Tokaj is one of those wine regions I keep coming back to. I have already written about its vineyards, its main grape varieties, the importance of blending, and the evolution of Tokaji Aszú. But a wine region can be understood in another way too: by spending time there when the harvest is happening. In September 2024, I was invited to join the harvest festival at Harsányi Pincészet in Sárospatak. I came with my sister, and instead of simply sitting down for a tasting, we spent part of the day among the vines, clippers in hand, picking grapes and seeing what the harvest actually looked like at that moment of the season.
And this was not an ordinary-looking harvest.
Harsányi Winery in Tokaj from the Sárospatak side
Harsányi Winery is in Sárospatak, in the northern part of the Tokaj Wine Region. Today the estate works across around 20 hectares in four dűlős (single vineyards) – Királyhegy, Megyer, Kútpatka and Ciróka – with the traditional Tokaj varieties Furmint, Hárslevelű and Sárgamuskotály at the centre of its range. The winery farms organically and puts a strong emphasis on showing the character of its individual vineyard sites.
What I found interesting was how quickly those dűlő names stopped being just names on a label. Once you are actually standing among the vines, the slopes and exposures become part of the story. Királyhegy, for example, is a cooler south-eastern-facing site known for firm acidity and pronounced minerality, while Ciróka has a warmer south-western exposure and is described by the winery as producing more playful, fruit-driven wines.
The estate sits close to the Megyer Hill Tarn, and the landscape is one of those Tokaj views that makes it very easy to understand why people fall for this region in the first place.
Harvesting Sárgamuskotály in September
The part of the weekend I was most curious about was the harvest itself. On 21 September, my sister and I found ourselves between the vines, clippers in hand, picking Sárgamuskotály. And this was not what I had expected grapes at harvest to look like.
Some bunches were still golden and fresh, but others were already deeply shrivelled, with berries looking almost like raisins. I had seen pictures of late-harvest and botrytised grapes before, of course, but there is something completely different about holding a bunch in your hand and seeing just how much the berries have changed while still hanging on the vine.
Sárgamuskotály is one of Tokaj’s traditional varieties and is especially interesting in later-picked styles because of its naturally intense perfume. As the berries lose water on the vine, flavours and sugars can become more concentrated, while the grapes take on a completely different texture and appearance.
What struck me most was how uneven the bunches could be. One part could still have plump golden berries, while another was already completely shrivelled. Standing there, it suddenly became much easier to understand what late harvest really means. It is not just a date on a calendar. It is a decision about how long you are willing to leave the fruit out there, watching it change.
And on a warm, sunny September day, with the vines all around us and the hillside opening out behind them, it was a pretty memorable way to spend a morning.
From the vines to the winery
Once the crates started filling up, the atmosphere changed. What had started as a relaxed morning in the vineyard became more focused as the grapes made their way back to the winery.
I loved seeing the grapes we had just picked arrive at the cellar. A few hours earlier, they were hanging from the vines; now they were piled into crates, ready for the next stage.
This is probably one of the reasons I enjoy harvest so much. We spend so much time talking about wine in terms of aromas, acidity, texture, concentration, and balance, but for a few hours you get to see the raw material behind all those tasting terms. And in this case, the grapes themselves were already telling a story before they had even become wine.
Tokaj beyond the usual conversation
I have written quite a lot about Tokaj over the years, so I did not want this to become another article explaining the region from scratch. Instead, what interested me at Harsányi Winery in Tokaj was seeing how many different styles could come from the same landscape.
Over the weekend, I tasted everything from fresh, easy-drinking Frizzante to structured single-vineyard Furmints, a rich late-harvest wine, and a traditional-method Brut Nature. And that progression was probably the most interesting part of the visit. Because Tokaj is so strongly associated with sweetness and Aszú, it is easy to forget just how much room there is within the region for dry, mineral, aromatic and sparkling wines too.
The wines I loved most
The tasting was where the visit really came together for me. The wines did not all fit one style, and that was exactly the point: the same region can move from aromatic and floral to creamy, mineral, sweet, sparkling and completely refreshing.
Hárslevelű 2022
The Hárslevelű 2022 showed a vivid golden colour and high viscosity from the start. The nose was elegant rather than overpowering, combining fresh stone fruits with peach, apricot and orange peel, followed by mango, acacia and white blossom. On the palate, the texture became one of its most appealing features. It was oily and generous, with orange, honey and apricot, but retained enough freshness to avoid feeling heavy. Medium-bodied, with balanced alcohol and a long, fruity finish.
Hárslevelű is often described as the more aromatic partner to Furmint, and this wine was a good example of why. The variety can bring perfume and floral character while still retaining enough acidity to work in a structured Tokaj wine.
Hízelgő 2018
Then came something completely different. A late harvest Furmint with around 92-93 g/l sugar, the Hízelgő 2018 moved into a much richer register. The colour was golden, while the nose was distinctly tropical: pineapple, mango, lychee and grapefruit, with creamy and coconut-like notes.
The palate was creamy and concentrated, bringing pineapple, golden apple, lemon and grapefruit together with a surprisingly lovely freshness. The relationship between sweetness and acidity was what made the wine work: there was plenty of richness, but it never felt heavy. The finish was long and apple-led, with a medium-plus body.
The Furmints: three vineyards, three personalities
If there was one part of the tasting that best demonstrated the importance of vineyard sites, it was the comparison of the Ciróka, Királyhegy and Megyer Furmints. I have written before about Furmint as a grape variety, but tasting these wines next to each other made the idea of vineyard expression much more tangible. They were not three versions of exactly the same wine.
