By Rose Murray Brown MW  Published in The Scotsman 16 November 2024

It’s autumn in Tokaj region.  I am in the village of Mad in north-east Hungary at Royal Tokaji winery inspecting mid-sized open tanks full of newly harvested dark brown shrivelled grapes.  These are precious ‘botrytised’ Aszu grapes, five times more concentrated than a normal grape, picked berry-by-berry by skilled workers – and used to make the famous Tokaji Aszu, one of the world’s most unusual and historic sweet wines.

“One picker can pick about 6kg of Aszu berries per day, so it is a laborious process”, explains winemaking director Zoltan Kovacs.  “It is a long harvest, this year we started Aszu picking on 22 September and will finish mid-November as grapes slowly shrivel”.

Tokaj’s particular microclimate aids the onset of noble rot (botrytis), the key to these sacred berries.   Morning mists rise from wetlands around the confluence of Bodrog and Tisza rivers, up to vineyards on low volcanic hill slopes below the Zemplen mountains – and later in the day, sunny afternoons encourage further ripening.

“One thing that Tokaj cannot influence is the weather – only four years in a decade are suitable for Aszu”, explains Kovacs.  “A small amount of rain and mist, followed by dry conditions as in 2013, 2015 or 2017 was good, but in 2011 and 2014 the aszu harvest was small – and in 2010 nothing at all”.

In the cellar each tub of sticky sweet berries is labelled with grape names and vineyards.  In Tokaj six varieties are allowed: Furmint and Harslevelu, the main grapes alongside Sargamuskotaly (Muscat), Kabar, Koverszolo and Zeta – each adding elements to the blend from Furmint’s acidity and steely structure, Harslevelu’s honeyed notes, Muscat’s aromas to Koverszolo’s quince fruits.

At the bottom of each tub of dark Aszu berries there is a tap.  When we turn it, a trickle of juice emerges from the weight of raisined grapes – this is the world’s sweetest nectar, Essencia, a dense luscious liquid sold at £100 per spoonful.

“After a few days the tanks of newly picked shrivelled Aszu berries are macerated in fermenting must, made from healthy grapes, for two days to extract as much flavour and sweetness, then pressed and racked into Hungarian oak casks for two years maturation”, says Kovacs.

In the old days Aszu grapes were picked into 27 litre wooden ‘puttony’ backpacks (as pictured above).  The ‘puttonyos’ number we now see on Tokaji Aszu bottles refers to the amount of shrivelled berries added to fermenting must, but today residual sweetness in the final wine is classified  eg. 5 puttonyos must be 120+g/l and 6 puttonyos 150+g/l.

In my view, there is no better match for Christmas pudding than 5 or 6 puttonyos Aszu – whilst the wines do have concentrated treacly sweetness, they always have wonderful natural acidity from the volcanic terroir, keeping them fresh and vibrant in the mouth.

We head deeper down into Royal Tokaji’s atmospheric C13 cellars, where Mad’s inhabitants once hid from invading Tartar armies in the 1,000 metres of twisting tunnels.  Humidity is over 95% down here with walls covered in black mould, feeding from row upon row of maturing barrels of Aszu and slowly fermenting demi-johns of Essencia.

Most Tokaji Aszus on the market from Tokaj’s 200+ producers are blends of different vineyards, but now those who focus on quality sweet Aszus are also bottling single vineyard wines to show vineyard characteristics of the region’s unique volcanic terroir.

So you can now see the difference between the vineyards from the world’s first ever classification of 1737 – from Mezes Maly’s floral elegance, Betsek’s spicy pepperiness to Szt Tamas’ stony minerality.

For the geek, a six pack of Royal Tokaji’s line up of single vineyard Aszu (£460 for 25cl bts Lea & Sandeman) is the ultimate sweet gift (see above).

TOKAJI ASZUS TO TRY:

TOKAJI ASZU BLUE LABEL 5 PUTTONYOS 2018 Royal Tokaji

£14.99 hf bt Waitrose; Cockburns of Leith; Majestic Wine; The Wine Society

Shows vibrant acidity, citric flavours with honey undertones, hints of toffee to finish

 

TOKAJI ASZU 5 PUTTONYOS 2013 Oremus

£70 for 50 cl bt Berry Bros; Fortnum & Mason

Rich dense with a minty edge, sweet succulence with maturing leathery notes

TOKAJI ASZU 5 PUTTONYOS 2013 Disznoko

£55 for 50 cl bt Cambridge Wine

Lighter fresher peachier flavours with lemon marmalade with a quince and grapefruit aftertaste.

TOKAJI ASZU GOLD LABEL 6 PUTTONYOS 2017 Royal Tokaji  ***STAR BUY***

£53 for 50 cl bt Majestic Wine 

Blend of Royal Tokaji’s single vineyards; dense rich intense dark marmalade notes, with lingering freshness

TOKAJI ASZU 6 PUTTONYOS 2017 Szepsy Estate

£160 for 50 cl bt Oxford Wine

Dense limey fruits, succulent sweetness with superb length – very accomplished blend

TOKAJI ASZU BETSEK VINEYARD 6 PUTTONYOS 2017 Royal Tokaji

£57.99 for 50 cl bt Berry Bros; Farr Vintners

First growth vineyard Betsek has black volcanic soil giving intense minerally and black pepper notes – loved the spicy underlay below the dense sweetness.

Join Rose’s Fine Wine Tasting Dinners at Prestonfield 27 November and The Peat Inn 5 December www.rosemurraybrown.com