Reports from Our Readers

This article was originally posted by David from Switzerland in the Wine Lovers' Discussion Group under the title TN: Long weekend in Tokaj (boundless, personal and tedious, as always), and is archived here with his permission. Far from "tedious," it is one of the most thorough and comprehensive Tokaji tasting reports we have seen. We're grateful to David for his effort, and delighted to make it available to the wine-loving public.

If Viking has made you believe Neutral does not have an opinion on anything, I guess you are out of luck and opened the wrong post. The best I can say in Neutral's defence is that his alter ego must have written the following ;^)

When Királyudvar co-owner Anthony Hwang offered Albino and me that he would receive us as guests at the annual Királyudvar dinner and accommodate us, we could not resist. After all, we had not been to Tokaj Hegyalja in over three years, and were curious to see how one of our favourite wine-growing regions was evolving (hopefully, improving) and most importantly, we were overdue to visit friends we had made in November 1999 and since then via the internet (thanks indirectly to Robin Garr!) and private correspondence.

Tokaj Hegyalja (= "region of hills" or "hillsides") may be my favourite wine-producing region in the world mainly because of "historical" coincidence: we were lucky enough to get to know many people (not only vintners) before the (so far relative) gold rush, i.e. we fell in love with the wines, the region and the people when the former two were still noticeably on the upswing (and still are). The friendliness of the people here is nearly impossible to express in words, and the best part is that I do not remember having been treated like a tourist as one can be elsewhere. Vintners show you around and talk about their wines with a candour that is unique to the region, and where they do not speak languages other than Hungarian (mine is limited to saying "thank you very much!"), they will make up for it in taking yet more time (I have yet to meet an impatient person, days down here seem to consist of at least 30 hours) in showing you around the cellars and vineyards, feeding you etc. & etc.

Of course I realize that visitors like us (along with, more importantly, investors from Hungary and abroad) have brought and are continually infecting the region and its population with capitalism (not the political system, the attitude!), so that Tokaj seems already less of an idyll today than only three and a half years ago. That being said, I am perfectly aware that there is nothing romantic about poverty and eternal struggle (not that the region ever was exceptionally poor, just relatively speaking, considering Tokaj has, let us not forget, traditionally been one of the finest wine-producing areas in the world - in terms of late harvest sweet wine it even used to be, in the eyes of many contemporary observers, the finest until World War I), and thus am happy to see that people, among them friends of ours, are continually doing better. The only reason I will not enumerate those we count among our personal friends in Tokaj Hegyalja is that I am afraid I might offend someone I forget to mention.

First of a plethora of asides: A question I have been asking myself is this: how unbiased am I when it comes to wines made by people I like versus wines from other regions made by people I have not even met (in contrast to wines I do not like, people I do not like are fortunately rare)? I have come to the conclusion that I need not claim I could be unbiased. I tend to think of friends and kin similarly as I do as a teacher of my pupils/students, only that I learn more from my friends than I could teach them. With my pupils I am aware of my tendency to be over-critical of those I know and like best personally, and that I have increasingly greater tolerance for those I know and/or care less about (I can honestly say to so far never have disliked any of my pupils, probably because I feel particularly responsible for the rare problematic ones). I hope none of my didactics teachers reads this, but is it not easier to take a personal point of view, but one that works, instead of claiming one could be objective? Apart from that, I try not to judge others more severely than myself (with variable success, I cannot deny it), and to remember that is not that the others rotate around me as earth and stars do around the sun (little light emerges from where I am located), but rather vice versa. Even so, it is unavoidable that one ends up criticizing those most severely in whose well-doing one takes a particular personal interest. End of aside.

Be that as it may, one to the most interesting questions I was asked during our stay was one of Anthony Hwang's, whether or not we thought the quality across the board had improved since our last visit, and that I felt I had to answer with both a "yes and no". One does not get to taste any technically flawed wines anymore, so far the good news. But despite the fact that there are now many well-made wines offered by numerous wineries, the truly inspirational stuff is still rare. The potential, of course, has now been laid open for everyone to see.

A word or two on the understatement bottling practice among the top producers in Tokaj: as pointed out in earlier posts of mine, Nerval from Poland and others, there are bottlings in all categories that exceed the required minimum content of residual sugar as well as (with lesser regularity, it appears to me) sugar- and acid-free dry extract. To the visible disappointment of some vintners, however, I cannot get turned on by such information. I honestly do not care how many 6 Puttonyos Aszús sport sugar levels exceeding 180 g/l (the requirement for Aszú-Esszencia, whereas a 6 Puttonyos legally requires only 150 g/l - for more information on the legal requirements, click on this link to a the post on our small 1993 Aszú-Esszencia horizontal last year). A reason why such "understatement bottling" may be done more often at the 6 Puttonyos level than any other is that vintners cannot afford postponing marketing the wine for another two years (i.e. three years barrel plus two years bottle equals a total of five versus two plus one equals three for 6P and below), plus that they are afraid the wine would not receive the permission from the board to be bottled as AE, so that the additional wait would not pay dividends.

In my understanding the connection between higher sugar content and the actual quality of an Aszú (and even Esszencia) is at best indirect. For me, there can be great wine at every Puttonyos level, because I tend to look at each wine individually in terms of concentration (not at all the same thing as sugar content, although that is what some people try to make you believe!), structure, balance and length, plus of course depth and complexity (present or potential, both is fine with me, as I do not think all wine has to be ageworthy, on the contrary, there are markets that will welcome a wine that drinks well early, although the combination of both factors, early harmony and ageworthiness can be regarded as ideal, and that is something Tokaj Aszú achieves fairly often).

As far as the step up from 6 Puttonyos to Aszú-Esszencia is concerned, I follow an admittedly subjective rule of thumb (that I invented myself): if it needs to be called to my attention that the 6 Puttonyos I am tasting would have qualified as Aszú-Esszencia, I think the producer has done well not to label it higher than 6 Puttonyos. Tokaji Aszú-Esszencia to my mind should be a bottling a winemaker wants to make a qualitative statement with, the wine of all wines in his portfolio he takes most pride in having made (in contrast to Esszencia that is a product of nature that the winemaker should try not to interfere with). If you are bowled over by the quality of an AE although it does not exceed the legal requirements by a single gram of sugar and extract, so what? In the same vein, does a superlative quality 6 Puttonyos need an excuse? I do not think so. Even if a 6P has way over 200 g/l of r.s. but subjectively tastes like a 6P (and most of those understatement 6Ps do exactly that), if it is a great wine, who cares?

Of course, the other way round, it would be difficult to think of an excuse (i.e. for a wine labelled AE that a majority of tasters would pick as a 6P in a blind tasting), which is why my friend Albino simply finds the legal requirements too low given the standards of the finest Tokaj producers, a view I increasingly tend to agree with. Either way, what is in the bottle is what counts.

In short, for a wine to be labelled Aszú-Esszencia, it had rather be profound.

Another topic I would like to discuss here briefly are the difficulties involved with bottling Tokaji Esszencia (also called Nektár or Natúr-Esszencia - again, see my earlier post on our small 1993 Aszú-Esszencia horizontal for more information on what the difference between Aszú-Esszencia and Esszencia is). The most important aspects to know are that Esszencia traditionally is the free-run juice from the Aszú (dry) berries, contains no base must or wine, and exceeds anything in the world of botrytis late harvest dessert quality wine in terms of residual sugar and dry extract, and that it may or may not contain alcohol - i.e. if it ferments at all, it rarely achieves more than 3 to 5% alcohol, which is why many locals do not even think of Esszencia as wine.

Lately Albino and yours truly noticed that there is a lamentable difference between what one is offered to taste as barrel samples (be that unfermented following harvest or fermented or still fermenting prior to bottling, and either kept in oak or in glass balloons/demijohns) and what one can buy in bottle. Even though there is only a limited number of Esszencias where we could taste the identical product before and after bottling, i.e. that were not assembled with other lots or subjected to an aging process in barrel or that had fermented in the meantime etc., it does not take a great palate to recognize that unmanipulated Esszencia has an oversize intensity, complexity, depth and length, along with a crunchiness and food-like quality to the barrel samples that bottled Esszencia seldom (let alone fully) lives up to.

Discussing the problem with several vintners, we were reminded of the 1999 harvest when we were given the opportunity to taste maybe two dozen unfermented Esszencias from that vintage plus a few older ones from cask and demijohn, and our inquiries at the time whether or not one or the other of the finest would be bottled at a later stage (I posted TNs on virtually everything we tasted back then), and when several vintners, including István Szepsy, whom we regard as a favourite source of information when it comes to all sorts of Tokaj-related questions, told us that fining and filtering Esszencia was such a problem that several vintners were not even sure the product could be bottled and marketed at all!

Before anyone asks why bottling Esszencia unfiltered is unworthy of consideration, that is because apart from the cloudiness of unfiltered Esszencia (a purely aesthetic problem), unless one gets the yeasts out, there is a chance it will recommence fermentation in bottle so that corks may be pushed out or bottles explode (it has apparently happened sometimes). I personally do mind the cloudiness (apparently others do), but it is easy to see that potentially exploding bottles are not what fine wine lovers are prepared to pay premium prices for.