Furmint Ciróka 2019
The Ciróka 2019 had a light golden colour and high viscosity. The nose was powerful and intense, with butterscotch and caramel alongside white peach. On the palate, however, the wine shifted towards citrus: grapefruit, lime, apple and ripe pear.
It was a good example of how a wine can feel rich and textural without losing its freshness.
Furmint Királyhegy 2017
The Királyhegy 2017 was the more linear and energetic of the three. It showed a lively golden colour with a silver hue, followed by quince, yellow apple, and Mediterranean herbal spice on the nose. The palate was drier in style, with high acidity, mineral character, and pronounced apple notes. It was juicy rather than heavy, beautifully balanced and persistent, ending on a long, fresh finish.
Furmint Megyer 2021
Megyer brought another expression of Furmint altogether. This was again creamy, but this time with white stone fruit and pineapple, together with honeysuckle, coconut and melted butter. The palate became more citrus-driven, with pineapple returning alongside a balance of alcohol and acidity. The finish was long and mineral.
Putting these three wines side by side is exactly why I find single-vineyard tasting so useful. It is easy to say that terroir matters. It is much more convincing when three wines made from the same grape show clearly different personalities. You start with the name of a vineyard on the label, and suddenly it becomes a place you have actually walked through. You remember the slope, the heat, the vines, the view. And then the wine makes a little more sense.
Habcsók Frizzante: Tokaj can be fun, too
Not every wine needs to be serious and contemplative. Habcsók Frizzante is a blend of 70% Furmint, 20% Hárslevelű and 10% Sárgamuskotály. It showed light green apple and pear, with elderflower and white blossom. Light-bodied, citrus-driven and refreshing, it felt like exactly the sort of wine you want at the beginning of an evening.
A good aperitif does not need to be complicated. It needs freshness, drinkability, and enough aroma to make you want another sip. Habcsók delivered all three.
Brut Nature 2021: Tokaj with bubbles
The Brut Nature 2021 was perhaps the wine that most clearly made me think about the wider possibilities of Tokaj. Made from 65% Furmint and 35% Hárslevelű using the traditional method, with 24 months on the lees, it showed a completely different side of the region.
The nose was fresh and mineral, with brioche, butter, lemon peel, and white pepper. On the palate, the freshness returned immediately through citrus and chalky minerality. The finish was long and almondy, leaving a very persistent aftertaste.
What I particularly liked was the balance. Furmint brings naturally high acidity, while Hárslevelű adds perfume and texture. Together, they make a traditional-method sparkling wine that still feels unmistakably tied to Tokaj.
A look inside the cellar
The tasting also gave me a closer look at the wines as they mature. Seeing the Hungarian oak barrels, with vineyard names and harvest information written directly onto them, brought the idea of single-vineyard wine-making back into focus. There is something satisfying about seeing the names you have just been tasting in the vineyards reappear in the cellar. Királyhegy. Megyer. Individual lots, individual barrels, individual stories.
Wine tastes different when you know where it comes from
One of the things I value most about winery visits is that the tasting starts before the bottle is opened. After walking through the vineyard, looking closely at the grapes and seeing the harvest crates fill up, a wine becomes connected to a place in a much more tangible way.
That was especially true here. The Sárgamuskotály bunch I held in my hand looked nothing like the fresh, juicy grapes we normally imagine when we hear the word harvest. The deeply shrivelled berries showed just how much can happen to a grape while it remains on the vine.
Then, later, I was sitting with a glass of Hárslevelű, Furmint, or sparkling wine and thinking about the same vineyards from a completely different perspective. This is what makes harvest visits so valuable to me. They turn concepts such as ripeness, concentration, vineyard site, and winemaking into something physical.
You can see it. You can touch it. And eventually, you can taste it.
An evening above the vineyards
And after all the harvesting, tasting and walking through the vineyards, there was still the best part of any harvest day: sitting down with a glass of wine. As the sun started to disappear, the view from Harsányi was completely different again. The tractors and equipment were still visible down below, the vineyards stretched across the landscape, and everything became quieter.
That was probably my favourite moment of the whole weekend. Not because it was the most impressive tasting or the most technical part of the visit, but because by then I had spent the day seeing the vineyards, touching the grapes, tasting the wines and meeting the people behind them.
The landscape was no longer just a beautiful view behind a wine glass. It was the place that had produced the wine in the glass.
A little Tokaj on the table
The evening continued over food and wine, which is where the whole experience felt most natural. A bottle on the table, a generous plate in front of us and the vineyards just outside the window: not a formal tasting anymore, simply wine being enjoyed where it was made.
That connection between wine, food and place is something I always notice on winery visits. The same bottle can feel very different when you are drinking it a few metres from the vineyard it came from.
Conclusion
I did not leave Harsányi thinking that I had discovered something completely new about Tokaj. I left with something more useful: a more physical understanding of things I already knew. We knew that grapes can be left longer on the vine and that Sárgamuskotály can be used in late-harvest wines. I knew that Furmint can produce very different expressions depending on where it grows and how it is made.
But seeing those things happen in front of me is different. On 21 September 2024, I was standing in a Tokaj vineyard holding a bunch of deeply shrivelled Sárgamuskotály, then cutting another bunch into a crate, and later tasting wines from Királyhegy, Ciróka and Megyer. By the end of the day, the region felt much less abstract.
That is what I take away from winery visits like this. Not just a list of wines, but memories attached to the wines: the slope, the September sun, the taste of the grapes, the view from the terrace, and the moment when the first glass is poured at the end of the day.
And perhaps that is the best way to understand a wine region: one vineyard, one bottle and one experience at a time.
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