Feast of the grape harvest in Tokay

On October 2 in the north-eastern Hungary in the world-renowned center of the Hungarian wine-making the town of Tokaj opens the annual festival dedicated to the grape harvest. Within 3 days a small town on the banks of the river Tisza will be full of tourists from all over Europe, colorful performances and presentations of ethnographic groups. On the first day of the festival on the streets of the city will be held a festive grand procession, which will open the festival itself. Visitors of the city can visit the fair of folk crafts, where you can buy unique made according to ancient traditions souvenirs. Numerous restaurants and street cafes offer delicious culinary dainties, which can not be met in the menu on non-holiday. At the open-air stages will perform music and theater groups, and in the evenings in the sky over the city will rattle holiday fireworks. And, of course, during the festival throughout the city will be organized the tastings of the famous Tokay wine, where the sophisticated connoisseurs will be able to taste the royal "Tokai Aszu" and Szamorodni wines, as well as the most expensive and famous Tokay wine - Essence. True connoisseurs and collectors will be able to take part in a wine auction, where will be presented the most rare varieties and crops of Tokay and Tokay foothills wines. A distinctive feature of the Tokay wine festival is the preparation of soup on the bank of the Tisza with refreshments for all guests.

"The wine of kings and king of the wines" - so named Louis XIV (the Sun King) the Tokay Aszu, when he tried it in 1703 on one of the Versailles balls. The words of King become history and the Tokay Aszu has been recognized and loved throughout Europe. The main secret of the Tokay wine is a special microclimate of the region. In autumn during the ripening of the crop often occurs during the season of rains and fogs. In this very time the vineyards are struck by a "noble mold" because of which in the subsequent period of sunny period fruit does not rot, but "become raisins" directly on the vines and turns into a unique raw material for a variety of wines. For some of them (Szamorodni) are used whole clusters of grapes, and for the Aszu each berry is picked manually. All this leads to the creation of wines with incomparable bouquet.