I used to believe that refermentation of unfiltered Esszencia (because it really only ferments at a snail's pace when kept cool) was mainly a problem because there is no way of telling with certainty whether profit-minded fine wine importers and wine merchants in Europe and abroad provide temperature-controlled containers for transport and storage throughout, and because many fine wine lovers cannot provide sufficiently ideal storage conditions. Of course there is no denying that misstoring unfiltered Esszencia will make matters worse, but it is not that simple: since then I had the opportunity to store barrel samples of unmanipulated Esszencia in small screw cap bottles in a cool and humid cellar (almost as ideal conditions as Tokaj's own), and have noticed that although Esszencia ferments almost unnoticeably slowly (subjectively there was little change in balance and evolution to samples provided the surface-volume ratio was not extreme, i.e. sample bottles almost empty), one can smell and occasionally hear a little fermentation gas escape when opening the screw cap every three months or so. The problem is definitely real and to be taken seriously.

Now, whereas purists like Albino and myself would rather buy screw cap-bottled unfiltered Esszencia that is not stripped of any of its character, because, to put it simply, unmanipulated Esszencia can be the greatest sweet wine on Planet Earth, that does not appear an option in the eyes of most producers, so that too many bottled examples, modern or old, are stripped of much of their character: they may be sweeter and perhaps still more of a solid in terms of mouthfeel, but ones that are more serious than other top sweet wines from elsewhere, e.g. the finest German TBAs, are rare - and that we feel is a pity.

Medium-short aside: As far as my ratings are concerned, by the way, I tend to look at Esszencia as a paradigm of its own, since technically it is not Aszú (there is, or should be, no base must or wine)! To our mind it is perfectly possible to refer to one Tokaji Esszencia as being better than another, something that I have noticed some vintners find startling (apart from the fact that they have difficulties accepting Esszencia is wine, they cannot believe anyone drinks it, i.e. is willing to swallow more than a sip). Several vintners, in particular ones that have little experience with sweet wines from elsewhere, appear to believe that in the international sweet wine paradigm, all Tokaji Esszencia would have to rate 100 points plus (a simplification, especially when it comes to what is actually being bottled and marketed!). That anyone could be so stubborn (such as yours truly) to rate Tokaji Esszencia in terms of balance, structure, depth etc. (as mentioned earlier) same as any other wine seems almost blasphemous to some. End of aside.

One aspect I want to call to attention is that many bottled Esszencias do not only not correspond to primus inter pares Tokaj vintner István Szepsy's own definition of at what point "true Esszencia" starts ("Esszencia should really have over 500 g/l residual sugar, truly great one over 600 and more" is what the master told us three years ago), but some that is available at present, such as Hétszölö's 1993 and 1999 that are both under 400 g/l r.s. (we have not tasted either, maybe they are stunning - after all, sugar content is not everything, and the 2000 I could taste last year seemed promising enough) could no longer be bottled under the most recent legislation, which requires a minimum of 450 g/l. Among other aspects, Tokaji Esszencia, despite the fact that it can be hugely botrytized, can be extremely terroir-expressive - all in all, I would insist that the beauty of Esszencia cannot be expressed in numbers (such as content of residual sugar, dry extract etc.). What you smell and taste in the glass is what counts.

The other aspect I find worthy of mention brings us back to the bottling problem: Albino and I urged István to explain in detail what treatment Esszencia undergoes in order to be bottled and marketed. Traditionally, he says, there were no other possibilities than to either pasteurize and/or fortify (= add brandy to) Esszencia to stabilize it. Applying pressure to Esszencia will not help because it will no kill the yeasts (it would start to ferment again as soon as the pressure would be taken off), i.e. it would still have to be filtered. When I asked whether filters had been improved since we last discussed the problem in 1999 (the problem is that filters used to get soaked so there was loss of quantity and that once they were thoroughly soaked they would clog and one soon needed a new one), István shrugged and said "Yes and no. We have a better method now." According to him, the best way to go about it is to start by selecting lots so that Esszencia that is completely off the charts in terms of viscosity and residual sweetness is used for Aszú-making (with a perfectionist vintner like Szepsy one can assume the same would happen to lots he is not satisfied with). The remaining lots are then assembled to make for a balanced product. Maybe I am overinterpreting this last aspect, but I got the impression that what one wants to assemble is not a only a complete but also a manageable product. Next, the "new method" that, if I understand correctly, oenologist Zoltán Demeter introduced at Királyudvar is to break up the molecular structure of Esszencia by the addition of enzymes, which turn it liquid enough so it can be pressed through the filter. An aspect I have not fully understood is that it then apparently jellies again to some degree after filtration (what happens to the enzymes I forgot to ask). Whether or not Esszencia can be fined using this method as well, I do not know (neither whether there would be any relevance to fining it).

To end with, István reiterated that he finds this new method preferable to pasteurization and/or fortification (same as for the already bottled 1999 Királyudvar Esszencia, he plans to use it for his own 1999 Esszencia, which he told us was not yet assembled because a couple of lots were still fermenting). Even so, it was clear from the outset that he agreed with us in principle that there is still a noticeable difference between unfiltered and filtered Esszencia and that the topic deserves further investigation.

Note my intention is not to complain at length about imperfections in winemaking or bottling methods. But I think we fine wine customers should recognize our responsibility in all this - I mean, ask yourselves: how imperative is it that a high-end product is technically foolproof if that implies some loss of quality?

Needless to emphasize, there can be no question the traditional methods were problematic (note that when I mention tradition, I never refer to the Socialist era, as the winemaking practices of that era, to my mind, broke with tradition rather than established it). Trying to think of examples to illustrate the different methods, I am reminded on the one hand of the highly concentrated and complex 1920 Zimmermann Lipót és Fiai Esszencia tasted in May 1999 that would in all probability have been a super wine except that it was all too noticeably fortified and thus bore rather more similarity to Pedro-Ximenez Sherry than Tokaji Esszencia; on the other hand no such effect spoiled our appreciation of the legendary 1947 Borkombinát (now Kereskedöház) Esszencia at the same tasting (if I remember correctly, Michael Broadbent published a tasting note on the 1947 in one of his earlier editions, for those who own his publications). What I am curious to find out is how top modern-day Esszencias such as Disznókö's 1993 made their way into bottle. Márta Wille-Baumkauff reports her near-perfect 1988 was "simply filtered using Romicon membrane filters", destroying two filters despite the ridiculously small quantity bottled - only six bottles were auctioned (you should be able to find tasting notes on all of the Esszencias mentioned here in the Archive, but anyone interested in the latter two please note they are virtually impossible to find and cost about three times as much as most other available modern-day Esszencias - the still available 1947 Kereskedöház is probably even more expensive, but there I am not at all convinced that all lots are of the same quality).

Some may wonder what fruit patience would bear - i.e. whether Esszencia would stabilize itself if allowed to ferment to the point where the yeasts can no longer survive in the hostile atmosphere of excruciatingly high monosaccharines, acidity and (low) alcohol? Unfortunately the yeasts have the ability to mutate so that there is always a new strain that will survive that will continue to ferment the residual sugar - although I do not believe there are yeasts that could ferment an Esszencia dry to a theoretical 40-plus percentage of alcohol. Either way, such a method would not seem practical.

To end this with, let me quickly add what Albino proposed in our discussion with István: that it might be worth inquiring into alternative, that is, semi-permeable closures for bottles instead of corks, so that fermentation gas could escape, bottles would not blow up and Tokaji Esszencia could be bottled unmanipulated. I hope there are more purists/naturalists out there who will support this kind of thinking.

What else is new? There is now a new 375 ml bottle for Esszencia that Szepsy may already use for his 1999 (Királyudvar's 1999 comes in the standard half litre Tokaj bottle). Although I personally favour the small 250 ml bottles (which you may have seen the Royal Tokaji Wine Company use for their red and blue label 5Ps, or Oremus for their 1995 Esszencia) for Esszencia because it allows you to open a bottle more often and for less guests, I love the new 375 ml bottle because it looks very much like some of the historic 19th century Tokaj bottles that I have always found prettier than any of the modern ones. Watch out for it!

A quick summary of recent vintages:

1995 has brought forth a number wines that across the board are cleanly fruity and satisfyingly rich, but even the best are leaner than any from true top vintages.

1996 suffers from a prolonged wet period followed by a dry but hardly warm autumn that led to dusty-dry botrytis that has caused a number of wines to taste roasted and sometimes medicinal early on, but apart from the baked apple characteristic, what 1996s we could retaste in recent years seem to be achieving greater harmony than expected as they are evolving in bottle. Although I still cannot warm up to the 1996s as much as some people, it is officially regarded as the third best Aszú vintage of the nineties, and across the board no doubt the finest between 1993 and 1999, but at the top end I continue to prefer the handful best 1997s and 1998s. I have to agree with many producers that the 1996s have more typical balance, though, meaning they are softer and easier to appreciate, but from my perspective that is not what one looks for in young high-end Aszú.

1997 has only brought forth a small quantity of almost Germanic-style wines: concentrated and structured with powerful acids. The more 1997s I get to taste the more I seem to like the vintage, although I am convinced that wines not from low enough yields may take a bad turn as they age in bottle (plus those are simply not sweet enough for balance). Nevertheless, that this vintage's reputation is so low is probably rather due to the fact that many wineries, including the influential state-owned Kereskedöház, made little or no Aszú at all.

