WSET 1 tasting notes 6 – 2000 Royal Tokaji Wine Company, Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos,
Hungary 12%, £28
Colour: clear – pale – gold
Nose: clean – pronounced – honey
Palate: sweet – medium acidity – no tannins – honey, pear, caramel, pineapple – long length
Conclusions: exceptional
Understanding the label
2000 the vintage – legally the same for both the base wine and the aszú
Royal Tokaji Wine Company the producer
Tokaji Tokaj is a village in Hungary. The ‘i’ translates as ‘from the region’ around.
Aszú a Hungarian term for a dried or raisined grape
5 Puttonyos this’ll take some explaining.
Puttonyo translates as ‘hod’, the carrying device. Their hods hold approximately 27l. The addition of an ‘s’ grammatically adds an ‘ed’.
So this wine is ‘5 hodded’.
‘Hods of what?’
Aszú of course.
‘So 135l of aszú per bottle?’
Errrmmm. No, it’s per Gönc.
‘Ok, errrmm?’
Gönc is a 136l barrel in which the base wine (non- aszú) has the puttonyo of aszú added to it.
Just so now that it’s not absolutely clear, this is not actually how it physically happens anymore, but the levels of concentration for the juice is still measured this way.
Tokaj was very highly prized all around the old world. Devastation by phylloxera, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Second World War, and Soviet Communist domination saw Hungarian wine deteriorate. The annexing of areas of Tokaji by Slovakia and Poland could have seen the demise of the prized wine, however it was not so. Individual producers had continued with the complex traditions of its viticulture and vinification.
Hugh Johnson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Johnson_%28wine%29 founded the Royal Tokaji Wine Company with other investors. The very pleasing results are now prized all around the world.
