Jul 24 2009
Tokaji or Tokajsky? Of course only Tokaji!
Tokaji or Tokajsky?
Of course only Tokaji!
Author: dr. Robert Cey-Bert
Last month a friend of mine from Bangkok who by the way appreciates good wine told me enthusiastically about a wine which he had tasted, a late harvest „Tokajsky“ wine, and he found it goes rather well with the sweet-sour crab in coconut milk and then he asked me whether I would know it?
This question was quite a bit of a shock to me, as I would never have had imagined that the Slovakian „Tokajsky“ name would become somehow known in the world of the international gastronomy, this can mean in the long run that our prestigious Hungaricum, the Tokaji Aszú could be confused with the „Tokajsky“ designation.
There is nothing worse for a world famous product when it becomes unclear, unable to be recognized or to be identified, it looses its prestigious value, diminishes slowly and finally stops existing.
Would the French ever accept, that Champagne is „Champagnesky“, or wine from Bordeaux is „Bordeauxsky“, by manipulating the history explaining non existing to be existing or by simply referring to neighboring values? They would certainly never accept this, even the pure question is absurd and is unacceptable.
And exactly the same is the Slovakian use of „Tokajsky“ as it is against the history of the Tokaj wine region, traditions, and spirit.
The semantics, way of writing Champagne or Bordeaux is for the French unquestionable, and has a national prestigious value, which they would never allow to change, under no circumstances.
The semantics and Hungarian way of writing Tokaj is also unquestionable for us and bears a prestigious national value. In a value in which a nation can identify itself has such a symbolic content which and the psyche energy helps to strengthen the mind and national consciousness and the emotional strings of the togetherness. If a nation gives up on the national values in which it can recognize itself, it will slowly weaken and sooner or later will stop existing as a nation.
When it comes to the semantics and way of writing Champagne, Bordeaux or Tokaj there is no compromise which can be accepted. Communication experiments more then 20 years ago clearly showed that the “Tokajsky” word negatively influences the Hungaricum Tokaji Aszú wine, looking at the international level. One, research centre with dealing communication from Geneva was looking deeper into the semantics of the word “Tokajsky” and conducted deep psychological associating tests in France, England and Switzerland. The results showed clearly that most people, were associating the “Tokajsky” word with Russian, Polish or Czechoslovak origin, which only a very few connected to wine, the majority mainly saw for them an unknown concept which they would attach to the Slavic language. Once they did associate the “Tokajsky” word with wine, the next question became (“Do you think if the “Tokajsky” word determines a wine region what wines would come up in your mind, high quality prestigious wines, or low quality table wines?”) most of the people associated it with the low quality table wines.
Later on, the Research Institution wrote it in the Hungarian way “Tokaji” and examine the semantics and the result showed, by far more people where connecting the “Tokaji” attribute with wine and further on they were associating it with high quality wine. Therefore the “sky” prefix added makes significant changes to the wording “Tokaji”: on the one side it confuses the matter, and in terms of wine it reflects a lower category, table wine. This can easily be understood as the French, English, Swiss and other Western –European- Countries do not associate Slavic words with wine, but rather with beet or spirits like vodka. All this shows that the “Tokajsky” to distinguish the wine in Slovakia produced is affecting the Tokaji wines in Western Europe but everywhere else in the world, further on it effects the quality judgment of the Hungaricum, the prestigious, once world famous Tokaji Aszú as well.
It is important to point out that since the XVI. century the knowledge of the Tokaji wine expanded with the Tokaj-Tokaji-Tokay designations and became famous amongst the wine friends, connoisseurs and became one of the very few world renowned wines, prestigious product part of an elite club, amongst them only wines which have century old traditions such as: Samos, Bourgogne, Bordeaux, Champagne, Chateauneuf du Pape, Toscana, Rheingau, Jerez, Porto, Madeira and of course Tokaj. To distribute the Tokaj wines under the name of “Tokajsky” by the Slovakian is absurd, and non sense and it totally opposite of the values of our most prestigious Hungarian wine region with its tradition and threatens the quality judgment of the Tokaji wines.