1998 suffered from such bad rainstorms during the vintage that the handful best wines come across as strictly miraculous. Top vintners like Vince Gergely and István Szepsy have never made a secret of the fact that the vintage was a mess, and that Aszú berries soaked up rainwater with such regularity that it was impossible to pick them as dry as one should. I remember that in his cellar in November 1999, Szepsy even warned us to watch out for signs of rot (and tart mouldy-unclean botrytis) even in his finest own young wines, because he felt that even with the most severe selection he may not have fully overcome the problem. I can only say this much, though: those who underestimate the handful top 1998s may end up sorry for it!

1999 is the finest vintage across the board since 1993, with many evenly ripe, clean and pure, nicely balanced wines that are accessible thanks to their early harmony, in terms of sheer breadth of successful wines (number of bottlings) 1999 may in fact be the vintage of the decade, but curiously enough one does not find anything at the top end that offers the intensity, power and acid structure of the better 1993s, so that we started wondering whether some producers are holding back their finest 1999s, perhaps planning to market their top wines as Aszú-Esszencia in 2004/2005?

2000 appears to have been record-setting in terms of must weights, but curiously enough the wines exhibit very little botrytis, as the early-mature berries remained healthy throughout the warm autumn and in great part appear to have shrivelled without being much affected by botrytis (I have only seen pictures of 2000 Aszú material and there berries look uncommonly healthy, similar to raisins bought at the supermarket). As a result, fruit flavours can be uncommonly pure and primary while superripe, and acids almost without exception freakishly low, although what acidity is left in the wines is often thoroughly ripe and aromatic, with great subtlety of retro-olfaction, i.e. acidity of quality rather than quantity. I have little doubt the top 2000s will have a long cellar life, after all, late harvest sweet wine does not age on acids alone, but I must admit that in general I have difficulties appreciating low-acid dessert wines, even if many 2000s have retained a remarkable sense of freshness despite their low acids.

2001 seems fairly promising across the board, at least we could taste a number of successful wines. Lots of botrytis spread across vineyards after heavy rains in September, which has definitely left its mark in the young wines, so I guess there will be Aszú in above-average quantity. Some producers like their 2001s better than their atypical (for the region) 2000s, no doubt because of their more typical sugar-acid balance and botrytis-induced aroma and flavour profiles. If I had to venture a guess, though, I would say 2001 is probably a very good to outstanding quality vintage rather than an outstanding to great one, but I really need to taste more wines to say anything specific.

2002 seems to have been problematic in many places as there was frequent rain from August to November, but again, we could taste some well-balanced wines, including rare high points that I thought even more memorable than the finest 2001s we had the opportunity to taste. Too early to say much with certainty, apart from the fact that we have so far only tasted two to three dozen 2001 barrel samples.

Recommended reading:

• Alkonyi László's (2000) Tokaj - The Wine of Freedom / Tokaj - A szabadság bora is well-written (English and Hungarian in one and the same edition), includes invaluable information of all kind, seems as complete as wine-related literature of standard format (and I assume pricing) gets and offers beautiful pictures. Highly recommended!
• Rohály's Wine Guide Hungary 2003 by Gábor Rohály and Gabriella Mészáros devotes only a chapter to Tokaj Hegyalja, but it is the only Hungarian wine book I know that reviews individual wines and rates them on the 100-point scale à la Robert Parker (note the similarity of the title). I own every edition since 1999 with the exception 2002, and find the Guide a reliable source year in year out; even if in detail I have my disagreements sometimes with numerical scores for individual wines (that goes both for low ratings as overly enthusiastic ones, although the latter are rarer), I am usually in agreement with his tasting notes.
• People who like reprints (not that I would not prefer originals) of historic books, in particular an educative one written in four parallel languages (Hungarian, German, French and English) that also contains beautiful and highly elucidating copperplate prints, should try and get a copy of Báró Miklós Vay's (= Nicholas Baron de Vay) Tokaj-Hegyalja Album. Originally edited by József Szabó (a reprint of his 1865 map of the historic crus comes with it) and István Törok for Printer to the Academy Gustáv Emich in Pest in 1867, the 2001 reprint was initiated by Tokaj Renaissance.

On to the individual wineries visited this year (in alphabetical order, not order of visit) and of course the tasting notes. Tasting notes on wines in brackets are on barrel samples.

I wish I could say I had taken TNs on all we tasted or spent enough time with individual wines to describe them more properly. It is not even as usually, when my TNs on wines I like tend to be longer and vice versa; in the following, I am afraid, there is no rule to this.

As always, those who have problems interpreting my "verbal rating system", see postscript, if necessary.

Château Dereszla, Bodrogkeresztúr
In the literature, the winery is sometimes referred to as Bodrog-Várhegy as well. I was impressed by the sympathetic young French owner by the name of Patrick d'Aulan (the winery belongs to the d'Aulan family from Champagne) and the respectfully renovated Széchenyi Cellar (the ancient merchant's cellar and building date from the 16th to 17th century, but Pascal, the owner of restaurant Ös Kaján in Tolcsva and former winemaker at Dereszla, told us parts of the cellar are probably much older). We did not visit the modern winery placed across the street. The cellar forms a labyrinth definitely worth visiting, with arched tunnels some of which are more spacious or larger in width than one usually sees.

As to the wines we could taste at the formal opening (quite a few, and I do not remember all), I did not take notes, but the Aszús from the 2000 vintage included an at least medium-concentrated 5 Puttonyos that showed a greater sense of vinosity and seemed rather better balanced and tighter at its core than the 6P; a sizeable but disappointing 6 Puttonyos that I remember particularly well because it was hugely fat and sugary, yet low in real concentration, loose and juicy-broad in the middle given its size, hollow as if without a core, lacking persistence on the finish; a mixed field Aszú-Esszencia that was altogether more shapely and better concentrated, more flavourful and well-balanced, but that still lacked individuality; and finally a quite appealing if not memorable single-vineyard Aszú-Esszencia Henye that seemed well-concentrated and balanced, and that offered more serious delineation and a little more depth, even a little minerality in contrast to the other wines (the winery owns mainly loess vineyards as far as I know, whereas at least part of the Henye is rhyolite). This last wine was good enough I finished my sample, but instead of getting a refill, I contented myself with a drink of water at the end of the visit and serving myself something to eat, as the food was truly delicious. I was told 2000 is the new winemaking team's first vintage, and so far as I could tell, one gets cleanly made, internationalized Aszú with a lot of residual sugar here (rather than actual concentration and density, except perhaps for the single-vineyard AE Henye), but with little character, let alone real depth. The best part was that for the vintage, the acids of all four Aszús (with the possible exception of of the 6P) were not quite as low as elsewhere - we guessed lifted, along with the residual sugar, by the addition of Esszencia (someone has been trying hard to come up with something showy here, no doubt).

Earlier that day, we had tasted Dereszla's Furmint Reserve 2000 at the Tokaj Renaissance banquet at Degenfeld, which I also thought cleanly made but far from inspiring.

Apparently Château Dereszla owns parcels in prime vineyards, even old vines for the most part, prunes short, built a modern winery with all the necessary equipment etc. & etc. What can I say? I loved the restoration of th ancient building and cellar, but was underwhelmed with the wines, which I thought modernistic in the negative sense: sterile sugar bombs aimed to make a first impression but little beyond that.

Disznókö, Tokaj
(although the winery is located in the eponymous Grand cru near Mád)

One of the most perfectionist wineries anywhere in the world and especially in Tokaj Hegyalja. When offered the opportunity to accompany Victor for another tour of the winery and taste some new wines, Albino and I instead decided to go the Tokaj Renaissance tasting (held yearly at the Greek Orthodox Church in the center of Tokaj) and the Tokaj Renaissance distribution of awards (held in the historic Rákóczi cellar in Tokaj) when we were offered to attend, as both events are normally not open to the public. Victor went to Disznókö and apparently enjoyed himself immensely there (no wonder, when Albino and I went in 1999, it was one of the highlights of our tour). Albino and I could taste a few recent Disznókö wines at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting and a few more samples that Victor brought along later in the evening in Márta Wille-Baumkauff's cellar.

When I gave expression to my view that Disznókö had offered a portfolio from Szamorodni Édes to Eszencia of such rare consistency in 1993 that even this perfectionist producer might never be able to live up to again in the future, Márta and Victor vehemently disagreed. Maybe, after having seen the picture-perfect Aszú berries at the winery in November 1999, my expectations were so high that I was unable to recognize the greatness of the few 1999s I could taste? I honestly thought them successful but not up the 1993s, but will of course gladly retaste them given the opportunity.

Disznókö Tokaji Dry Furmint 2002
Tasted only once at the Tokaj Renaissance banquet at Degenfeld. This is the only Disznókö bottling I could never warm up to, as regardless of vintage, it is high (sometimes very) in alcohol yet straightforward in aromas and taste, although always clean and free from oxidation. Good only?

