It’s not just the producers of Hungarian banknotes who are worried about counterfeiting in neighboring Ukraine. News portal Index.hu recently got hold of a bottle of “tokaji” muskotály and hárslevelű made in Beregszász, Ukraine. Hungarian experts said the bottles are both fakes, and for more than one reason. János Jarecsni, secretary of the Tokaj wine region council, told Index that he hasn’t issued a permit to use the name “tokaji” abroad since 2000. In addition, Csaba Horváth, head secretary of the National Council of Wine Communities, pointed out that wines made from the muskotály and hárslevelű grapes are not allowed to be sold in half-liter, white, transparent bottles, as these are reserved solely for the signature products of Tokaj, like aszú (sweet, concentrated wine) and szamorodni (a dry, oxidized variant).
Even the labels on the Ukrainan wines try to imitate the Hungarian originals. The design of the “Iceberg” muskotály looks nearly identical to that of the aszú and szamorodni sold by the Tokaj Kereskedőház, the state-owned producer of the most well-known Tokaj offerings on the market. On the bottle of the Cotnar hárslevelű, the founding date of the company (1996) appears to be imitating a vintage. The “control” stamp is also faked: A bull’s head was put on the red-white-green ribbon. Meanwhile, the Latin slogan “Vinum Regnum Rex Vinorum” (Wine of Kings, King of Wines) is misspelled as “Vinum Regum Rex Vinorux.” Jarecsni said that there could be several million liters of Ukrainian-made “tokaji” on the market.
