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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 85.5 pts. and median of 88 pts. in 14 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Madera16 on 8/22/2019: Beautiful wine. Strong aromas of orange peel, flowers, honey, quince. Full texture, piercing acidity, good finish. Paired with chocolates for a friend. Very good with white. (1406 views) | | | Tasted by VinoMomNola on 8/18/2019 & rated 89 points: Amazing wine but I definitely killed it too early and too late in the night, if you know what I mean. Acidity was high and delicious, balanced by nuttiness and ripe fruit. (785 views) | | | Tasted by danielbleier on 2/9/2019 & rated 88 points: not on par with the puttonyos releases from this winery, but an enjoyable after dinner apricot and honey blend. (1510 views) | | | Tasted by mysterycooper on 1/24/2019 & rated 84 points: Light
Apricot & pineapple, decent acid up front, slightly sugary finish.
50cl was £12 from Sainsburys.
I prefer their 37.5cl Sauterns for the same price. (1513 views) | | | Tasted by NickBurwood on 12/31/2018 & rated 88 points: NYEve at friends'.
Brought by a fellow diner, another light style à la mode of Tokay, but this time at least delivers on the "Late Harvest" description (unlike a recently noted underwhelming 5putt St. Stephan's Crown example). Pineapple and tropical fruit-led, very much in the style of a sound if slightly sugary Mosel spätlese. Saved by decent acidity. Mimicry I suppose is a complement, but I still yearn for the dark rich (?agricultural) full bodied cold war style of Tokay.
Progress!?? Drink young over the next 12 months. (1495 views) | | | Tasted by zhearr on 4/6/2018 & rated 90 points: gained more nuance the second day. Can't touch the concentration and intensity of top Sauternes, but an all-around great quality sweet wine, balanced and relatively slender with decadent fruit, florals, and botrytis. (1263 views) | | | Tasted by ChrisWagner on 10/10/2017 & rated 86 points: I'm not usually the biggest fan of dessert wines but this wasn't bad for a lower priced sweet wine. Not a whole lot of depth but it also wasn't horribly overwhelmingly sweet. (1548 views) | | | Tasted by Gargantua on 4/2/2017: Great! Felt somewhere between spatlese and auslese for the RS level. Fleshy with some corn aromas, was nice with apple pie. (1609 views) | | | Tasted by fhayek on 3/15/2017 & rated 55 points: The worst wine in a long, long time.
Definitely not corked.
But definitely undrinkable.
Agressive and repulsive corny character + offensive, dumb and artificial sweetness. No body, no acidity, no nothing.
Absolute shame. (1566 views) | | | Tasted by pdev on 2/14/2017 & rated 90 points: Botrytis, late harvest, and healthy dry fruit blended to make this blend. Lighter version of tokaji, a hint of development, with modest sweetness. Ripe peach, clean palate & finish. Very nice. (1456 views) | | | Tasted by kenv on 1/21/2017 & rated 92 points: $15 by the glass at Yono's. Bright, light, fresh, delicious. Great balance and harmony. Lots of tropical fruit. No describable botrytis. Auslese sweetness. (1464 views) | | | Tasted by johnrm on 8/13/2016 & rated 88 points: Good tropical fruit (incl. pineapple). Quite complex but fresh and not overly sweet or cloying. Would be better than many sweeter wines with blue cheese and puddings. Nice wine.
Tasted at Grand Union Wine Society. (870 views) |
| By John Szabo, MS
WineAlign (11/29/2017)
(Royal Tokaji Late Harvest Tokaji, Tokaj Hegyalja (500ml) red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (9/6/2016)
(Royal Tokaji, Late Harvest Tokaj Tokaj-Hegyalja White) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of WineAlign and JancisRobinson.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| 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.
Late HarvestjhtHungaryHungaryTokaji 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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