The main rule for successful communication, is that a world famous brand has to have always a clear and explicit meaning, it must never contain difficult parts which can hard to be interpret, or disturb its meaning with changes which can cause misunderstanding. This all means that the wines of Tokaj-Hegyalja (Tokaj-Foothills, official name of the wine region) have to be distributed only with the original and traditional wording “Tokaji”. A wine region includes the spirit of the region, the people who live there and the traditions as well. In the case of the Tokaji wines to protect and respect the spirit of the place only the Hungarian designation must be used. If we want to restore the prestige of the wines of Tokaj we must achieve that only the Tokaji, original Hungarian word is used in the future and the “Tokajsky” the Slavic way which is misleading, discrediting must not appear anywhere in the world! To achieve this we must communicated towards the European Union. The origin of the Tokaji is one of the most prestigious Hungaricum brands, which was the most beautifully expressed by the genius, and included in the National Anthem as well.
But why do the Slovakian think they could do the Hungarian Tokaji with their choice of wording “Tokajsky”, while Tokaj is on Hungarian soil? The Slovakian explain this with the peace pact of Triannon in which in 1920, three Hungarian villages around Sátoraljaújhely, namely: Szölöske, Kistornya and Nagytornya got to the other side of the Ronyva River and those were part of the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region according to the 1908 wine law. But the 1908 wine law is by no means enough to explain that the detached villages during the Triannon should produce wine which they then can label under “Tokajsky”, they do not take into count the historical fact that during the years the borders of the wine region Tokaj changed: some villages got included while others lost their status to produce Tokaji wine. Traditionally this was done by the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region council, which villages vineyards are allowed to use the designated origin of the Tokaji region. It is a sad fact that after the decision of Triannon three Hungarian villages around Sátoraljaújhely got to the Slovakian side and there for the strict Hungarian rules could not be enforced and therefore lost also the official title to the wine regions origin.
This is totally logical as the Council of Tokaj Hegyalja can only give the use of Tokaji for those who followed the wine law used in the wine region Tokaj-Hegyalja and further on bear the same semantics, wording and represent with their quality the spirit of the Hungaricums. The quality classification of the Tokaj-Hegyalja wines during the history shows this clearly:
The classification of the towns and villages within the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region
1603
In 1603 the county halls of Zemplén and Abaúj those in noble and bourgeois orders gathered together to control and the vine growing and wine making. Seven towns of the wine region Tokaj-Hegyalja were present on this meeting, the (minutes) secretary of Mád writes the following: “The seven towns of the Foothills (Hegyalja) agreed with each other on the vine growing borders and of the salary of people who work in the vineyard.”
The seven towns of the wine region:
Tokaj Tállya
Tarcal Szántó
Mád Tolcsva
Bénye
1641
In 1641 the committee of the wine region had a meeting in Mád and the following towns/villages were present:
Tokaj Ond
Tarca Rátka
Mád Bénye
Tállya Tolcsva
Szántó Liszka
Zombor Keresztúr
Szerencs
During the meeting regulation with 48 points were passed. It is surprising that Sárospatak, Sátoraljaújhely are missing and will join only later.
1700
In 1700 Pál Kele had listed the following towns under the Hegyalja wine making act:
Tokaj Keresztúr
Tarcal Szerencs
Mád Szántó
Tállya Rátka
Sárospatak Zombor
Sátoraljaújhely Horváti
Tolcsva Olaszi
Erdöbénye Monok
Szegi Golop
Liszka Ond
1730 the classification of Mátyás Bél.
Regarding the Tokaj Hegyalja classification Mátyás Bél wrote the following:
“Hegyalja or the word Tokaji can be used by all those wine which are produced from the Tokaj hills and from its to the North to two miles of distance, Tarcal, Zombor, Mád, Tállya hills, till (Abaúj)Szántó, and further on towards east within three miles Keresztúr, Szegi, Erdöbénye, Liszka, Tolcsva, Zsadány, Bodrogolaszi, Sárospatak until Sátoraljaújhely. There are some who do not want to include the wine from Pataki and the Újhelyi wines and some who include the ones from Szerencs everyone values the wines according to their taste. But if some one looks deep into his heart he cannot deny the quality of the Patak and Újhely wines, which they are produced in the best sites. No body denies that also Szerencs can produce good wine, usually same as a leaner Tokaji (in a less good vintage), but it can not be compared with the fame at all.
