In its infancy, wine was produced in regions where the vine grew wild. From its origins in the Near East, cultivation of the grapevine spread to the Old Kingdom of Egypt, and, around 2500 BCE, the vine was brought, via trade, to the Minoan Bronze Age civilization of Crete.
Despite Crete’s latitude, the island’s moderate climate proved suitable for the vine, and in viticulture the Minoans surpassed all their contemporaries. (They also developed indoor plumbing—clearly a civilization ahead of the times.) The practice was passed to their successors, the Mycenaeans, to other islands in the Aegean, and to the mainland of Greece. The Greeks spread cultivation of the vine throughout much of Europe. The first vineyards in France were in Massalia, a Greek colony at modern-day Marseilles, and Southern Italy’s modern varieties Greco and Aglianico may be Greek in origin. The Greeks took viticulture northward as well, to the banks of the Danube and the coastline of the Black Sea. Ultimately, the Greeks were responsible for not only spreading the vine geographically but also democratizing the consumption of wine. In ancient Egypt, wine was regarded as the sweat of the sun god Ra; the Greeks drank wine at religious and ceremonial events, but they also drank socially. As wine consumption in Greece spread to new social classes, additional vineyards were needed. The Romans carried the Greeks’ vines even farther, but the tradition of many modern-day European wine regions extends back to ancient Greece.
While preeminent in the ancient world, Greek wines languished until a late 20th-century surge in interest and quality. Greece’s vinous reputation had long been rooted in retsina, an aromatized wine flavored with Aleppo pine resin. Wine was transported through ancient Greece in amphorae, often sealed
I just returned from Budapest, where I tasted several Tokaj Aszu wines. When I returned to work, I took a look at the 2013 Royal Tokaj we sell by the glass, which is listed as being 5 puttonyos. However, when I looked at the RS in the wine, it is listed as 174 g/l, which easily qualifies it for 6 puttonyos by the old system (and nearly to the aszueszencia level by the new system). So I have two questions:
1. If the puttonyos lables were abolished in 2013, why does this bottle still have it. Are they still allowed to use the term, but it's just not official?
2. Why would it be labled as 5 puttonyos if it has 174 g/l?
Jesse, puttonyos was abolished following the 2013 vintage. I've seen 2013s with the designation, but I have a bottle I brought back last month of 2014 that just says Aszu. To your second point, the RS requirements were minimums, not maximums. So, a producer could declassify to a level below. Royal Tokay, and many producers, don't designate 5 or 6 puttonyos simply based on RS, they're usually picking entirely different vineyards and parcels to make these wines.