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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Tokaj, Hungary

Tokaji szamorodni (száraz and édes)Száraz Szamorodni

Szamorodni is made from whole bunches that hold both noble-rotted (aszú) and sound grapes, pressed and fermented together rather than sorted. Dry szamorodni is then aged at least two years in small oak casks in cool cellars, where a yeast film can form on the wine and gives it a nutty character like vin jaune or fino sherry. Sweet szamorodni keeps sugar and needs six months in cask. Made in 4 steps over 2 years. The longest step, age in small oak casks under a yeast film, takes at least 2 years (Tokaj oltalom alatt álló eredetmegjelölés ter…) and runs at 8–12 °C (Tokaj oltalom alatt álló eredetmegjelölés ter…). Saccharomyces cerevisiae flor strains and Candida stellata and Candida zemplinina, reported to form the film in Slovak Tokaj samorodné do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 yearsSet[tokaj-spec][furdikova2020]Age in small oak casks under a yeast film
Temperature8–12 °CReported[tokaj-spec]Age in small oak casks under a yeast film
Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks2 yearsTokaj PDO (wine type of the Tokaj protected designation of origin, 10th version of the product specification)Family: Vin jauneMore alcoholic drinksMore from HungaryMore from Slovakia

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe PDO specification sets grape sugar, ageing and analysis limits, not amounts; each cellar presses whatever bunches the vintage brings.
Whole bunches containing both aszú (botrytised) and healthy berries, picked by hand · The grapes are not sorted, unlike for aszú[tokaj-spec]
No added sugar or alcohol · Raising the alcohol, sweetening and adjusting the acid are not allowed for szamorodni[tokaj-spec]
Starter: the grapes' own yeasts, then a film of flor-type yeast during cask ageing

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 years

Start
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What changes: Starting material: hand-picked bunches with noble-rotted and sound grapes together

Step 1 of 4
Pick whole bunches by hand
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Candida stellata

Output: bunches with some shrivelled, botrytised berries among sound ones.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Vin jaune is made from sound Savagnin grapes and ages for about six years under its yeast film. Dry szamorodni starts from bunches with noble-rotted berries in them and spends at least two years in small casks, where the film can form.

Cask ageing, dry
At least 24 months in wooden casks
Cask ageing, sweet
At least 6 months in wooden casks; release from 1 January of the second year after harvest
Residual sugar
At most 9 g/L for dry szamorodni; at least 60 g/L for sweet

Related ferments

Variants

  • Édes (sweet) szamorodniRiper grapes (at least 16.0 % potential alcohol, 269.5 g/L sugar), at least 60 g/L residual sugar, at least 6 months in cask, released from the second year after harvest.
  • Tokajské samorodné (Slovakia)Made in the Slovak part of Tokaj in 136 L oak casks for generally 3–5 years, at least one; dry versions hold up to 10 g/L sugar and about 12 % alcohol.

Safety

Szamorodni is a normal-strength dry or sweet wine; the specification limits its volatile acidity to 2.0 g/L.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Tokaj's wine specialities (eszencia, aszú, szamorodni, fordítás and máslás) are set out in the PDO product specification. The 10th version applies to grapes harvested after 1 August 2025.

  1. [tokaj-spec] Tokaj oltalom alatt álló eredetmegjelölés termékleírása, 10. változat (Tokaj PDO product specification, 10th version, for grapes harvested after 1 August 2025), read from a web.archive.org copy of the boraszat.kormany.hu PDFspec
  2. [furdikova2020] Furdíková K. et al. 2020, Comparison of different categories of Slovak Tokaj wines in terms of profiles of volatile organic compounds, Molecules 25:669, doi:10.3390/molecules25030669paper
  3. [legras2014] Legras J.L., Erny C., Charpentier C. 2014, Population structure and comparative genome hybridization of European flor yeast, PLoS One 9:e108089, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108089paper
  4. [davidvaizant2018] David-Vaizant V., Alexandre H. 2018, Flor yeast diversity and dynamics in biologically aged wines, Frontiers in Microbiology 9:2235, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.02235paper