Magyar News, 1991. szeptember-1992. augusztus (2. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1992-01-01 / 5. szám

TOKAYI ASZÚ FOR JOY AND HEALTH

The Tokay wine gained recognition in 1SS1 when Pope Julius mat the Council of Trent endorsed this wine by stating that it belongs at the papal table. When Pope Benedict received the treat from Empress Maria Theresia, he made a pun with his name Benedict - meaning blessed. He said, “Blessed be the land which grew you, blessed be the lady who sent you, and I am blessed, too, who drinks you.” With all this blessing from the high source, the Tokay wine lived up to its expectation through the centuries, including our time, as well. Maybe the price of this royal drink went down a bit, because in 1852 a pint size bottle of Tokay wine sold for over $50.00 in London.

Different wine regions have their special grapes for wine making. Some have the riesling, others the cabernet and the Tokay mountains have the “Szamarodni”. This szamarodni grape grows on the rich volcanic soil, on gentle slopes facing the midday sun and the vast flat lands. It’s high sugar content as well as its help from Mother Nature makes it possible in good vintage years to ripen and shrink the grapes into a raisin in great proportions. This raisin is the key to the special Tokay wines.

The grape harvest starts on October 28 th

and goes into December. During the harvest the grape pickers leave the shivering clusters on the vine and only gather them at a later time when the berries have dried to perfection, sometimes they even wait till the snow sets in. The dried so-called Aszu grapes are gathered in portable casks, called the Puttonyo. These are poured and measured into barrels where they are smashed with some must into a pulp. Then they pour some more must in with it and let it stay for a day or two stirring it several times.

The number of puttonyos with aszu grapes added to the barrel of must determines the numbers marked on the bottle. The bottle may say 3 puttonyos or 5 puttonyos. The fomentation of this sweet wine takes a long time, it could go to 5 years, and at the end we get the Tokayi Aszu.

Aszu was made for the first time in 1650 in the vineyards of Zsuzsanna Lórantffy, the widow of George Rákóczi. It has been proven that the Tokayi Aszu could hold up for hundreds of years without spoiling. Another application of the aszu grapes is to make an essence. Contrary to the aszu wine, the wine makers do not crush or smash the

aszu grapes, butplace them very gently into a vat that has a very small hole, the size of a straw, in the bottom. By their own weight the grapes slowly lose their juice dripping through the tiny hole into a basin. No must is mixed into this process.

The syrupy liquid has about 50% sugar content and when it turns into wine the alcohol content is first very low and slowly builds up to 6 to 8 percent. It is a process requiring about 25 years to complete fermentation. It is worth every minute of the long wait

This wine, the Essence of Tokay not only pleased the palate of royalty but helped restore their health, too. King Edward VII postponed his coronation because of ill health, but finally made it to the throne just by drinking Tokay wine. They say that Pope Leo Xin lingered on to a great age because of the famous essence. The Tokay wines deserve anybody’s blessings because it was used in the curing of all kinds of people. During and after the first World War, those hit by typhoid and other epidemics had a better chance to pull through if they were lucky to have wine from Tokay to drink. q. M. B.

In our October issue Prof. Liptak wrote an article on the Gabcikovo Dam. Here we would like to show you a letter that is the

responsefrom the Ambassador of the Czech and SlovakFederal Republic to Mr. Liptak’s activities. We hope that his efforts will help the Hungarian people.

SEARCHING FOR HUNGARIANS

Whenever I receive a list of people, let that be at a performance or school honorrolls, I always try to find those that are Hungarian. Not that I have anything to do with their activities, it is just curiosity. It is not for fun or some special reason. I feel good when I notice a Hungarian making a mark. I am not talking about infamous marks.

So it happened that the Burr Mansion had a beautiful showing of decorated Christmas trees and other crafts that go with the holiday. They do it every year. This time the organizers gave it an international theme. First I came across trees that utilized the flags of different countries. As I do with lists of names, I checked for the Hungarian flag. To my disappointment the red, white and green colors were not showing. But later as I was turning a comer I came across something close to my heart; a Christmas tree dressed up with Hungarian embroidery and mézeskalács was towering in front of me. Next to it was a table covered with an outstanding sample of a large Transylvanian embroidery. Also pottery, apron from Kalocsa and many other crafts expanded the joy.

I found out that all this was done by members of the Calvin United Church of Christ. Their embroidery circle led by Eva Olah supplied the decorations and three ladies, June MacKenzie, Elizabeth Turrell ^

Mr. Bella Liptak President

Foundation to Protect the Hungarian Environment 84 Old North Stamford Road Stamford, Connecticut 06905

Dear Mr. Liptak,

Thank you for your fax of September 10, 1991 concerning the Gabcikovo dam on the Danube River. While I personally share your concern for the environmental damage which this project represents, I am afraid I have no direct personal influence upon the manner in which my government will resolve the matter. X am therefore forwarding your letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking them to inform the relevant Czechoslovak government entities and to forward to them your letter.

Yours truly,

Rita Klimova