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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.8 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 21 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Bolognese Diner on 5/10/2024 & rated 92 points: Vivid golden yellow color. On the nose, vibrant aromas of apricot jam and orange peel are supported by pleasant touches of honey and spices. It has a delicate and elegant palate, with beautiful tension and freshness.
colore giallo dorato vivido. Al naso vibrano sentori di albicocca in confettura e scorza d'arancia, sorretti da gradevoli tocchi di miele e di spezie. Ha un sorso delicato ed elegante, di bella tensione e freschezza. (411 views) | | | Tasted by AD_jutant on 5/5/2024 & rated 91 points: WSET3 Course Notes; 4/28/2024-6/9/2024 (WineHouse, Los Angeles): A: Deep gold.
N: Pronounced intensity. Dried Apricots, dried mango, orange marmalade. Cedar and toast from the oak. Honey, even ginger and dried chamomile. Developing.
P: Sweet. High acidity, medium alcohol and full body. Pronounced flavour intensity. Nice balance. Honey, orange marmalade but also a lot of white flowers: acacia and chamomile. Long finish.
AQ: Very good, even leaning towards outstanding.
9+/18
Can develop further and yield even higher rating (oh I'd love to try that!). (508 views) | | | Tasted by Swintonblade on 12/25/2023 & rated 91 points: Great Tokaji, still very young and strong fruit/sweetness.
Will be better with a bit more time (1153 views) | | | Tasted by BornToRhone on 12/17/2023: Brians birthday at Chef Halff (Cibo) (1146 views) | | | Tasted by Teaky on 10/23/2023: Very nice with tropical fruits mango peach and hint of green tea very long finish syrupy mouthfeel this was excellent really love these (1331 views) | | | Tasted by moorewine3 on 8/25/2023 & rated 93 points: Excellent with Tiramisu desert (1136 views) | | | Tasted by dhammer53 on 6/4/2023: I last drank the '05 vintage, and this was just as good. It's a sweet wine that pleased everyone after dinner. My quote 'Oh My'. (1213 views) | | | Tasted by Jayvino on 4/15/2023 & rated 84 points: Lovely, not as sweet as I thought it would be. (1116 views) | | | Tasted by BCJ99 on 2/5/2023 & rated 91 points: Fresh, young, concentrated but very good, (1261 views) | | | Tasted by Rodenbach99 on 1/7/2023 & rated 94 points: Superbe robe jaune or. Le nez est complexe de fruits exotiques, d'agrumes, de pêches confites et autres fruits confits. LA bouche est d'un équilibre parfait entre l'acidité et le sucré. Les saveurs d'agrumes sur des fruits en conserve sont sublimes. La finale est longue, longue et longue et laisse en bouche une impression de sublime. (Blue Label). (1132 views) | | | Tasted by FiggySmalls on 12/13/2022: regular Costco holiday buy of this and St Agur. good acid but heavy on the palate. intense as expected.
day two= change. glacial, but delicious on pnp (1066 views) | | | Tasted by Madera16 on 12/2/2022: Brittany and Will say it’s been open for 3 weeks already. Incredible, because the nose is still clean as a whistle. And full of tropical fruit, terpenes, stone fruit, ripe concentrated fruit. Lovely on the palate, great acididity with long finish. Great wine. (922 views) | | | Tasted by benjamin96 on 10/22/2022 & rated 90 points: Beau dessert liquide, beaucoup de fruits confits et une belle acidite vient raviver le tout. Encore tres jeune, la complexite va s’installer avec les années. (964 views) | | | Tasted by ricard on 9/22/2022 & rated 94 points: Golden luminous colour. Vanilla, cream, lime, coconut, marmalade. I love the density and unctuousness /oiliness. It has body and weight, but also searing acidity and linearity. So very good, so good. Yes please. (819 views) | | | Tasted by maxima on 8/11/2022 & rated 91 points: Super bien équilibré, rond et décadent.
Sur les ananas, les pêches, les
épices, le caramel Écossais et le miel.
Il y a un peu de noix et de dattes aussi.
Belle acidité qui vient mettre le sucre en arrière plan.
Super long et vraiment persistant.
Un classique, EXCELLENT! (1346 views) | | | Tasted by KL1975 on 7/3/2022 & rated 93 points: First time with a Tokaji, and not the last! Reminds of a crossing of a Barsac and a Mosel Auslese. Exotic fruit notes, pineapple, honey, and a pronounced acidity, 93+. (724 views) | | | Tasted by Ben Christiansen on 6/22/2022: Of course powerful and sweet and clean, and I suppose why not. But it anit y'quem. (804 views) | | | Tasted by Teaky on 6/4/2022: Sick while tasting, but get nice tropical fruit notes, pineapple, bit of non-bitter grapefruit, very nice! (561 views) |
| Royal Tokaji Wine Co. Producer website
U.S. Importer (source of add'l info)
The Royal Tokaji Wine Company, founded in Hungary in 1989, has become one of the most defining wineries in Tokaj. From the outset, Royal Tokaji decided to concentrate on producing single-vineyard wines, made from the first growth vineyards of Mezes Maly, Nyulaszo, Szent Tamas and Betsek.
