Under the village of Tolcsva, in the foothills of the Zemplén mountains, there are wine cellars cut into volcanic rock. The Tokaj region in the north-east corner of Hungary is one of the oldest wine landscapes in Europe, and UNESCO listed it in 2002 as the Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape. The soil is volcanic, the hills are covered in vines, and the villages are full of cellars that run deep into the soft tuff. The temperature underground stays cool and constant, which is exactly what sweet wine needs.
A wine museum in Tolcsva, with cellars that may be visited, brings the story down to ground level. Tokaji is the wine of kings, or so it was said, and Louis XIV of France is supposed to have called it the wine of kings and the king of wines. The sweetest versions, called aszú, are made from grapes shrivelled by a fungus known as noble rot, picked berry by berry and added to base wine in measured baskets, called puttonyos. The cellar walls are covered in a velvety black mould that feeds on the alcohol fumes, a sign of a healthy cellar.
The landscape is gentle, with hills the colour of straw and green, villages of low whitewashed houses and church spires, and the broad Bodrog river running through the plain. Sárospatak, eleven kilometres away, has a lovely Renaissance castle and a famous Reformed college, and the town of Tokaj, to the south, stands at the meeting of the Bodrog and Tisza rivers. The area has been a crossroads for centuries, and the mix of Hungarian, Slovak and Jewish culture is still visible in the architecture.
Riding here is relaxed. Roads between the villages are quiet, with gentle bends and open views of vineyards, and the surfaces are generally decent, though patched. Autumn is the best time, with the harvest in full swing and the vines turning gold and red, and summer is warm and pleasant. Winter can be foggy and cold.
Fuel is available in Sárospatak, which has fourteen thousand people, and Tolcsva has a few shops. If you plan to taste wine, remember that Hungary has a zero alcohol limit for drivers.