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The
wines of the Royal Tokaji Company Rakoczi Ut 35, H-3909, Mad, Hungary First, a quick primer on Tokaji for the uninitiated. Named after the town of Tokaj in the northeast corner of Hungary, it’s a wine with a long history – Tokaji has been celebrated for at least 400 years. Indeed, it was the first wine to be intentionally made from botrytised (‘nobly’ rotten) grapes. It is made by a unique two-stage process. Botrytised grapes
are separated from healthy ones to form aszú, a rich, sweet paste.
This is then added in varying quantities to the base wine, initiating
a second fermentation. The degree of sweetness is determined by the
number of 20 kilo hods of aszú (‘puttonyos’) added to each barrel
of wine. The most extreme form is called ‘essencia’, which is the
incredibly concentrated and sweet juice exuded from the aszú: this
hardly ferments at all. Five puttonyos seems to be average for a sweet
wine. The
region suffered greatly under communism, and only since 1989 has redevelopment been taking place. Money
poured in from outside investment, and half a dozen new ventures had
been started by 1993. One of these is the Royal Tokaji Company, of
which wine writer Hugh Johnson is a partner. These are remarkable, unusual wines. I can’t claim to
understand them properly, or even to enjoy them that much: I simply
don’t have enough context to place them into. But I would suggest
that Tokaji is a style worthy of further exploration, even if it does
seem a bit weird to the uninitiated. Royal Tokaji Blue Label 5 Puttonyos 1996 Betsek 1st Growth 5 Puttonyos 1990 Szt Tamas 1st Growth 6 Puttonyos 1991 Szt Tamas 1st Growth 6 Puttonyos 1993 Nyulaszo 1st Growth 5 Puttonyos 1991 Nyulaszo 1st Growth 6 Puttonyos 1993 Mezes Maly Great 1st Growth 6 Puttonyos wines tasted November 2002 |