Disznókö Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1998
Only tasted in passing at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting. I did not take notes, but remember that this showed a little of the medicinal tartness typical of many 1998s, that I thought it clearly less successful than the finest 1998s but very good, although it suffered in terms of ripeness and expressiveness in direct comparison to the 1999. Even so the 1998 5P still seemed a relative success for the vintage. Given the choice, I would have preferred retasting the 1997 6P, of course, Dominique Arrangois's personal favourite back in 1999 that had shown so much promise from barrel. When I asked his former assistant and now winemaker Stéphanie Berecz whether the new oak experiment on it had paid off, she smiled graciously, but I did not really get an answer. In addition, I only realized later that it would have been on show, but I should really have taken the time to taste the 1999 Szamorodni Édes as well, given the quality of the 1993 a bottling one should not underestimate here. I am confident I will get a chance to retaste all of these more leisurely one day, though, even though, to reiterate, none gave me that rare feeling of urgency to act that the 1993s did.

Disznókö Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1999
Only tasted in passing at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting. I did not take notes, but of course mentally compared it to the 1993, with the result that I thought the 1999 considerably tamer. Of course a 5P does not need to that good to be worthy of consideration, and I definitely thought both 1999s good enough that I said to myself I would retaste them in peace given the opportunity, but a) I forgot to inquire whether Disznókö's pricing policy is still as consumer-friendly as three years ago, and b) that I may never be able to get bottles in Switzerland, as thanks to the ignorance of my fellow countrymen (and -women!), the importer still has not sold out the 1993s and refuses to stock up on recent vintages as a result.

Disznókö Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1999
Only tasted in passing at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting. I did not take notes, but same as with the 5P, mentally compared it to its respective 1993, which was such a deceptive sucker at this early stage that I am reluctant to say with confidence that I did not think the 1999 quite as good, although it was a prettily balanced, ripe and smooth wine. Not quite the almost Suduiraut-like tropical fruit cocktail the 1993 6P provided at this early stage, but nice. I hope I will get a chance to retaste this, as Victor sounded very convinced when he told us about his visit and tasting at the Disznókö winery on the same day.

Disznókö Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1993
A bottle I opened for Dani and Albino after our return home, because of our discussion on Disznókö's fine but not overwhelming 1999s in Márta's cellar. Nerval's stats for this from August 2001 are 11.95% alc., 126 g/l r.s., acids 9.8 g/l. Attractive, now above medium-deep orange-gold. Definitely more body, acid backbone, power and intensity than what 1999s we could taste so far. The 1993 5P is doing great in bottle, with the site-typical Rangen de Thann-like quince bitter notes, superb concentration, good sweetness (that does not go beyond what the label suggests, it is rather the quality of wine that does) and impressive viscosity, a little tannin, outstanding length. Neither primary any longer (this never was as primary as the 6P) nor oxidative in style, just Tokaj. As Albino notes, it is most impressive how the terroir seems to take over in Disznókö's wines, once one allows them to evolve in bottle. With a couple hours of airing this soon opened up great complexity of Crème Brûlée and Tarte tartine apple, i.e. caramelized and baked, roasted acacia honey, bee's wax and tropical candied fruit centered around bitter-sweet quince, a little curry and cigar tobacco. As Dani said, even though the 6P has been catching up continuously since release and its greater sweetness may make for a more satisfying dessert wine experience, there has always been a greater sense of precision and vinosity to the 5P. This remains one of the finest 5Ps I have ever had. Reminds me of what István Szepsy said about Disznókö in November 1999 when we were talking quietly in his living room with Albino asleep open-mouthed on his chair: that in his opinion they practised the kind of perfectionism the region should aspire to and that they may have been the only ones able to take full advantage of the greatness of the 1993 vintage, when most other wineries were still in the doldrums. When I said years ago this seemed like Yquem for the poor to me, I had not fully realized it really takes an above-average vintage of Yquem to equal, let alone top this, yet astonishingly, the 1993 5P is still available at maybe a tenth of a recent Yquem's release price. Rating: 93+?

Disznókö Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos Kapi 1999
Recently bottled wine of which Victor had brought a sample along for us to taste after he had been at the winery without Albino and me. Kapi is a vineyard directly adjacent to the Disznókö cru, not on the Mád side but along the National Route 37, with perfect southern exposition. 212 g/l r.s. at 11.5% alcohol, so theoretically this could be bottled as AE, but that is not what it tastes like. A 100% Furmint I believe, but one that tastes almost like a 100% Hárslevelü. Amazing how different this tastes from a Disznókö. Intense wine, quite racy, lightly petrolly-rubbery dark minerality, nice acidity. Highly unusual in terms of aroma and flavour profile with its yellow melon, asparagus, broccoli, guava, juniper, pretty new French oak spice which reinforces the impression that this tastes like I imagine a late harvest white Burgundy might. I honestly thought this a bit weird, if in an interesting way, but my friends liked it very much. Difficult to judge. Excellent plus?

Disznókö [Tokaji Eszencia] 2000
Barrel sample with 845 g/l r.s. (close to a world record, I guess) and ca. 10 g/l acids (when tasting this a year ago, we were told 811 g/l r.s. and 12.4 g/l acids at 0.2% alcohol, and indeed, this did not quite taste as if it were the same). How much this has darkened in only two years ... Ceylon black tea-like marmalade, pine resin, forest honey, licorice stick, Brazil nut, botrytis bitter note, huge and thick, very long on the finish, but extremely low in acidity in balance, an aspect I did not think problematic when last tasting this in April 2001. A 100 g/l more residual sugar and roughly half the acidity than the 1993, and currently in a difficult in-between oxidation phase, so not easy to appreciate right now. What an oversize juice! No doubt great, but is this balanced enough for perfection? For the earlier TN click here.

Disznókö [Tokaji Eszencia] 2002
Barrel sample with ca. 800 g/l r.s. and 16 g/l acids. Right between tangerine and orange blossom, pretty tangerine- and passion fruit-scented acidity, some minerality, candied orange and a little cedar, very long, but carbon dioxide and yeast make this difficult to evaluate, so much so it seems unjustifiably lighter when tasted in direct comparison with the 2000 (still fermenting, that is why). As good and subjectively clean as this is (at least about great quality, possibly better, but really impossible to tell with confidence), and assuming Disznókö Eszencia always functions as an indicator of how good a vintage is at the top, I kept wondering how seriously 2002 Aszú vintage must be taken. Of course the analysis of this baby says high must weights were possible, but that is not a full answer.

Dobogó, Tokaj
This is a winery that we have not visited and about which I cannot tell you anything except that I believe it belongs to the Zwack family (is not Péter Zwack, who reminded me of the late Arthur Rubinstein, a former ambassador for Hungary in the U.S.?), that their only wine on show at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting was poured by an attractive young lady, and that it was made in the oxidative style, and was not bad at all.

Dobogó Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1997
This proves that there is room for a variety of styles including the seemingly early-mature oxidative (although this has the typical strong acid backbone, possibly along with the often admirable tightness of core, of the vintage, which made me think it really deserves a little patience), as nothing precludes an oxidative Aszú from being clean and technically flawless (unless wine critics abroad go on considering oxidation itself a flaw). Did not take notes, but remember this as at least in the good, potentially very good quality category.

István Dorogi, Tarcal
Márta Wille-Baumkauf former technical director, young István Dorogi runs his own winery now, owning parcels in the Elöhegy, Barát and Kónyai. We have not seen the winery, but Judit Bott of Füleky Pince, who shared a booth with Dorogi at the Tokaj Festival, poured us the following three wines. Caveat: I tasted all of these in the booth after it had started to rain, and the stemware used was not the greatest.

István Dorogi Tokaji Hárslevelü Édes 2000
Tasted only once at Dorogi's and Füleky Pince's Tokaj Festival booth. 113 g/l residual sugar, 6 g/l acids, 10.5% alcohol. Aged in steel tank. Pale yellow colour. Fairly nice but the sample seemed slightly unclean with a minor mouldiness. Judit Bott, who poured this, said it was corked, and she was probably right. At least I hope so, because when István came back to the booth, he did not show any reaction, as if in his opinion nothing was wrong with the sample bottle. Medium concentration, some linden flower with a overtone of maize/Indian corn and a mouldy "off" note. Judgement deferred.

István Dorogi Tokaji Furmint Édes 2000
Tasted only once at Dorogi's and Füleky Pince's Tokaj Festival booth. 230 g/l residual sugar, 8 g/l acids, 9% alcohol. A theoretical Aszú-Esszencia aged in steel tank, of which Judit Bott said István bottled it early because he felt it evolved too quickly. No more than a guess of mine, but Dorogi being a young private vintner with his business only getting started, he may simply have decided to do what I heard István Szepsy say about himself and his local colleagues more than once: "We cannot afford to wait, we need to be able to sell something." Medium yellow colour. At this stage a bit medicinal botrytis, deep quince and apple juice concentrate, impressive amount of acidity for the vintage, and the acids seemed quite ripe as well. A fairly concentrated and long wine, but hardly AE raw materials (i.e. this needs a little time to harmonize in bottle, but in hindsight it seems István Dorogi took the right decision not to subject this to three years of barrel age). I was informed that the botrytis was a bit dry due to the dry and sunny weather and that the berries shrivelled without it (i.e. they simply raisined on the vines). Very good, possibly very good plus quality. Note, however, that this is not an opportunity to get a unusually sweet Édes cheaply: unless my notes betray me, this is priced in the 5 to 6 Puttonyos range. Ironically, I liked Dorogi's much less sweet ("only" 64 g/l r.s., 34 g/l dry extract, 11.2% alc.), but not only for the vintage surprisingly pure and clean, evenly ripe, beautifully balanced and flavourful 1998 Furmint Édes rather better, plus what exceptional quality-price relation that wine provided!

