Tokaji as Medicinal Wine
Anyone interested in old Tokaji bottles will inevitably come across medicinal Tokaji. Tokaji wine has a long rich tradition of being studied and offered for its health benefits. The first references date back to the 1520-ies when Paracelsus visited the wine region, although recent research suggests that this may be more a legend than a hard fact, and even if he visited Tokaj, then he seemed to be more interested in the gold legend of the vines than in the health benefits the wine. The medicinal fame of Tokaji started around 1710 and lasted until around 1910 when it could be found as medicine in the pharmacopeia of countries like Hungary, Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Belgium or Luxemburg. Although tokaji disappeared from the Hungarian pharmacopeia after 1909 the 1933 "Tokay" book of Charles W. Berry from the London wine trading house Berry Bro's prominently features numerous letters from their customers praising the health benefits of Tokay. Surprisingly, even today scientific papers are regularly published that present new research results about the medical qualities of Tokaji.
Bottles and labels of medicinal Tokaji.
Tokaji wine filled in apothecary bottles (Sources: apothecary museums in Budapest and Heidelberg, old rokoko pharmacy in the Juliusspital Würzburg, various othrer collections of old apothecary bottles). The image of the bottle convolute glowing in green are apothecary bottles made from uranium glass filled with Tokaji esszencia and lit by UV light.
Various publications about the health benefits of Tokaji wine. The last image is an article from the New York Times published on July 16, 1881. A medical bulletin on the health of US President James Abram Garfield, who had been shot two weeks earlier. In it, the doctors reported that they had treated him with Tokay wine, among other things.
Tokaji as medicine in the military: 5 bottles of tokaji wine in the wooden box of a military doctor serving in the austro-hungarian army. The inscription on the box and on the bottle labels reads "K.K. Landwehr Infant. Regiment No. 1". Late 19th century.
Marketing of Medicinal Tokaji
