1996 Royal Tokaji Wine Company 6 Putts n: totally different from the others, very much like Sherry p: oxidative Sherry-like character, almost butterscotch, bears little to no resemblance to the few Tokajis I've had
Of the three, the consensus winner was the Oremus. It had great richness of flavor but also had the characteristics I expect to find in Tokaji Aszu.
For the most part, Aszu starts at 5 P. for me. I don't drink young Aszu, but the older examples of 4 P I have had usually are a bit dilute for what Aszu can be.
This sounds at least 20 years too young for me. This is a new wave Tokaji, so I have no idea how it will develop. However, if it develops as classic Aszu, it should have complex dried fruit character, butterscotch and great length and intensity when 20 to perhaps 50 years old.
It seems this wine may be a bit advanced for what would be expected if it were a classic 6P Aszu. I worry that it has developed butterscotch at such an early age and you do not mention intense dried fruit character. It could just be starting to develop and be going through a dumb phase for perhaps 20 to 50 years before it emerges with great richness, complex and intense dried fruit character, and butterscotch. But again it may not.
This sounds like the winner if you must drink Aszu at such an early age these days. For me, I am only interested in a classic style of Aszu. The youngest I am drinking now is about 35 years old. However you have to go back to 1945 and earlier to find out what classic Aszu, Aszu Eszencia, and Eszencia can be. The 1945 Eszencia perhaps is the most recent great Eszencia that is classic and ready to drink. Also some of the 1945 Aszu Eszencias and 5-6 P Aszu were great wines. When Tokaji production was taken over by the state and restructured after
1945, there was considerable decline, especially for the less rich styles. However I have tasted a few 5-6 P Aszus and Aszu Eszencias from that era that were very good, but not quite up to the best from
1945 and earlier.
A classic Eszencia is like no other wine I have ever tasted. When fully aged at about 50 to over 100 years old, it is nearly unbelievable. It is oily and very thick. The color is very dark. The wine may be a bit cloudy because the extremely fine sediment often never completely settles. The bouquet is extreme and very complex. It includes a mix of dry fruit such as apple peel, apricots, and perhaps citrus peel. Also mixed dried flowers often are apparent. Caramel or butterscotch often is quite strong in both the bouquet and taste. Some have called it a wine of autumn tastes and smells There often is a spice character. The wine is nearly as sweet as honey, but there is plenty of acid to balance that. Only a few drops will coat the mouth, and the taste will linger for many minutes. The concentration is such that a tiny serving of even about 1/2 oz is ample. And it usually keeps very well after opening, although the alcohol content might be only 3%. Likely the very high sugar and acid content protect it. The best classic Aszu Eszencia can develop much as described above, but there usually is considerably less of everything. There was a time when you could sometimes find old classic Eszencia at auction, and the price, while high, was no more than many top French wines from older, classic vintages. Today you are lucky to find a top old classic Eszencia at all, and if it is in good condition, and sometimes not, the price likely will be extreme. Fortunately I bought some top Tokaji about 30 years ago when it could still be found with a little effort, and you did not have to be a millionaire to afford it.
Is this a gold-derived rating system, or a technical term referring to the percent acitidy divided by the molar vapor pressure over the resudal sugar concentration at STP?
A puttony is an about 25 kilo measure, or a traditional hod, of grapes in Hungary. The number of puttonys of the nearly dry grapes that have been greatly concentrated by noble rot that are added per barrel of dry base wine determines the sweetness of the wine. A barrel of dry base wine is about 136 L. The Aszu wine usually runs from 3 to 6 P. These days the measured residual sugar has replaced the number of hods of grapes added. 3P contains about 60 g pf sugar per L while 6P contains about 150. The next step up is Aszu Eszencia. It must contain at least 180g of residual sugar per L. The best wine, made only in minute quantities in the very best of years is Eszencia. It is made with only free run juice without crushing or pressing from only the best botrytis grapes with no added base wine. The sugar content of it can exceed 750 g/L., depending on how much the sugar has been concentrated in the botrytis grapes. At best, Eszencia can last for centuries. It is the wine that Louis IV called the king of wines and the wine for kings. Catherine the Great sent troops to Hungary to guard it and safely bring it back to Russia. It has always been extremely rare and costly.