István Dorogi Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1997
Tasted only once at Dorogi's and Füleky Pince's Tokaj Festival booth. Forgot to note the colour, but remember it as a bit reddish-orange. Aromas of tobacco smoke, sweet and green tobacco leaves, dried orange blossom, tender dried herbs such as thyme. Has cut thanks to firm acidity, which renders it a bit monolithical, it is fairly well-concentrated (let us hope sufficiently so), ends prettily and intensely orangey, unfolding more finesse on the aftertaste, mainly sweet pipe tobacco and subtle herbaceousness, along with a fallen apple oxidation/rancio note. Although this needs a few years to harmonize in bottle, prospective buyers will be well-advised to watch its further development (if I owned this, from the moment it hits its stride, I would open a bottle now and then and watch out if the tobacco top notes to become tannic-dry or cold ashtray-scented - which even if it happens should take a number of years). In other words, I would not just bury it in the cellar and forget it beyond two to four years, as it incorporates both the positive and some of the negative aspects of the 1997 vintage (as good as it can be at the top end of the quality range). About very good, possibly with minor upwards potential, difficult to say.

Füleky Pince, Bodrogkeresztúr
Young and charming technical director Judit Bott bubbles over with life and enthusiasm. A studied agronomist with Hungarian roots, yet born and raised in Slovakia, she loves to work in the vineyards, and like many of the serious (private) vintners in the region looks up to István Szepsy as a her own local fountain of knowledge and experience, never shy to ask questions and learn. Amazingly, she has only started winemaking three years ago (starting with the 2000 vintage), which is hard to believe once one tastes her concentrated, structured and terroir-expressive wines. What impressed me most (apart from her personality) is the fact that she has an acute sense of imperfections in her wines along with an eagerness to do better next time she gets a chance, so that one comes away thinking no one could be a more severe (yet not unrealistic) judge of her own wines than herself. Her early wines prove that there is a lot to be said in favour of simplicity when it comes to winemaking. As she puts it, it was really her relative inexperience and lack of modern equipment that led to her remarkable success in the difficult 2001 vintage: she urged her pickers to select botrytized berries with the utmost care because of her awareness that she lacked the oenological skills (and the filters!) to cope with impurities in the grape material (one has to admire the candour here, by the way: unlike vintners and sales representatives in other wine-growing regions, people in Tokaj rarely bore you with commonplace phrases such as that "great wine is made in the vineyard, not the cellar" - instead it is usually yours truly who resorts to these in the - probably futile to begin with - attempt to give himself an air of wisdom). In the same vein, she explained to us how she experiments with planting the ground and surroundings of individual vineyards so as to keep bugs from the vines and be less forced to use pesticides (again: easily understandable information instead of sales promotion vocabulary such as that what they are doing is biological farming, and believe it or not, I have yet to hear any Hungarian use the term "biodynamism"). She is also one of the rare vintners in Tokaj Hegyalja who expressed a curiosity to taste late harvest wines from wine-growing regions of other countries. In short, Judit Bott is the kind of curious, determined, yet humble and hard-working person I would employ as technical director if I owned a winery.

As to the winery, it owes its name to the family who built the mansion in 1798. The present owners, who bought it from the community in 1998, are Sigmund Kripp, Franz Pfeil and Isabelle Walderdorff, all from the Tirol region (Italy), the former two being vintners themselves. Vineyard holdings (including Királyyok, Sajgó and Veresek near Mád, Somos near Szegi and Palandor near Olaszliszka) amount to 19-20 ha, 10 of which in production for the firm itself and another 6 leased to other vintners.

Füleky Pince Tokaji Szamorodni Szaráz 1999
A blend of Furmint and Hárslevelü, 9 g/l residual sugar at 14.2% alcohol, 1800 bottles made. Very full body, rich apple with just a little fallen apple oxidation, cinnamon- and faintly vanilla-scented new oak gives this a touch of tannin. Very good!

Füleky Pince Tokaji Furmint Édes Király Dülö 2000
12-year-old vines here. Must weight of over 35, 72 g/l r.s., 5.6 g/l acids and 13% alc. 1600 bottles. Warm fruit on the nose, a combination of fresh and cidery apple, botrytis apricot, some of the site-typical minerality, some new oak bakery spice. On the palate the gluey botrytis tastes like loam at this early stage, which in part explains why the taste is less forthcoming than the aromatics. Even so, although the wine is nicely sweet and glyceric, balanced and not alcoholic despite relatively full body, I find it a bit hollow. About very good only.

Füleky Pince Tokaji Furmint Édes 2001
Tasted twice, once in the cellar, once in passing at the Tokaj Festival. Mixed field blend with 110 g/l r.s. and 7.8 g/l acids at 12.5% alcohol. 1700 bottles. I believe, but am not completely sure 2001 was the first vintage Judit Bott is responsible for (I guess so, as one could observe a definite step up in concentration in all she made versus her predecessor's wines), but this is the wine about which she told us that its quality could only be attributed to the fact that she urged her pickers to select grape material berry by berry with the utmost care same as for high-grade Aszú telling them she lacked the filters to cope with potential impurities. Interestingly enough, Judit Bott was the only vintner (or technical director) we spoke to who referred to 2001 as a problematic vintage at all, even if I do not remember anyone calling it great either. Significantly greater purity (amazing, is it not?) and tropicality on the nose than the 2000 Király, much denser, even more viscous on the palate, with beautiful pear compote-like fruit with some apricot, mango and sweet apple liqueur mixed in. Really impressive ripeness, not just the fruit but also of the acidity, which is not high but sufficient for balance, and more importantly, aromatic and provides above-average retro-olfaction as a result. Albino and I thought this one of the most promising wines in this category we had tasted in a long time. The sample at the Tokaj Festival was less forthcoming, but tasting under those circumstances was difficult due to stemware and (I know this sounds weird) the sudden change in humidity and atmospheric pressure once it started to rain. Excellent plus quality I am quite sure, worthy of recommendation.

Füleky Pince Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1999
A blend of Furmint and Hárslevelü with 198 g/l r.s. at 12.5% alc. Lightly waxy-amber yellow colour. Lightly bee's-waxy apricot, this is less superripe and compote-like than the 2001 Furmint Édes and offers less tropicality of fruit as well as less ripe and aromatic acidity. A clean and harmonious, technically flawless but lighter wine, this is clearly less concentrated and deep than the wines Judit Bott has so far made at Füleky Pince. Liked this well-enough again upon retasting it at the Tokaj Festival, where Judit informed us that it was the wine she got most reservations for, even though it was the most expensive she showed at her booth during those three days (no wonder, as it was the only Füleky Aszú on offer, plus stems from what prospective customers are informed is a top vintage - people with a mind of their own should have recognized the wines Judit made are a step up in quality, as well as better buys). About very good quality.

Füleky Pince [Tokaji Furmint Édes] 2002
Barrel sample with 150 g/l r.s. (incidentally the required minimum at which 6P starts - not that this tastes like one). Fined with bentonite, but not filtered. Pale yellow colour. Granny Smith apple aroma of fine purity as of Riesling (or Furmint, for that matter), yet rather sweet Golden Delicious and egg yolk on the palate, with a blackcurrant top note that along with the apple and mineral notes reminded me of a somewhat less minerally-deep Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle Auslese, only sweeter and thicker, a characterisation Albino agreed with. Fresher and less superripe than the 2001 Furmint Édes, even taking the difference in barrel age into account, it does not seem likely to become deeper than its predecessor. No doubt in the very good to excellent range, though, it seems a success for the vintage.

Füleky Pince [Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos] 2002
Barrel sample that would analytically qualify as AE but in balance comes across as high-grade 6P. Cloudy pale yellow colour. Lime rind and tender bakery spices, more concentration than the 1999, the citrusy acidity gives this fine cut and great length. Quite an achievement for the vintage, it looks like. This is one I would love to retaste when it is bottled. Excellent plus!

