The Tasting Panel magazine

AUGUST 2011

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OFF THE BEATEN PATH Hungarian Lessons T THE HISTORIC TOKAJI WINES OF HUNGARY ARE WORTH MASTERING Karoly Ats is winemaker at Royal Tokaji. Right: The Szt. Tamás 6 Puttonyos from Royal Tokaji is an exemplary single-vine- yard Tokaji, imported by Wilson Daniels Ltd. he drive from Vienna through Budapest to Tokaj in far-eastern Hungary takes a minimum of four hours and is heart-stoppingly beautiful. The roads are also excellent, with the notable exceptions of traffic-snarled Budapest and the narrow streets in the small villages that dot this end-of-the- world version of wine country. Otherwise, forests, rolling hills and serried vineyards march along at your elbow. The Tokaj wine-growing area was first mentioned in documents dating back to the 11th century. According to legend, the original aszú wine (more on this later) was made by Laczkó Máté Szepsi in 1630, but the first official vineyard classification occurred in 1700, still 155 years prior to the much more celebrated Bordeaux classification. Most of Tokaj’s wine production is white and very dry, predominantly made from a native variety called Furmint. Late-harvest wines abound but the real action is in the category of Tokaji aszú. (Tokaji, the adjectival form of the place name Tokaj, is a For Ben Weinberg’s tasting notes on Tokaji wines, see www.tastingpanelmag.com. protected designation of origin.) “Puttonyos” are 25-kilogram baskets that measure the addi- tion of sweet, nobly rotten (i.e, Botrytis cine- rea–infected) grapes known as aszú. The more puttonyos per barrel of dry wine—usually from three to six—the sweeter the final product. Exceedingly rare essencia, or eszencia, is made only from the free-run juice of aszú grapes. Almost gelatinous in texture because of the high sugar content (usually more than 50 percent), eszencia is ethereal and expensive. Drinking it can be an intellectual effort, ideally done without distractions in order to fully experience the sensations. Tokaji winemakers run the gamut, as do 68 / the tasting panel / august 201 1 by Ben Weinberg the wineries themselves. There’s Judith Bott, a young, talented, first-generation vintner juggling the needs of her growing family and her passion for dry, chemical-free whites made from native Hungarian varieties. Contrast Judith to Istvan Szepsy, an old hand at the wine game who learned his trade during the Communist collectivization that ended in 1990. Istvan’s fascination with dry whites is much newer than his tremendous expertise with stickies, but both winemakers are betting their futures on dry wine in a region most famous for sweet. Famed vintner Istvan Szepsy demonstrates terroir. Wineries such as Bott and Szepsy are small and artisanal, while places like Oremus (owned by the same family that controls Vega Sicilia in Spain), Disznóko ” (owned by AXA Millesimes, a giant French insurance company that also runs the likes of Château Pichon-Longueville Baron in Bordeaux and Quinta do Noval in Oporto) and Royal Tokaji (co-founded by English writer Hugh Johnson more than 20 years ago) often feature large production runs and modern, space-age facilities. There’s a lot to love in the wines of Tokaj, whether you enjoy dry white, late harvest, noble aszú or ethereal eszencia. Amazingly, they are not overly expensive for the level of quality. Tokaj is truly an exotic, remote wine region that has room for the small, the big and everything in between. PHOTO: BEN WEINBERG PHOTO COURTESY OF ROYAL TOKAJI PHOTO COURTESY OF ROYAL TOKAJI

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