The Field Guide
Central Europe
Two countries that were one empire, still growing the same grapes on either side of a line drawn in 1920. The Danube runs through all of it.
Two countries · six appellations
Central Europe
The history
Tokaj was classified in 1737, decades before Bordeaux, and its sweet wines were shipped to European courts as the most valuable wine on the continent. Forty years of state farming after 1949 nearly ended it.
The land
The Danube's terraces in the Wachau, a warm shallow lake in Burgenland that breeds the noble rot, a single extinct volcano at Somló, and volcanic hills where two rivers meet at Tokaj.
Wine styles
Peppery dry Grüner and dense sweet Tokaji; Blaufränkisch's dark, sour-cherry reds with real acid; Juhfark's smoky whites; and Kadarka's pale, spiced, light-bodied reds.
The underdogs to drink
Start with the grapes worth the detour. More guides land as we publish them.
Find your underdog
Take the two-minute taste quiz and get a starter list matched to what you already love — the lesser-known bottles worth chasing.
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