Füleky Pince [Tokaji "Icewine"] 2001
I have rarely heard a more amusing story of struggle to make a wine that most people in the region would not attempt making in the first place. What Judit Bott had wanted to make was a Passito, i.e. healthy grapes picked in November 2001 were laid out in a room to dry, but apparently nothing much happened during the following two months (no wonder, I thought to myself, as without air conditioning I have difficulty believing that even in winter one can count on the weather being dry enough in Tokaj Hegyalja, especially over a sufficiently long period of time, to air-dry grapes) until on January 7 it was so cold the still healthy grape material froze in the barely insulated room (if I remember correctly, Judit used the mansion's former living-room to put her plan to action, and the historic building still being in its early stage of renovation today, there can be no question there was no heating back then either). Inevitably, her (pneumatic I guess, at least that is the only type I remember seeing) press froze on her in no time, and she had to call up a help line in Germany, where she apparently obtained sufficient information that when the dust had settled, she had got 200 liters out of 2000 kg frozen grapes. What she says drove her nearly crazy were the difficulties she experienced trying to fine the finished wine with bentonite (I cannot say I was surprised when she explained the stuff would not settle). Did I actually hear correctly that she said it took her five attempts until it worked? What a stubborn young lady we have here, one really must admire her perseverance. When I put on my infamously gracious smile and asked her whether she would do all of it again - correction - will try making such a product again, she did not even wink and shouted "of course!" Why? Because she is in love with the result, it is as simple as that (and of course it should be). The problem Albino and had with this wine is that, in short, it does not really taste like icewine, at least not enough so one would recognize it as one in a blind tasting. Of course we are spoiled wine lovers when it comes to icewine, and I have no problem admitting that I have yet to taste a wholly convincing one outside of Germany (although I have had great icewine that was not made from Riesling, so I guess there is hope at least). The stats here are certainly impressive: 266 g/l r.s. (the level of high-octane Aszú-Esszencia) at 10% alc. The oily and relatively complex fruit is more Passito- than icewine-like, even if virtually botrytis-free and clean as it should be (in either case, be that icewine or Passito), soft and round, if clearly a bit broad and loose on the mid-palate. It has retained a good sense of freshness, given the acidity is not nearly as high as in its more serious German counterparts, let alone offers the aromatic lift, electric back and finish, or dazzling retro-olfaction Riesling Eiswein fans are used to. In comparison, this is almost too easy to swallow and ends a bit short. It is still an excellent quality wine, but as far as my taste buds are concerned, Judit Bott has already proven she can make more serious and complete late harvest-type wine and Aszú (I have little doubt that with her knowledge of agronomy and gift of curiosity and energy, she will have figured out how to make great Aszú in no time). I unable to tell whether there would be more to a Tokaji Icewine if the grapes were not been air-dried for two months to no avail prior to pressing etc., and although I know that traditionally, icewine used to be made in the region from time to time (if probably never as much on purpose as in Germany), I do not remember having tasted any. I am quite sure, though, that inquisitive minds like Judit Bott will try and come up with icewine and other "novelties" in the future, some of which might even be fascinating to taste, but for the time being, what I want to see emerge from this region is top quality Aszú. Be that as it may, note that this wine is already bottled but will not be labelled or marketed as "Icewine" - never mind my pedantic genius, read "inclination" or "demon" as you wish, but as Judit noted, she could refer to it as icewine only for lack of a better word in the first place (a "cryoextracted late harvest wine" may be technically correct terminology, but I have yet to see a producer put that on a label).

Gróf Degenfeld, Tarcal
Apart from the beautiful new winery and choice loess vineyards director Miklós Prácser oversees, there is now the generously restored guesthouse, probably the noblest in the region. Impossible to get another tour of the winery and taste barrel samples during the hectic days that saw both the Tokaj Festival and the Tokaj Renaissance events, but the banquet held at the winery was memorable.

Gróf Degenfeld Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1998
Served as aperitif before the Tokaj Renaissance banquet at the winery. I am uncertain who made this, Zoltán Demeter (in which case I would have to add this is an improvement over his broader and less smooth, baked and dried-fruity 1996) or Sarolta Bárdos (who no longer works here either). Nicely refreshing and fruity, well-balanced, if not memorable in terms of individuality of character (I am not sure I finished my glass before I reached for a drink of water), but clean and lively for the vintage. Very good. But if the owners are really determined to "become the best", as Thomas Lindner, Countess Mária Degenfeld's German husband, said in his well-honed welcome speech, so far as their Aszús are concerned and not just the hotel (that may in fact be the noblest in the region), they should try and make something less polished and mainstream.

Hétszölö, Tokaj
We tasted the different 6 Puttonyos (too bad the 1996 Hárslevelü was not among them, I have not had an opportunity to retaste it since it was bottled) in a paid tasting at the historic Rákóczi cellars in Tokaj assisted by a sympathetic and well-informed young sales representative, who mentioned she had never tasted a worthwhile bottle of German wine. It was a matter of split seconds until Albino and Victor (the latter had a bottle of Egon Müller 1999 Spätlese in the trunk of his car) tried to convince her to join us for dinner - of course she did not show up. This merely to prove what sacrifices we would be ready to make to make new friends to German Riesling!

Just walking out the door we met director Tibor Kovács, whom Albino and I had met in 1999, and who quickly arranged an appointment for us the next day with winemaker András Kanczler so we could taste the vintages that are still in tank or barrel. What a fortunate coincidence!

The eponymous Hétszölö 1er Cru (together with the neighbouring Nagyszölö) is one of the most beautiful plantations in the region, all loess, south-facing and steep with the old terraces gone, but Kanczler assured us that the roots of the vines now already reach low enough to keep everything together, but that surface erosion forces them to periodically bring truck loads of earth up the slopes. Maybe people in the middle ages knew why they built terraces after all? But from an economic point of view, unless disastrous rainstorms destroy whole vineyards, the new method is apparently preferable. Either way, the vineyard looks terrific and is well-kept.

The company is, by the way, virtually all French-owned, but it looks as if only Hungarians work here. Even so, there is something international about the winemaking here in that I am sure that some of the wines' femininity, purity and relative lack of minerality can be attributed to the fact that they stem from a loess vineyard and of course that the vines are still young, but that I still cannot help the impression that there has to be something equalizing about the winemaking as well that makes wines smell and taste more similar than the differences of vintage and grape varieties suggest, i.e. although there is enough variety typicality to the separately bottled Furmint, Hárslevelü and Muskotály Aszús to recognize them, the difference is slighter than when tastes assemblage components at e.g. the top private vintners. In short, I have yet to taste an under par wine from Hétszölö, but the same goes for a truly exceptional one.

What else is new? If I understood András Kanzcler correctly, the used French oak barriques from associated Bordeaux properties hitherto used will be replaced by Hungarian, and what is more important, they plan to give up single grape variety bottling but start bottling Aszú blends of all three major (or even all four?) grape varieties, which Kanczler is convinced will make for more complete wines (plus I guess, it will assist the wines in showing well at all stages of their development). I look forward to tasting those someday in the future.

No ratings on the barrel samples, by the way, not out of principle, but because we did not devote enough time to individual wines to judge them fairly.

Hétszölö Tokaji Hárslevelü Késöi Szüret 2002
"Késöi Szüret" is quite liberal as a category, roughtly comparable with Spätlese in Austria, meaning the residual sugar content can be anything above ca. 20 g/l (in rare cases it goes as high as 200 g/l and more, the minimum requirement being no maor than that the must weight must be above 19 KMW), what other producers refer to as "late harvest". No notes and only tasted once at the Tokaj Renaissance banquet, but I distinctly remember I thought this simplistic, and that I once again wondered how much point there is in producing separate Hárslevelü bottlings (it obviously adds an attractively delicate linden floweriness to blends, but high-grade Esszencia tasted at harvest in 1999 convinced me that as pretty as it can be, it is a grape variety that even at its best seldom has the intensity, raciness and acid backbone to justify bottling any on its own). There is great German Riesling to be had in abundance and at little cost, I wonder how competitive a product like this can be.

Hétszölö Zempléni Kövérszölö Föbor Édes 1999
I shall never understand why some official gave Hétszölö permission to register "Föbor" for their exclusive use, why not "Aszú" along with it? Imagine a German vintner asked for the exclusive right to use the term "Auslese" on his labels and got it! Apart from that, this 100% Kövérszölö (the almost forgotten ancient grape variety also referred to as Fehérszölö) started out both nice in a straightforward way and a bit weird: Medium golden colour. Top notes of rubber and blonde tobacco and earth, plus soft, difficult to pin down fruit. Nicely sweet and oily-round, medium-long, the grape variety definitely appears to deserve its name (Kövérszölö means "fat grape") in more than one sense. Since we had ordered this with foie gras at Pascal's restaurant Ös Kaján in Tarcal (I can hardly tell you how glad we are to finally have found a great place to eat in the region - back in 1999, as pleased as we were with the hospitality and wines, we had a hard time getting a truly worthwhile bite), we could take the remainder of the bottle to the hotel, so that it got a day's air when we showed it to our friends. The rubberiness was now gone (other than that the wine seemed to resist oxidation almost completely) and the whole had integrated to a somewhat archaic whole with concentration, glycerine and sweetness, but still soft fruit notes lightly pine needle forest-like quince, pear and apple. Well-made no doubt and very good quality but straightforward in aroma and taste. Another grape variety best used for blending rather than bottling on its own?

Hétszölö Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1995
100% Furmint. 10.7% alc., 167 g/l r.s., 8.9 g/l acids. Medium orange colour. Loess-typical purity of clean candied lemon and orange, a little quince. Although both candied and dried-fruity, this retains nice freshness. Lovely acidity, medium-plus length, hints of blonde tobacco on the aftertaste. A success for the vintage. Although always recognizable, to my taste, Hétszölö Aszús seldom show much character (a combination of the femininity and lack of minerality that are normal for loess-grown Aszú, especially from young vines, with what I am afraid may be an effect of equalizing winemaking), but they are technically flawless, and I know other people like them better than I do. My reservations aside, about excellent quality?