The 1737 secret command of the king regarding the protection of origin
On the 13th November 1736 the kings council in Sárospatak created a Committee which goal is to stop wine fraud. The chairman of the Committee is count Karancsberényi Tamás Berényi main priest of the county. The Committee has seven members, representatives from the following counties: Zemplén, Abaúj, Sáros, Szepes, Szabolcs, Borsod and Gömör. The Committee discusses the production of the Tokaj wines and their trade and does a submission on the 16th December 1736 to the council. The Council understands the tight and strict control and forwards this to the king- emperor Karl the VI./III. on the 9th March 1737. Later the year on the 11th October 1937 after approval, ratification by the king it will be published to the whole country, it contains the following:
The Committee led by Count Tamás Berényi decided to distinguish the different villages by marking at the bottom (with an abbreviation) of the barrel the origin of the wine
The law approved by the king says all the wines from the wine region of Tokaj-Hegyalja should be treated equally:
As the wines from: Tállya, Golop, Rátka, Zombori, Ond, Tarzcal, Keresztúr, Kisfalud, Szegi, Bénye, Vámosújfalu, Tolcsva, Liszka, Zsadány, Olasz, Patak, Újhely, Kistorony, Zemplém counties and further on Szántó and Horvát, Abaúj-Counties should not be classified separately, as their quality is similar to the wines of Tokaj.
Foreigner were not allowed to make aszú wine, only those who had vineyards in the wine region of Tokaj Hegyalja
Grapes for the purpose of Aszú wines were not allowed to be brought in by foreigners
Cultivation and new plantings must only be allowed by the county.
In the kings order it’s the first time that the name of Kistornya appears under the wine region of Tokaj-Hegyalja.
The Worlds first vineyard classification according to the 1772 survey.
Antal Szirmai published a book in Buda on 1803 which had the title: “NOTITIA TOPOGRAPHIA, POLITICA, INCLYTI COMITATUS ZEMPLÉNIENSIS”
This book determined to the very first time in the world, before any other wine region in Europe, the vineyards according to their classification based on communities established by the 1772 survey.
On the kings order, an iron stamp was made which was to be used to prove the origin (protection of origin) by the merchants.
Picture of the brand what was used in the wine region Tokaj-Hegyalja with the 1738 date
Village Community TOKAJ:
“The vineyards were classified into three categories according to their positioning:
I. (first) class those who are positioned to the South, towards the sun, Mézesmál, from the border of Tarczal to the town. Then Paksi, Gyöpös, Német-szölö, Hét-szölö, Barát, Szerelmi, Tapasztó, Bornemissza, Kismézes-mál, Kun-hegy, Kótság, Kendös, Nagy-szölö.
II. (second) class the vineyards facing East: Kis-Ösze, Zúgó, Melegoldal, Aranyos.
III. (third) class West and North facing sites towards the Bodrog-Keresztúr borders: Zúgó, Péchy, Boglyos, Marjás, Keskenyág. On this hills there are only three sources and according to the pro-verb: “the lack of water nature tries to regulate with wine.”
Village Community: TARCAL:
Today (in 1805) the town, and Tokaj is part of the Kings Chamber and has the same right as Tokaj. Yet the Counts of Károlyi and Rádai have properties in here. The South facing sites which get a lot of sun and praised so often are: the Szarvas, Mézes-Málé, Cserfás, which the emperor likes very much, Felsö-Turzó, Laistrom, Szilvölgy, Deák, Király-Mály, Agyag, Csuka, Köbánya, Tárczi, Paxi, Rigó, Görbe, Barát, Árokháti, Forrás, Baxó and Terézia-hill, which bears the name of Maria Teresia, planted during our time.
II. class sites are which facing north: Nagy- and Kis-Termö, Bodonyi, Zombory, Elöhegy, Farkas, Nagy- and Kisbajusz, Vinnay, Püspöky, Ponncy, Nyavalya and Kis-Váradi.”
Village Community TOLCSVA (“Nagy-Tolcsva):
The vineyards in Tolcsva are the following:
I. class: Cziróka, Paczotrh, Kutpataka and Gyapáros
II. class: Elöhely, Várhegy, Nagykö and Bikkoldal. The soil is everywhere loose and rich, subsoil is red flint and a little bit of gold and silver is visible in the stones but too little to be of any good.
