Amazing Tokaji Aszú

Liquid gold? Nectar of the gods? Wine of kings, king of wines? Exquisitely sweet tipple?

What do you call Tokaji Aszú? If you are lucky enough to have tried this sublime drink :) Perhaps my favourite is liquid gold, inspired by the gorgeous cellars containing these precious wines. Just look at this for beauty….

To give you a sense of my first experience of this exquisiteness, I’ll share my conversions to its appeal. The first happened a few years ago in the delightful Csalogány Restaurant in Budapest. Having savoured my food, I felt no desire for a desert, but somehow the thought of something sweet drew me. Perhaps I would like a glass of Aszú, suggested the waiter, and brought me a taster of a Szepsy. One sip was enough! In fact I felt something akin to a religious experience as this lusciousness envolped my tastebuds. Indeed I thought I’d never taste another wine again, as this was clearly its pinnacle! Thankfully this was not to be ;)

The birth of a magical wine such as Tokaji Aszú is naturally surrounded in mystery, but its creation remains similar today: hand-picked aszú berries (ripened berries woven with “noble rot”, Botrytis cinerea, and shrivelled in the early autumn sunshine) are soaked to extract their intense flavours, sugars and acids. After pressing, the enriched must (grape juice), fermenting must or new wine is fermented and then aged in wooden barrels in Tokaj cellars for minimum one year. A minimum two and a half years before this PDO wine can be released onto the market. Naturally a long journey for a wine that may go on to mature for decades.

Taste Hungary: http://tastehungary.com/discovering-tokajs-sweet-secrets-at-home-in-erdobenye-part-i/

Caroline Gilby in the Wine Society: Jekyll and Hyde – The Fungal Story Misty autumnal mornings and warm afternoons create the perfect environment for noble rot in Sauternes

http://www.hoosierwinecellar.com/blog/?p=6115

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/20/us-travel-hungary-tokaj-idUSKBN0LO1O320150220

http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2014/10/what-s-the-big-deal-about-tokaji

THE WORLD NEXT BIG WINE REGIONS Thaddeus Buggs: Its 5,500 hectares of vineyards, at an 800-foot elevation on volcanic slopes, are devoted primarily to three native white grapes. They include hard-to-pronounce Hárslevelü and flagship furmint, which is the key varietal in the luscious sweet wines associated with the region. The latest craze, though, is a newly available dry version of furmint, Hungary’s alternative to chardonnay and riesling.

http://www.winereviewonline.com/Jim_Clarke_on_Hungary_Beyond_Tokaji.cfm

Harriet Lembeck in Wine, Wit and Wisdom: a 10th March 2015 – Szamorodni