Typical rocks and soils in the Tokaj Wine Region
The Tokaj Wine Region is also unique in terms of its incredibly diverse terroirs. They have a wide range of topography, geology and soils from the extremely dynamic, relatively recent geological past. The soil conditions here are primarily the result of volcanic activity and the distribution of the volcanic rocks formed.
During the Miocene Period, 15-14 million years ago, intensive volcanic activity began in the area, initially below the sea. Later the volcanic activity continued in what had mainly become dry land and created almost the whole scale of volcanic rocks including rhyolite, andesite, dacite and basalt.
Over the next 5-6 million years the process was brought to a close with intensive hydrothermal volcanic post-activity which mainly left its mark in the soils of Mád, Erdőbénye and Tolcsva.
The result was fine-grained quartz and diverse transformation products (e.g. kaolin, bentonite, zeolite, etc.) of some primary minerals. These volcanic bedrocks, that are primarily covered with soils of weathered tuffs, play an important role in the influence of the terroir and in the quality of the wines made from the grapes grown there.
The conquering of land to take into vine cultivation started the accelerated erosion of soils in vineyards forming soils on the slopes.
In places where a thinner layer of loess stayed on the volcanic bedrock, the surface brown forest soils are firm clay – the case for around 90 % of soils in the Tokaj Wine Region.
The diversity of soils, their richness in mineral materials, the unique topographical and climatic attributes are closely connected to the high quality of Tokaji wines.
Erosion is soil destruction caused by water. The destructive processes are only physical in nature. The destroyed soil surface is moved by air or water to another place.
The diversity of the Tokaj Wine Region terroirs is further increased by the loess blanket that covers the slopes of Tokaj Hill and nearby hills. It was deposited in several stages during the Pleistocene.
As loess is a crumbly loose structure, when combined with organic material it creates good quality soils. These terroirs are outstanding for grape production, as the large number of historic dűlő (vineyards) around Tokaj, Tarcal and Bodrogkeresztúr indicate.