Village Community MÁD:
The vineyards in Mád are the following:
I. class: Perczehegy, Nyúlászó, Makovicza, Szent-Tamás, Kövágó, Királyhegy, Becsek
II. class: Birsalmás, Hóldvölgy, Hintós, Juharos, Úszhegy, Kis-Vilmány
III. class: Veres and Sarkad
Village Community ERDÖBÉNYE:
The most famous hills are: Tolcsva, Verömály, Zsabás, Barnamály, Öszvér, Mulatóhegy and Várhegy”
Village Community ZOMBOR:
Vineyards:
I. class: Csojka, Hangács, Virginás, Lajos, Zombori-király and Disznókö.
II. class: Messzelátó, Galambos, Kereknémahegy, Csákány, Nagy-Köves, Felbér, Bokond and Borkut
III. class: Hegymegy, Harcsa, Köporos, Kis-Hangács and Makkos.
Village Community TÁLLYA:
“Some of the most prestigious vineyards sites here: Patocs, Heteny, Medgyes, Kövágó, Dongó, Hegyes, Bányász, Hasznos, Görbe, Bahomállya, Tökösmál, Remetehegy, Sashegy, Nyereghegy, Polota, Cserepes, Tállykiköhegy, Halastó, Csikhegy and Várhegy.”
The town of RÁTKA:
“The vineyard hills runs under the name of “Rátki elöhegy” exception is only in the Istenhegy which belongs to the Merczer family.”
Village Community BODROGKERESZTÚR:
I. class vineyards: Csókamál, Sajgó, Kakas, Kövágó, Messzelátó, Ujhegy and Henye.”
KISFALUD:
“Várhegy vineyard with it round shape has some ruins from Ottoman time (records of Kaszner- 1822).”
Village of SZEGI:
“…some of the best vineyards elevated behind the village: the Somos, Pkolos, Mézpest, Göböly, Lapis, Csirka, Czigány, Aranyos, Hosszúmály, Varjas and Hatalos.”
Village Community OLASZLISZKA:
“The Rány and Elöhegy are I. class sites, but also having vine the Mezses, once called Mescces.”
Village of ZSADÁNY:
Vine growing sites: Zadányhegye, Elöhegy, Szár-hegy, Szent-Ignác all of them South facing producing good aszú quality grapes.”
Village of OLASZI:
Vineyards are in: Magoshegy, Somos, Mandalin and Kantha.”
Village Community SÁROSPATAK:
“The two Village Communities (Nagy- and Kis Patak)´s most famous sites: Királyhegy, Megyer, Szögfü, Darnó, Hosszúhegy and Szenvince…followings are separated towards North the Somlyó which has vine planted in all directions.”
Village Community SÁTORALJAÚJHELY:
“The town can certainly be proud of their fantastic hills and vineyards. The highest of them is the Magoshegy once an active volcano, then the Sátor which looks like a tent from the top. The others are: Várhegy, Szárhegy, Bányay, Feketehegy, Köveshegy, Boglyoska, Veresharaszt, Tompa, Melegoldal, Némahegy and Cepre.”
In the classification there is no mentioning of the detached, Slovakian villages Szölöske, Kistorny and Nagytornya.
The Hungarian wine regions in 1897:
The 22 wine regions:
1. Sopron-Ruszt-Pozsony
2. Pest-Nógrád
3. Buda-Sashegy
4. Somló
5. Neszmély
6. Eger-Visonta
7. Miskolc-Abaúj
8. Tokaj
9. Szerednye-Ungvár
10. Bereszász-Nagyszölö
11. Érmellék
12. Arad-Ménes-Magyarád
13. Versecz-Fehértemplom
14. Szekszárd
15. Villány-Pécs
16. Badacsony
17. Balatonmelléke-Somogy
18. Erdély-Marosmente
19. Erdély-Küküllö
20. Erdély: Torda-Aranyos
21. Alföld
22. Fiume
The following towns were classified within the wine region:
From Zemplén County: Bekecs, Erdö-Bénye, Erdö-Horváti, Golop, Józseffalva, Károlyfalva, B.-Keresztúr, Kisfaludi, Legyes-Bénye, Mád, Monok, B.-Olaszi, Ó-Liszka, Ond, Petrahó, Rátka, Sárospatak, Sátoraljaújhely, Szegi-Long, Szerencs, Szölöske, Tállya, Tarczal, Tokaj, Tolcsva, Kis-Torony, Vámos-Ujfalu, Vég-Ardó, Zombor, B.-zsadány (all together 30). From Abaúj-Torna county Abaúj-Szántó.
Recommended grape varieties:
Whites: Furmint, Muskotály, Hárslevelü (only)
Reds: not allowed
Szölöske and Kis-Tornya appears in this list.
