History of French wine of Aquitaine and the future King Henry II of England brought a large portion of southwest France under English rule. When Henry's son John inherited the English crown, he sought to curry favor among the Gascons by bestowing upon them many privileges-the most notable of which was an exemption among Bordeaux merchants from the Grand Coutume export tax. With this exemption and favored treatment in London, Bordeaux wine became the cheapest wine in the London market and gained immense popularity among the English, who call it claret. For over the next 300 years much of Gascony, particular Bordeaux, benefited by
Tokaj wine region this distinction because it is the origin of Tokaji aszú wine, the world's oldest botrytized wine. Due to the Treaty of Trianon, a smaller part of the historical wine region now belongs to Slovakia. Some of the characteristics which make the Tokaj wine region unique are: Historical records show that vineyards had been established in Tokaj as early as the 12th century, but there is evidence for the earlier introduction of wine production to the region. A number of experts claim that viticulture could have started in the Tokaj region as early as in the Celtic times, that is BC.