Tokaji Aszu

Tokaji Aszú
Described by Louis XIV of France as “the king of wines, and the wine of kings”, Aszú even gets a mention in the Hungarian national anthem.
With good reason – it is one of the world’s finest dessert wines. Like a Sauterne, Aszú is made with grapes that have succumbed to the botrytis cinerea fungus, otherwise known as noble rot. If conditions are just right – the convergence of three rivers on Tokaj creates a unique microclimate, the botrytis mould causes sweet grapes to dry out and shrivel. The resulting Aszú berries have a very high concentration of sugar and rich flavours, and must be hand-picked to separate them from unaffected grapes. It is the shrivelled grapes that lend Tokaji Aszú its intense colour and distinctive range of flavours.

Only four varieties of grape are permitted in Tokaji Aszú: Furmint, Hárslevelű, Muscat Lunel and Zéta. The botrytised grapes are mixed with dry wine or must to extract their flavours. On a bottle of Aszú wine, you will see the word “puttonyos" preceded by a number. This refers to the number of hods (a puttony is a 27-litre grape picker’s hod) of aszú berries that are added to a 136 litre cask of must or wine during the making of the Tokaji Aszú. Six is the maximum, and a six puttonyos Tokaji Aszú will have the most intense, richest botrytis flavours. Even further up the scale, the Esszencia makes do without the base wine entirely. These sumptuous elixirs have wine critics waxing lyrical about sun-dried fruits, nuts, caramel and toffee, as well as the mineral flavours characteristic of the grapes grown in this region. Many people shy away from sweet wines, but they are missing out on a real delicacy.