On the basis of this one bottle, I'd tend to agree. I see from H. Johnson's Pocket Guide that there is (in theory) also 7 putts Tokaji, but I had thought that 6 putts was the usual upper limit before getting to Aszu Eszencia (as opposed to true Eszencia). Have you ever seen a 7 putts bottling?
Perhaps I will some day be able to render an opinion on this topic, but you have the better of me here. I know that Tokaji is nearly immortal and takes on quite different visual and flavor characteristics with age, but to date the oldest I've had is the '96 RTWC below. One problem of course with finding older wines is avoiding the miserable excuses for Tokaji produced during the Communist era (I wonder if any decent Tokaji was made in the '45-'59 period?)
The big worry for me is the Sherry-like character, which we all independently recognized (it was hard to miss). That suggests premature oxidation, perhaps indicative of cork failure or a problem with the elevage. FWIW, I had a '96 Szepsy 6 putts with Ian Hoare in '01 and it was totally different in character from this wine (and much more enjoyable) with plenty of dried fruit and earthy character.
A 35-year-old Tokaji would place it from 1972, squarely in the Communist era. Is it at all good? My impression is that nothing of quality was being made then. If not so, who was the producer? I know that Szepsy was working for the gov't collective, so perhaps he made something of value?
Thanks again. It's always interesting to hear about wines that I'll likely never get a chance to try.
I have never seen a 7 putts bottling. I have just read about it as you did. Even though I have been around many years, Aszu has been around far longer. Perhaps a 7 putts wine was a bit more seen in the distant past. I also have never seen anything lower than 4 putts.
Yes, there are some good wines from the 45-59 era. Michael Broadbent describes many of them in his 3 vintage wine books over many years. You need to view all 3 of his books to find some of the best ones. The best state wine that comes to mind that I have and have tasted is the Aszu Eszencia 1957. Broadbent rated this 5-star. The Aszu 6 putts 1959 and the Aszu-Eszencia 1964 are a bit of a step down, but still are very good. The Aszu 5 putts 1975 also is quite good and holding. Many others can be much like the Aszu 5 putts 1973. They are quite drinkable but are not very interesting and only a hint of what fine Aszu can be. All of these wines were once fairly easy to find at auction at attractive prices. I no longer follow this market, but my general impression is that the better ones are not seen very often, and the price of them often is now fairly high.
I mentioned some of the better wines from the communist era above. Usually the producer is not mentioned on the bottles of state wine. I have no idea if they blended all of the wine for a particular bottling, or provided different blends of it for different markets. The US importer in the 70s provided some for sale in the normal distribution channels and sold some at their fine wine auctions. I have no idea how much influence they had in what the Hungarian state Tokaji authority sent them, if any. At a later date some of the best of these wines reappeared at other auctions such as at the Chicago Wine company - more expensive, but still very good value. I do know that some of the very poor, cheap examples of Tokaji sold in this era were not very nice. They often were sweet, had a generic sherry-like character, and little else.
I did find the 1889 Eszencia from Zimmermann Lipot for sale in the small Tokay bottle that contains considerably less wine than a modern bottle. It is called a half bottle, but it likely is a bit larger than a modern half bottle. It is in the UK and can be yours for about $US
2600. Broadbent has notes for this wine in his first vintage wine book, and tasted it in 1972. He rated it as 5 star. However he tasted another bottle in 1974 that had no sediment and had a strong farmyard bouquet. He thought it likely was an aszu eszencia. So if you win the lottery, I think you would likely at least need to examine the bottle, note the sediment, and read Broadbent's notes carefully. The description by the seller is at
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Laws and labeling customs sometimes were more lax in the past, so you have to be very careful. An Aszu Eszencia may not include the Aszu, or mention it only in text somewhere else on a label with Eszencia in bold letters at the top of the label. Likely some of the safest old classic Eszencia to buy has a Berry Bros. label. They imported it into the UK in the 1930s, and most of these wines have had good reviews by Broadbent and others. I hate to think what the 1811 Eszencia described by Broadbent would now cost, but it likely could not be found at all.
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