was obligatory to indicate how many "puttony" the wine was made from. This was possible from 2 to 6. The category of „one puttony“ used to be in circulation, but was later cancelled. The categories even ranged to 7, 8 or even 10 „puttony", but wasn’t ever used. Over the span of 20 years the laws were changed. As second step, the category of „2 pottony" was cancelled. Further in 1997 it was decreed that Tokaj wine could be also produced without the traditional manufacturing method! And then something happened which I believe resembles a particularly serious crime. 

On the basis of a "commission" of seven people the regulation could be changed arbitrarily. And so Tokaj wine fell into French hands. It should be noted that there were no professionals among the seven people mentioned. Bought politicians ... the Tokaj wine, as it had been produced for many centuries, was now banned. 

They changed my 1996 wine five times, but as I am a desperate defender of traditions, my wine was banned, it could not be marketed, although I had won big competitions with that wine before.

The empire has struck back. A new land ownership system was formed. Most star winemakers are now economists and businessmen who do not share the same appreciation for the traditional ways of winemaking. When I think of them, it occurs to me that the acknowledgement of traditions has been replaced by sole focus for money. And so often there is no longer a real „trace“ left from the winemaker in the wines. And if there is any trace, it resembles the ones of clumsy amateurs. They even dare to sell "green wine", juice from unripe, acetic grapes under the Tokaj name.

 

Let's look at the facts despite my lamentations: in 2004 the wine law was changed again so that the state completely withdrew behind the regulations.

Wine quality is now checked by a wide range of tests carried out by the wine quality committee to determine whether a product can be marketed. The committee is usually made up of eminent experts. Once a wine arrived whose origin I do not want to name because otherwise it would not shed a good light on the producer. One of the gentlemen of the committee had no further comment during the examination after taking a sip in his mouth than: "nice and cold!.

This passages make me wonder what he meant by: „they modified my wine five wines“. I’ll have to reach out to my uncle, the authors son to clarify what exactly happened to the ban of his wines.

Also I tried to organize a (online) meeting with my cousin, who’s the latest in the heritage lane to preserve the traditional wine making, but since Hungary is under strict Covid laws he unfortunately couldn't find time to get in conversation with me.