During all the centuries Tokaj-Hegyalja had the following communities all the time classified: Tokaj, Tarcal, Zombor, Mád, Tállya, Tolcsva, Bénye, Szántó. And there were towns which got simply declassified or not made it to the classification, like the villages around Sátoraljaújhely which got attached in 1920 to Slovakia. The classification can change in the future according to the quality and value order. But what never changes is the determination of origin, the value of the Hungaricum semantics. In the wine world only those wines will reach the highest prestigious position which can communicate the individualism, quality, traditions, typical wine symbolical values and their origin is clear to understand. This can only be ensured by the origin designation of the Hungaricum Tokaji. The in Slovakia produced “Tokajsky” is threatening the reputation and questions the international recognized prestigious values of the Tokaji wines.
The wines of Tokaj are one with the cultural values since many centuries, which we can not give up, as a nation can not give up its soul and national roots.
The author: dr. Robert Cey-Bert, is member of the International Wine Academy
(it was translated by Kristian Kielmayer from the Hungarian into English)
Big and important work. Everybody must to know it..
I long long ago stumbled upon some ancient bottles of Tokay originating from Kistoronya, and I am glad to report it was brilliant.
It looks like your friend may have stumbled upon one of the few bargains around in th world of Tokaji as Kistoronya is no doubt trying to rebuild a name it once had.
As far as I can see from your detailed piece above this village is in the 1700 classification, 1730 classification, 1897 classification and of course the 1908 classification that you to my mind unfortunetly state is the “basis for confusion”. The only classification that you quoted where the text does not seem to specifically include Kistoronya is the 1772 document. So it does seem to have hundreds of years of documented history as part of traditional “Tokaji”. That accords with research I did over many years (starting in the early 1980′s – eeek!).
Tokaji has been a love of mine for decades. I have been thrilled by many bottles, and disappointed by many more (mainly communist era ones).
I was mystified by my first ancient bottle of Tokaji from Kistoronya as it had some text in German, some in Magyar and some in Slovak. It turned out of course to all be basically the same. Even the different place names were the same place, all leading to that tiny village of Kistoronya. This village seems to have a well documented history as part of “Tokaj/Tokay/Tokaji” going back hundreds of years.
Even from the documents you quote it’s history as part of recognised and reguated Tokaji goes back to at least 1700 – and I can vouch for the high quality it produced pre-communism from the 100+ year old bottles I have sampled. It was definitely very good Tokaji (whether labelled Imperial Tokayer or any other variant!).
That tiny village of 300 to 450 people continued wine production as far as I can see long after the Treaty of Trianon, only to be forced to change it’s name from Tokaji as part of a state beer deal under communism. No doubt quality probably suffered under communisms collectivisation the same as it certainly did in most of historic Tokaji. Densely planted hillside vineyards throughout the region were grubbed up to be replaced by low flat vineyards aimed at volume blended production.
Since the 1990′s money, talent, and most importantly passion, has thankfully poured into this region trying to bring back this jewel of the wine world.
I am glad to be able to “easily” find so many brilliant wines from many of these passionate and talented producers.
Artificial lines drawn up by politicians when Hungary lost such huge swathes of territory, beer contracts etc do not change where the historic vineyards of Kistoronya/Malá Tŕňa are any more than any other vineyards in ancient Tokaji. The terrain, microclimate, soil etc remain; as does it’s history. If new producers have taken up the torch of quality and are building on those foundations to try to produce wines that are equal to the hundreds of years of history then I applaud them.
As your first sentence said – the wine was greeted with enthusiasm by a friend you know appreciates good wine. I would love to know who the producer was. Perhaps it is time I sought some !
Thanks a lot for the long comment, much appreciated.
To this article (or actually translation) there is now a slightly updated version available as well.
http://www.kristiankielmayer.com/2010/07/the-anxiety-over-the-tokaji-aszu/
Both were written by my very good friend and mentor dr. Robert Cey-Bert, errors occurred during translation are my fault. I shall ask my dear friend Robert if he can tell me the producer.
I’m glad that you enjoyed the wines from Kistornya and yes it is very unfortunate that after the Triannon verdict, Hungary lost a huge size of land to neighbouring countries, many of them excellent wine producing areas (Burgenland, Szerémség in the South, Transylvania and of course land where Tokaji was produced once).
You’re absolutely right, soil and climate does not change (or only to a certain extend, climate change-fertilizers + training system, wine making, etc.).
Yet you could upgrade vineyards and degrade vineyards as it happens quite often in the world of wine. Just because Clos Vougeot is a Grand Cru (closed vineyard site) it does not mean that everybody is making those quality wines, the lower slopes certainly are not as good as the middle or higher up on the other side there is plenty of Grand Cru vineyard which is still only 1er Cru (e.g. Les St Georges or Les Amoureuses in Chambolle). Classifications do change occasionally of course it is more then just sad if this happens because of politics. Yet the official wine region of Tokaj-Hegyalja is governed by the wine regions council.
