Tokaj Cellars

Underground labyrinths carved over centuries, covered in beneficial mold. The cellars are UNESCO protected and maintain perfect conditions for aging sweet wines. Some bottles are 100+ years old.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Stand at the Edge of the Roman World — Tokaj Hill Viewpoint History · Free

   Where: Tokaj Hill summit — Hungarian records give Kopasz-hegy as 512 m. From the train station, follow the Amber Trail signs uphill — 45 minutes of walking through terraced Furmint vineyards. The 25-meter wooden tower at the top was opened in 2017 and is free to climb.

   What: You are standing at the precise geographic boundary between the Roman Empire and the world it feared. Below you, the Tisza and Bodrog rivers converge — the same strategic river junction that made Tokaj important to every power that ever wanted to control northeastern Europe. Roman Pannonia's formal frontier was the Danube, ~230km west. But Roman coins and trade goods have been found throughout this region, because commerce followed rivers even beyond the empire's formal reach. The Zemplén Mountains behind you marked where Rome's traders stopped and the Sarmatian steppe world began. The Celts who were here before Rome brought wine culture into the Carpathian Basin as early as 700 BCE — viticulture on these hills predates the Roman Empire itself.

   How: Climb to the top of the tower. Face east across the Hungarian plain — that is the direction of the old Sarmatian world. Turn west toward the Danube, ~230km distant — that is Rome. You are standing exactly between two worlds. The same volcanic hill you're on pushed up from the earth 12-15 million years ago and created the rhyolite tuff that the Furmint vines grow in and that the wine cellars below are carved from. Everything — the view, the wine, the history — starts here.

   Backup: If weather is poor, skip the tower and instead walk down to the bank of the Bodrog river at the town level for the confluence view. The drama is lower but still real. The confluence is visible from the embankment path near the main square.

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2. 2 Descend into the Rákóczi Cellar — Where Hungarian Kings Were Elected History · Price: low

   Where: Rákóczi Cellar, Kossuth tér 15, 3910 Tokaj — right on the main square, look for the entrance beneath the courtyard. The operator (Tokaj-Hétszőlő / rakoczipince.hu) publishes neither opening hours nor a tasting price; what it publishes is a 45-minute-to-1-hour cellar visit with tasting, booked by phone or email. Book ahead: info@rakoczipince.hu or +36 30 436 5767.

   What: This cellar was built in the early 15th century, and the Rákóczi family — Hungary's most powerful aristocratic dynasty — used it as the center of Tokaj's wine trade in the 16th and 17th centuries. The knights' hall underground is 10 meters wide and 5 meters high; the town's tourist board and cultural centre give its length as 28 meters while the operating estate publishes thirty — the largest underground room in the Tokaj wine region. In 1526, Hungarian nobles met in THIS hall to elect János Szapolyai as King of Hungary. And here's the connection back to Rome: Ferenc Rákóczi II used wine from this very estate — Tokaji Aszú — as diplomatic currency when he sent barrels to Louis XIV at Versailles in 1703, seeking French military backing for his war of independence from the Habsburgs. The phrase 'Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum' — Wine of Kings, King of Wines — is recorded on a menu card from a Versailles feast at which Tokaji was served; Louis XV later served Tokaji to Madame de Pompadour. Royal Tokaji states flatly that Louis XIV described the wines as the wine of kings. The walls are covered in Cladosporium cellare — black mold found almost exclusively in Tokaj cellars, feeding on wine vapors evaporating from the barrels. It has been growing here continuously for centuries. Running your fingers along those black walls is touching a living ecosystem that was running when kings were being crowned in this room.

   How: Go in the afternoon (the cellar opens at 13:00). Ask the guide specifically to show you the knights' hall and explain the 1526 election. Then look at the walls — find a patch of the black mold and ask what it does. The guide can walk you through the tasting while you're standing in the hall — dry Furmint, then Aszú — so the wine and the room arrive together.

   Backup: If Rákóczi Cellar is closed, walk to Himesudvar Wine Estate, a few minutes from the main square (Dózsa György utca), open 10:00–18:00 daily, no appointment needed for a glass of wine.

