Objects that carry no year, or none that can be trustedBottles of unclear vintage

Several bottles of very old Tokaji have coins attached to them in various ways. First we thought of a pure decorative function but today we think that the coins potentially also served other functions:

• proof of origin: very old bottles did not have wine labels as we know them today. The first labeled bottles in Tokaj appeared around 1820. A coin could help identifying the producer, the country of origin or the bottle owner. Thr last of the examples below shows a red bottle seal not with a typical coat of arms but with the “Münzprägewerkzeug” of the extemely rare “Rákóczi dukat”’? Hence this bottle must have sealed by someone who had acess to this coin minting? tool, and it is quite safe to assume that it wsas intented to prrof that thids bottle indeed was part of the Rákóczi cellar.
• proof the vintage year.
• increasing the value of thre bottle. Tokaji wines were often sent as present.

French bottle shape with “Tokay” glass seal. According to the field experts this bottle shape was in use between 1780 and 1820, making it the oldest known Tokaj bottle with a glass seal. It was probably intended for export (“Tokay” instead of the Hungsrian spelling “Tokaj” or “Tokaji”).

Paper labels were still extremely rare at that time, the earliest Tokaji bottles with paper labels are from 1815. The glass seal allowed Tokaji wines to be identified. Seal on the capsule and paper label are indecipherable, my hypothesis would be Vay as the documentation points to a 1794 Vay wine.

Amazing collections and bottles dating including extensive documentations. On the Highlights page you’ll find the oldest of all Andrássy bottles, vintage 1792.

In contrast to the prestiguous name (think of Széchenyi chain bridge in Budapest) only very few bottles are known.

The videos in this section will give an impression on how incredibly dense (old) Tokaji essence can be. The sweetest I ever tasted had more than 920g residual sugar! It had the tendency to become cristalline at typical cellar temperatures..