The region of Tokaj had the 50 years of communist rule which has done no favour for the wines, but after 1990 a lot seemed to change (domestic and foreign investment, ideas and expression of freedom and passion for quality). I cannot comment of the current quality and state of the towns of Kistornya and Nagytornya as I never visited the area (promise to make up for this). On the other side, Tokaj Hegyalja with its roughly 5000 ha and if Slovakia decided to produce “Tokaji/Tokajsky” wine on over 500 ha, it is more then wrong as those 3 villages are certainly never had more then 10% of the total wine region. The major problem as I see it, Tokaji is Hungary, you simply cannot make a Tokaji wine outside of Hungary. Tokaj-Hegyalja with the name and everything else belongs to the Hungarian culture. I know that a lot of Hungarian people are in Slovakia and there are very much Hungarians despite the border and share the same passion and enthusiasm for Tokaji (as they fathers produced it in the past too) as their fellow country man in Hungary. It is more then sad, that borders changed and I don’t know of any other wine region or similar situation elsewhere in the world.
A very distance (but very and perhaps even silly example) would be Alsace, which once belonged to Germany once to France and so on and so on. Today wines from Alsace are French wines despite being a lot of people speak German, using grape varieties on the label, etc. On the other side of the river Rhein, there is Baden a wine region which is German, but makes not too different wines when you compare it to Alsace (certainly, it is different when you look at it very close –exposure, soil, micro climate- , and history but in a blind tastings?!).
As I said a distance examples and perhaps not ideal, the only thing which I wanted to reflect is Tokaji is more then just wine. Tokaji is in the national anthem of the Hungarians it was the wine on which Hungarian freedom fight was financed by Rakoczi II. and a lot more. You can simply not have one Tokaji’s from (today) two different countries one saying Produce of Hungary and one Produce of Slovakia, it simply confuses people.
I’m happy to forward the note on to my mentor professor Cey-Bert he perhaps will add something to it with maybe the wines as well. It sounds great that you’re finding some excellent older vintages from Tokaj even before the I. world war, I yet have to try those.
Please let me know if I can be of any assistance in the future and if you have a list of Slovakian producers who I should perhaps visit in the near future I would be more then delighted.
Best regards,
Kristian
I know this may seem like a strange request, but much of my family came from the area of Tokaj, and possibly Tarcal and Bodrogkerestur, and based on census data that my family grew grapes. In other historical records, they discuss how a noble family, the Garay (Garai) family, established a vineyard in Tokaj along with another family Kereszturi.
I’m wondering if any documents that were used in preparation of this report had any relevant genealogical data? Were family surnames mentioned in the establishment of vineyards? When the regional wine meetings were held, were surnames recorded?
Just wondering.
Thanks,
Chip
Hi Chip,
No strange request at all. I’ll ask my friend and mentor dr. Robert Cey-Bert on this, as he was the one who wrote this article. I probably catch up with him in the next couple of weeks.
But what family name are we looking for? I can imagen that they’re records at the Public Records Office, Tokaj or other towns.
I shall get back to you
Hi Kristian,
I’m sorry it took me so long to get back with you. I thought by providing my email address, I would get a note saying you responded, but I will check back frequently from now on. My family name was Kereszturi. This was found in a book somewhere (I don’t know the origin offhand, and it had to be translated for me):
Keresztúry család. (Bodrog-Keresztúri.)
E néven is több családot ismerünk. A bodrog-keresztúri Keresztúry család
Zemplin vármegyében birt Bodrog-Keresztúron, és a szintén ott birtokos Garay
családdal egy törzsbõl eredett; valamint hogy azzal 1408-ban együtt szõlõt is birt
a tokaji hegyen. Hogy kihalt, azt irja azon megyének jóemlékû leirója, de e kort
nem jegyzé fel *.
Ezenkivül még e század elején is emlitetik Keresztúri család a zemplinmegyei
czimerleveles családok sorában *.
Its possible they originally came from Bodrog-keresztur or Tarcal. I realize they spell it Keresztury in the article and our family spelled it Kereszturi in the vital records (I have birth, marriage and death records of my family in Tokaj in 1700s) but it could possibly be the same family. Thank you for your help.
Regards,
Chip