Hétszölö Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1997
100% Furmint. 10.7% alc., 157 g/l r.s., 11.5 g/l acids. Sound extract of over 60 g/l according to Rohály. There is a drier, tannic aspect to this in contrast the 1995, it is more appley, with good density of fruit and greater viscosity, and a tighter core, all backed by bright acids. Significantly less developed than the 1995, the 1997 6P is virtually free from tertiary aromas and flavours. I like the 1997 vintage at the top level, and this wine is no exception. No underripe or sharp acids as far as I could tell, but perhaps not quite enough flesh on its bones? But longer on the finish than the 1995. With the benefit of the doubt: excellent plus quality?

Hétszölö Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1999
100% Furmint. 10.7% alc., 157 g/l r.s., 9.7 g/l acids. Medium-pale yellow-gold. Altogether more liqueur-like ripeness than either the 1995 or 1997, yet fortunately not at all alcoholic. But not easy to tell how evenly ripe this is. Overripe honey-dew melon and juicier apple with a water cress top note. Nice ripeness of acidity, which is more aromatic as result. But the 1999 is no denser or tighter at the core, and show little dried-fruitiness. About very good only?

Hétszölö Tokaji Hárslevelü Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1999
11% alc., 163 g/l r.s., 9.2 g/l acids. Linden flower tea, "Glacier" cough drop, and a tiny forest floor note. A little more lightness of touch than the Furmint. The acidity is not bad for a Hárslevelü and creamier, but soft. Very ripe yet soft in terms of fruit and texture as well, even given this was grown on loess. Very good.

Hétszölö Tokaji Muskotályos Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1999
10.2% alc., 173 g/l r.s., 10.5 g/l acids. Lychee and very soft tangerine blossom and extremely faint rose water, a little melon here, too. Medium length. Perhaps even more so than the Hárslevelü, this is not as intense for Muskotály, nor as variety-typical as the best. This may have to do with the vintage (director Tibor Kovács told us there is no rule top vintages elsewhere in Tokaj Hegyalja are automatically top vintages for the south-facing, drier, oftentimes warmer and early-mature loess sites on the Tokaj Hegy (= "hill"), or more to the point, due to the Hétszölö Premier Cru's unusual microclimate, he did not think shortly after the harvest that 1999 would be as great as elsewhere), but the barrel samples of more recent vintages with winemaker András Kanczler the following day convinced me this cannot be the only reason, to me it seems yet another function of the femininity of loess-grown Aszú, young vines and, possibly, an equalizing effect of the winemaking here. About very good.

Hétszölö [Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos] 2000
100% Furmint from the assemblage tank. Soft and round, quite floral apple liqueur, soft acidity, good length. Pleasant but not captivating.

Hétszölö [Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos] 2000
100% Furmint from the assemblage tank. Similar to the 5P but sweeter, more tannin and glycerine (the French oak used for this was newer), but also low-acid. Albino finds it fat and clumsy.

Hétszölö [Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos] 2002
100% Furmint from tank, i.e. "avant l'élevage", as András Kanczler makes sure to inform us. Fruity-primary, with higher acidity than either of the 2000s. Although one can expect barrel age to give this more shape, I did not find it wholly convincing.

Hétszölö [Tokaji Hárslevelü Aszú 5 Puttonyos] 2002
From tank as well. Much prettier and more aromatic, even more solidly structured than the Furmint Aszú. Not bad.

Hétszölö [Tokaji Muskotályos Aszú 5 Puttonyos] 2002
Barrel sample. Fairly intense and variety-typical although still feminine, and modest in Muscat de Lunel character (not just power, finesse as well) in comparison to the best. As this is just expressive enough now, it is easy to see why relatively little of the variety-typicity is left in these wines after the sojourn in barrique.

Hétszölö [Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos] 2001
Tokaj trip 05/03. 100% Furmint barrel sample. The acids here were a bit austere and not especially aromatic. In addition, the wine tasted tannic (not from the oak, I thought, nor did it at all taste oaky) and a tiny bit green (the kind of slightly mean, i.e. underripe although not sharp, young wine that should be quite resistant to oxidation), ending on some bitterness that is unusual for Aszú grown on loess (the way I understand it, there is little chance of bitter notes being mineral-infused where the vines' roots cannot reach the underlying pyroxene dacit, and either way, it is not volcanic bitter notes I am alluding to here). Bitterness in Aszú can be due to dusty-dry botrytis (but in contrast to some 1996s in their youth, this tasted anything but baked), rot (subjectively, the sample seemed austere but clean, a bit like an unripe Granny Smith apple, typical of Furmint) or partial underripeness (from what I have heard about the vintage, the most likely culprit along with the sheer amount of botrytis, as botrytisation took place ferociously almost over night in 2001, following the heavy rainfalls in late September and before the grapes had achieved high natural sugar levels or phenolic ripeness, so that early-picked Aszú berries tended to be of lesser quality than late-picked). I did not discuss my impression on this wine with András Kanczler, who set a quick pace sucking samples from barrels, sniffing and tasting them as if in a rush (which he may have been, in fact, but in all fairness, it was obvious he knew his wines and did not need to pay much attention), ready to fill glasses with the next sample almost simultaneously as he told us what we already had in our glasses. His pace was not the reason I did not ask: ironically, it was that the sample was not bad at all despite what I mentioned so far - if I remember correctly, it was Kanczler's favourite of our tour of the cellar up to that point, and I had to agree. I only realized it in hindsight, but one keeps looking so hard for samples with cut and raciness when tasting at Hétszölö, that when a sample comes along that is finally a little crisper, it is hard to argue about the quality of the wine. That may be why I so distinctly remember its taste, which I usually only do of the best (I am fond of my memory: I tend to forget what I do not like) - this I found appealing in a straightforward way, not intriguing.

Hétszölö [Tokaji Muskotályos Aszú 5 Puttonyos] 2001
Barrel sample. Nice vinosity, more aromatic and flavourful than the Furmint 5P, but only marginally more interesting, plus the Furmint is likely to age better.

Hétszölö [Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos] 2001
100% Furmint barrel sample. We tasted both 2001 6Ps from the fridge in the laboratory, as they were just being analyzed. Quite rich and tannic flintstony (yeah right: how could that be?!) apple juice, with lots of botrytis, light bitter notes and a solid acid backbone. Here the heterogeneous elements of the 5P fall into place not mainly due to higher sugar, but greater ripeness. But this is not as crisp (in other words, the 6P tastes like a late harvest sweet wine, whereas the 5P tastes more like an off-dry, sweet Kabinett-styled Furmint that was picked early). If I may venture a guess, it looks as if 2001 may have brought forth the best-balanced wines at Hétszölö in a number of years.

Hétszölö [Tokaji Hárslevelü Aszú 6 Puttonyos] 2001
Barrel sample. We tasted both 2001 6Ps from the fridge in the laboratory, as they were just being analyzed. Fairly linden-flowery, prettily balanced. Echoing my impression at this producer and elsewhere, András Kanczler said the 2001s are less concentrated than the 2000s, but that the 2001s have more botrytis, adding that in order to make Hárslevelü Aszú, there was simply too little botrytis in 2000 (the variety being less susceptible to botrytisation than e.g. Furmint). I cannot say whether this will be more serious than earlier Hétszölö Hárslevelü Aszús, as I have not tasted every vintage.

Kereskedöház, Tolcsva
No, we did not visit the State-owned winery, the former Borkombinát monopoly, again ... And before anyone accuses me of having a negative attitude, believe me, I would be overjoyed if Kereskedöház finally decided to exploit its potential. In fact, I would already be satisfied if they started to market their old wine inventory with some sense of transparency (there can be no doubt that there must still be some treasures hidden in the huge Imperial Cellar in Tolcsva and not just thousands of hectoliters of the abominable stuff they are selling at gas stations across the country - after all Albino and I once could taste a number of memorable wines from both the Socialist era and before).

Kereskedöház Aszú-Esszencia Szarvas Dülö 1993
Tasted only once at the Tokaj Festival, and frankly, the size of the sample as well as the stemware used were ridiculous beyond belief, and we soon had to rush off as it started to rain (only rain in a succession of sunny and warm days). Victor, who had tasted this several times before, claimed it is on the same qualitative level as Szepsy's 1993 AE Király. There was similarity as to its amber-orange colour, at least, and I could not deny some pretty aromas and flavours of smoky candied lemon and orange, sweet tobacco, medium sweetness for an AE but good intensity and complexity. Even compensating for the situation in which we tasted this, I have difficulty believing this is beyond excellent to about outstanding quality, which is already most impressive for this producer so far as the nineties are concerned (it may well be, quite simply, the only wine Kereskedöház produced in that decade that is at all worth bothering). Although it costs as much as the top AEs of the 1993 vintage and thus offers no more than acceptable quality-price relation, it is one of the few that can still be had. No reason to make a fuss of the fact this wine stems from the famous Szarvas vineyard, traditionally considered by connoisseurs to be the greatest of Tokaj's Premier Crus, one of only two of "exceptionnel" or "hors choix" status, because the beautiful, steep, south-facing loess site had not been yet replanted a few years ago (most of it is still not replanted), after the vines had been uprooted during the Socialist era (as the Russian were unable to build tractors with which precipitous vineyards like this could only be worked, and manual work was too expensive for the Borkombinát, the State monopoly winery - at least this is what we were told in 1999 when Albino and I asked why we could not detect any vines on the slopes) with the exception of a flat piece below next to the railroad. Frankly, I find labelling this Szarvas Dülö touting of customers of the most obvious and obscene sort, even though (or should I say: because?!) it is no doubt perfectly legal.

