TOBAY, a species of wine obtained from the vines which grow on the Hegyallya mountains, a group stretching D. and n.e. of Tokay. The Tokay wine-district com prises about 15,000 English imperial acres, the produce from the Mezesmali, a detached rounded eminence near Tokay, being most esteemed. Great care is bestowed on the proper assortment of the grapes (which are never gathered until fully ripe): and also on the preparation of the wiue—of which about 34 sorts are reckoned; but all of these may be grouped into the two classes of sweet and dry. The wine is brownish yellow while new, changing to a greehish hue as it grows older. The average annual produce of the Tokay vineyards is 1,500,000 imperial gallons of the dry, and 50,000 gallons of the sweet, wines. Tokay enjoys an immense reputation on the continent for its great restorative and tonic qualities; and so much is it esteemed in Hungary, that every considerable pro prietor for miles round makes it a point to acquire some property in this vine-district, that he may be able to procure his wine from his own vineyards. On this account,
genuine Tokay, is obtainable by wine-merchants only in small quantity (and this is especially the case with the more valuable sort, the sweet or imperial Tokay), and is largely mixed with inferior wines, to increase the amount. The vine-gathering is cele brated at Tokay, Mead, and Tallyn, the three chief places of the district, as a national fete, to which the magnates of Hungary with their families flock from all quarters; and during the season of festivity, many times more than the whole value of the vintage is expended. The crowd of visitors is swelled largely by the wine-dealers and medical agents, who eagerly buy up such lots as are for sale, and sometimes give the most extrav agant prices for imperial or other good qualities of wine. Large quantities of "imita tion " Tokay are made by French and German chemists, and sents to all parts of.Europe, not excepting Hungary itself, so that purchasers require to guard against imposition by dealing only with the grower or his accredited agent.