Acknowledged as one of the region’s top winemakers, Karoly Ats, combines traditional techniques with modern technology to create the award-winning Royal Tokaji range of wines. Royal Tokaji is the acknowledged leader of the renaissance of this legendary Hungarian wine, which, in the words of the wine author and company co-founder Hugh Johnson, is “a wine that would make angels sing out loud in praise”.
This perfectly balanced 5 puttonyos wine is the bechmark for Tokaji. As in all aszu wines, the three grape varieties are Furmint, Harslevelu and Muscat de Lunel. The characteristics are a vivid gold color with honeyed apricot and orange peel flavors which are uplifted with dramatic acidity.
HungaryHungaryTokaji On weinlagen-infoTokajiThe Tokaj lies 240 kms north-east of Budapest, Hungary, situated in the Zemplen Mountains at the confluence of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers. Currently the border between Hungary and Slovakia runs through the region, so there are Slovakian wines labeled 'Tokai'. The soil is largely clay or loess with a volcanic substratum. Tokaj enjoys long sunny summers, while dry autumns and the early morning mists, created by the meeting of the two rivers, encourage the development of noble rot on aszu berries.
The noble rot, known as Botrytis cinerea, makes the berries dry and shrivel, thus concentrating the flavor compounds and developing the Aszu berries. All of these characteristic elements give the Tokaj wineries their own distinctive and unique terroir
* Aszú: This is the formerly world-famous white wine that is proudly cited in the Hungarian national anthem. It is a naturally sweet and topaz-colored that was formerly known throughout the English-speaking world as Tokay (Tow-KAY, rhimes with WAY), which of course is an orthographic variant of the spelling 'Tokaj'('tow-KIE, rhymes with PIE).
The original meaning of the Hungarian word aszú was "dried", but the term came to be associated with the type of wine made with botrytised (i.e. "nobly rotten') grapes, so now it is thought of as meaning 'infected', or similar to the German word "Auslese", meaning 'a selection'. The process of making Aszú wine is as follows.
o Aszú berries are individually picked, then collected in huge vats and crushed into the consistency of paste (known as aszú dough).
o Through-fermented wine or unmanipulated must is poured on the aszú dough and left for 24–48 hours, being stirred occasionally.
o The wine is racked off into wooden casks or vats where fermentation is completed and the aszú wine is to mature. The casks are stored in a cool environment, and are not tightly closed, so a slow fermentation process continues in the cask, usually for several years.
The concentration of Aszú was traditionally defined by the number of puttonyos hods (containing about 30 liters) of dough added to a Gönc cask (136 liter barrel) of must. Nowadays the puttony number is based on the equivalent content of sugar and sugar-free extract in the mature wine. Aszú ranges from 3 puttonyos to 6 puttonyos, with a further category called Aszú Eszencia or Essencia (not to be confused with Tokaji Eszencia or Essencia without the Aszú) representing wines above 6 puttonyos. Unlike most other wines, potential alcohol content of Aszú typically runs quite a bit higher than 14% even though it is not fortified with alcohol or extra sugar. The sugar equivalent remaining in the wine will of course reduce the labeled alcohol content, usually something in between the ripest late-harvest dessert wines of Austria and Germany and that of dry white wines. Annual production of aszú is less than one percent of the region's total output. Tokaji Eszencia or Essencia is a different, richer product made from the pressure of Aszú grapes as they sit in containers after being collected. In this situation very concentrated juice, derived from the ripest layer of the grape fllesh immediately under the skins, collects without being pressed in the bottom of the container. This most concentrated must, often containing well over 50 percent sugars, is collected and allowed to spontaneously ferment, although it does so so reluctantly that it often contains less than the 5 percent minimum alcohol needed to call it wine. It is sold in tiny amounts, usually with a small spoon which allows sipping it in the tiny amounts that render its immense flavors and scents it possesses. This enormously expensive elixir was thought to possess very strong medicinal properties, and was thought to be kept in royal courts to allow revival of a dying monarch who had neglected to name a successor.
Because this dessert-style wine is not popular or easy to sell, is expensive to make, and whose high quality is not understood, it is not easy for producers in the region to remain in business, much less make a profit so that their vineyards and equipment can be kept in good condition. Since that is the case, dry (non-dessert)-style wines are now being made, and also wines that are made more like the simpler late-harvest wines from other areas of Europe. Such experiments are ongoing and their successfulness is unknown as of this point.
The wines of Tokaj are made from severa whitel grapes, individual or as a blend, that are indigenous to Hungary, and rarely or ever found outside this region, plus small amounts of 'tolerated' varieties. These grapes are the Furmint, the Harsevelu (Linden-leaf), and the more widely employed Muscat. edited jht
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