I want a bottle of really good sweet wine. What's the best

A.� The Hungarian wine Tokaji, formerly known as Tokay, has long considered to be the greatest sweet wine on earth.�The wine, made at the little town of Mad, in north-east Hungary, is reputed to possess miraculous healing properties. Legend has it that Paracelsus, the medieval Swiss alchemist, tried to extract gold from the Tokaj grapes. From 1550, the grapes were incorporated into the county's coat of arms, and a dozen years later Pope Pius IV gave special approval of the vines. By 1600, the King himself had acquired a vineyard in the region.

�

Q.� Isn't it quite a rare wine

A.� It's enjoying a revival among wine lovers. Ten years ago, it had virtually ceased to exist. When the Soviet Union invaded Hungary in 1956, wine production was forgotten as the Russian favoured strong wine, dark with oxidation.

�

Today, Tokaji is Europe's oldest vineyard classification. In 1700, 28 villages were selected as suitable and the vineyards were laid out.�

�

The two main varieties grown today are the result of early 18th Century experimentation by local priest Mate Szepsi Laczko with the sharp Furmint grape, which gives the wine its acidity, and the indigenous Harslevelu, meaning linden leaf. Today, a small percentage of Muscat is also grown.

�

Q.� What makes it so special

A.� Geographical features account for the unique assets of the wine.�Covering only 4,00 hectares, they grow mostly on the volcanic soil on the southern slopes of the Hegyalja mountains between the rivers, Bodrog and the Tisza. The rivers throw up a mist which sweeps over the vineyards, providing perfect conditions for the spores of botrytis - noble rot - to thrive. As the grapes ripen, then shrivel and sweeten from the botrytis, the driest ones are picked bunch by bunch. The sweet juice that runs from them is fermented on its own for a mimium of 10 years to become Takaji Essencia, but this is only made in exceptional years. The remaining pulp, still very sweet, is added to the unbotrytised dry white wine from the rest of the crop. It's matured for at least three years.

�

Q.� How long will it keep

A.� That's one issue you won't need to worry about. Just before WWII, tastings of the 328 bottles of the 1606 vintage in the great Fukier cellars in Warsaw were pronounced miraculous.

�

Expect to pay between �20 and �80 for a bottle. Try Harrods (020 7730 1234), Selfridges (020 7629 1234) or the Royal Tokaji Company (020 7495 3010) for stocks.

�

For more food and drink questions and answers, click here

�

By Katharine MacColl