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3. 3 Taste Tokaji Aszú Where the Style Was First Written Down Wine · Price: moderate

   Where: At the Rákóczi Cellar tasting (combined with Step 2), or at any walk-in wine bar on Kossuth tér in Tokaj town. Zoltán Demeter's wine bar on the main square offers tastings Thursday–Sunday from 3pm with breads and charcuterie. For the benchmark estate tasting of Aszú, Royal Tokaji (Rákóczi utca 35, Mád) is by appointment Monday–Friday — email royal@royal-tokaji.hu.

   What: In 1571 — a full 200-plus years before France's Rhine winemakers intentionally used noble rot, and before Sauternes existed as a sweet wine style — a property deed in Tokaj recorded that Aszú grapes (shrivelled, botrytis-affected berries) were being separated from normal grapes in the Mézes Mály vineyard. This is the first documented intentional use of noble rot in winemaking history. The grape is Furmint — its origin is unknown. The regional tourist board states plainly that no scientific proof is available with regard to Furmint's origin. The grape appears to have originated in this specific region. When tasting, you are tasting 1,000 years of volcanic soil, a mystery grape, and a technique Hungary invented before the rest of the wine world caught up.

   How: If tasting at Rákóczi, ask for the progression from dry Furmint to 5 puttonyos Aszú (minimum 120 g/L residual sugar) — it should be arranged from bone-dry to intensely sweet. Notice: the Aszú is not just sweet — it has sharp acidity cutting through, which is why it ages for decades. If the venue has an Eszencia (the free-run juice of Aszú berries, up to 800 g/L sugar, barely ferments to 3-5% ABV), taste it — even a spoonful. It is the most concentrated expression of sweetness in the wine world and was historically reserved exclusively for Habsburg Imperial cellars. A bottle of 1690 Imperial Tokay sold at Christie's in 2008 for £1,955.

   Backup: If you're doing Step 4 in Mád, Holdvölgy cellar accepts walk-ins for 1-2 people and offers tastings including Aszú. Their cellar system is 1.8 km on three underground levels — the estate's own specification, which its page headline rounds to "an almost 2 km long, 500-year-old cellar system" and has the same Cladosporium mold.

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4. 4 Walk Mád's Grand Cru Vineyards — The Burgundy That History Forgot Adventure · Price: low

   Where: Mád village, north-west of Tokaj (roughly a 20-minute drive; no straight-line distance is published, and none can be recomputed from our own coordinates). Park near the village center. Pick up the free GPS-based English walking map from the village tourism office or download from Mád Tokaj Wine Region website. The cellar street (pinceszor) runs beneath the village.

   What: Mád holds around one fifth of the whole Tokaj wine region's vineyard area — the regional body's own measure — in volcanic Grand Cru sites — Nyulászó, Király, Betsek, Birsalmás, Úrágya, and Szent Tamás — in a patchwork classification that rivals Burgundy and Champagne (Tokaj has over 400 classified growth sites). Royal Tokaji, founded here in 1990 by UK wine writer Hugh Johnson with 57 of their 108 total hectares in Mád alone, was the first estate to prove that post-Communist Tokaj could compete with the wines that Louis XIV called the best in the world. Szepsy — Hungary's most celebrated current producer — is also based here. Walk between the vineyard parcels and look at the volcanic tufa soil: the same Miocene rhyolite that formed 12-15 million years ago lines the slopes, and the same material is carved into the cellars beneath your feet. The entire village is built on its wine.

   How: The walk takes 1-1.5 hours at a gentle pace. From the village square, head uphill toward the vineyard blocks — signs indicate the named Grand Cru parcels. For tasting, Holdvölgy cellar at Mád accepts walk-in visits for 1-2 people; their underground system is 1.8 km on three levels (the estate rounds it to "almost 2 km" in its own headline) with the Cladosporium mold on every wall. If you have a reservation, Royal Tokaji (Rákóczi utca 35, open Mon–Fri only, +36 47 548 500) does the most historically significant tasting — their 1990 first vintage was the wine that announced Hungary was back.

   Backup: If Mád is too far, the same volcanic terroir story is available at Disznókő winery in Mezőzombor (H-3931, open daily May–Oct 10:00–18:00, tel +36 47 569 410, from 4,500 HUF/person including cellar tour). Their hilltop belvedere next to the Wild Boar Stone offers vineyard views equivalent to Mád.

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Insider tips

• Rákóczi Cellar is spectacular

• The black mold (Cladosporium cellare) is beneficial

• Cellars are cool year-round — bring a layer

• Some cellars have 200+ year old vintages