Királyudvar, Tarcal
It often surprises me how insignificant a favour on my part (nothing, really!) has led me to make new friends (in the wine community and elsewhere). As my mom always says, regardless of whether you deserve the generosity of others, "just shut up and say thank you". Well, the former (shutting up, that is) has never been one of my main strengths ;^)

Fact is, it was a privilege to be invited to the annual tasting of assemblage components at Királyudvar, after all an event not open to the public (from what I gathered, the winery itself is not open to the public either, but I am quite sure that any wine lover visiting the region who asks politely will be able to get a tour of the winery and possibly meet Tokaj's primus inter pares, and technical director of Királyudvar, István Szepsy - do not forget to bring good shoes, in case he takes you on a tour of the vineyards).

Anthony knows what terroir fanatics we are (I am truly flattered when I hear of anyone reading my lengthy, redundant and autistic tasting notes, much as in the joke on the author who, upon being asked to sign an admirer's copy, answers in surprise: "Oh, that was you who bought my book?!") and in particular that I remain unable to make up my mind on whether a mixed field blend, although potentially a more complete wine, is, all else being equal, preferable to a wine from a single vineyard ("better" would obviously be the wrong word, as in the end, one is always looking at the quality of an individual wine).

So the opportunity to taste through the 2002 components from different vineyards was literally unique (with the exception of the Lapis Aszú that will again, same as in 1999 and 2000, be bottled separately). And highly educative: as the tasting progressed I pondered the question whether I had already turned into such a terroir fanatic that I might prefer an inferior component to the final blend. I came to the conclusion that on the one hand, I share characteristics of the consumer-oriented type of wine lover (cherry picker when it comes to buying for my own cellar) who merely wants to see the finest component bottled and then remains eternally suspicious of the mixed field blend because it "misses" the "best" part (admittedly a negative bias). On the other hand I simply enjoy putting single vineyard bottlings against each other to see how they differ from each other and how each develops with bottle age (i.e. I tend to identify terroir with a wine's soul, character, personality - call it what you like).

All this being said, I am fully aware of the (partial) naïveté when it comes to the concept of terroir, especially as far as cru systems and the individual size of lieu-dits are concerned (i.e. every serious winemaker will tell you that parcels within each vineyard differ from each other so strongly in terms of soil and microclimate that it seems philosophically impossible to draw a line between what single vineyard and mixed field bottling actually mean). Of course, none of this changes the fact that terroir is a reality, only that there are various reasons why it is so difficult to grasp. The one common misconception that I believe we wine lovers need to avoid is to identify terroir with soil. Other factors such as microclimate, indigenous yeasts etc. come into play, and chances are that we are still not or not fully aware of a variety of other factors that contribute to our recognition of "terroir". Another illusion one should free oneself of (speaking to myself, as always) is that there could ever be winemaking that fully respects (and thus expresses!) terroir, i.e. winemaking that effaces itself: there is always room for greater humbleness and simplicity, and, not only in the worst case scenario, lesser manipulation. And there is always greater potential than achievement. István never tires to tell you that in his opinion, only 70% of Tokaj's potential has been fulfilled so far - if that is true, great things must be expected from this region.

Needless to say, a vintner cannot know his vineyards any better than István Szepsy, who seems on a constant mission to make better sense of their individuality (same as with the multitude of casks in his and Királyudvar's cellars) and compatibility when it comes to producing mixed field blends. Although his and Királyudvar's policy is to bottle a single vineyard Aszú only if there is high quality material to justify separate bottling (in the case of Királyudvar, it does not always have to be from Lapis, this is rather a decision that will taken anew in each vintage), and their Aszú will no longer be labelled "6 Puttonyos" because (see my thoughts on this in the introductory part of this post) the Puttonyos number can be misleading at the top level (click on the following links if you want to take a look at Királyudvar's analysis charts for Aszú and Esszencia respectively), Anthony informed us that if Szepsy gets those "perfect" vintages he never tires to emphasize he is still waiting for, small quantities of single vineyard Aszú-Esszencias may be bottled and marketed in assorted showcases.

Let me a add a quick aside here on that super vintage István appears to be craving for: I jokingly told him that even if he is waiting for another 1811, today's customers are probably perfectly happy with vintages like 1999. On the contrary, this is the kind of vintage that I believe the region needs right now: for the most part well-concentrated and (judging from what we tasted here and elsewhere) clean, balanced, with the early harmony to satisfy those who cannot wait to get a taste, but structured enough to develop and (depending on the individual product) possibly improve in bottle. In fact, the 1999s (again: at this winery and others) we could taste were quite reminiscent of the unfermented or fermenting musts we could taste in November 1999. It is amazing how precise an overall impression one can get of a vintage by tasting musts (and in particular pure Esszencias or Nektárs, of which we could taste quite few at the time). Note to myself: this shows what an ignorant I am, as István's early evaluation of the vintage back then was on the nail, as could be expected.

As to the 2002s we could taste, István is probably right that his steadily improving knowledge of the vineyards and assemblage compatibility of the individual wines will leave its mark on the wines almost as much as the individual quality of these early (for him as well as Királyudvar, that is) vintages. 1999 to him already proves this point: whereas in theory (as far as the vegetation cycle is concerned, that is), 1993 would have been greater, there were simply more vintners around who were able to take advantage of the what 1999 had to offer than back in 1993, and he feels the same goes for his own wines (of course, Királyudvar did not exist in 1993, precluding direct comparison of these two vintages).

As to the tasting of the 2002 assemblage component parts, Albino, Victor and I wondered about the already medium-deep amber-orange colours compared to the fresh medium yellow colours of the bottled 1999s, guessing correctly that the samples had not been sulphured. István informed us later that he had simply not wanted his guests to get headaches. Thanks a lot indeed!

Regarding the quality of the 2002 vintage, I do not feel qualified to say much about the vintage (I did not take notes knowing the component parts would be included in the mixed field Aszú, but would have of the [Aszú Lapis] 2002 that is going to be bottled separately, had I realized that earlier. What I can say is that it was Anthony's and Victor's favourite sample, and probably Albino's and mine as well). I really tasted the different samples more in terms of what they revealed of the different terroirs or how much they corresponded to my concept of those sites I knew and had tasted samples from before, i.e. terroir typicity, and did not pay full attention to which my favourite sample was; there were maybe one or two others I liked similarly well as the Lapis (if I remember correctly primarily the sample from Úrágya, of which Albino says it offered the prettiest aromatic profile, and the one from Henye, whereas the Király was pretty aromatically, but really more feminine in structure - was this a Hárslevelü?), but that may have been less structured and complete wines to bottle on their own. On the whole I came away thinking that 2002 may come closer to the quality level of 1999 here than I had expected, with good concentration (Anthony says the average yields for the winery, regardless of vintage so far, range between 2.5 and 3 hl/ha and that one can be sure they are always below 5 hl/ha) and balance ranging from very good to outstanding, but despite the greater openness there may not be quite the early harmony of the 1999s. Even if the 2002s may not be quite as serious as the 1999s, they should again make for very consumer-friendly wines provided they do not close down before bottling, and wines that drink well early but promise to keep well at least mid-term are what I guess the market needs right now, more so I believe (I am aware I am repeating myself) than that super-structured vintage that will outlive us all (although I wish István he will eventually get his chance to make his mark on the history of Tokaj the way he envisions it from the vintner's perspective - of course as a personality or ambassador for the region, he already has). In short, as István says, another set of very good wines in 2002 but not the benchmark-setting vintage he dreams of.

The tasting included a sample Anthony referred to as "the children's wine": Believe it or not, the young generation of Hwangs and Szepsys founded their own independent (!) company which they have named Zemplén Ridge. I am not sure but believe this [Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos] 2002 from Nyulászó (i.e. a single vineyard wine, whether or not the label will bear the name of the vineyard, I do not know) is going to be their first product. It was made using a Királyudvar base wine and Aszú berries bought from an independent source (although, I was told, grown to specifications). When I have more information as to bottling and marketing, and what it will cost (all I heard so far is that one can expect it to be lower-priced than the Királyudvar Aszú), I will let you know.

The dinner following the tasting turned out unexpectedly educative as well: I was so lucky as to sit next to a jovial former director of the Borkombinát (the former State monopoly winery, now called Kereskedöház), one Edwald Laszló, who spoke impressive German and who gave us a fun short lecture in wine-growing including that "István Szepsy could further improve the quality of his Aszús if instead of 5 hl/ha he produced 50 hl/ha", because, as Laszló put it, "making Tokaj is the same as with cows, Mother Nature wanted them to give milk and not just cream!" Which left me wondering if it is written across our foreheads that we Swiss habitually drink nothing but the cream off the milk? ;^) Highly elucidating was his account of when he visited a well-know German winery years ago (Schloss Johannisberg?), whose cellar master proudly showed him the old wine inventory and asked whether the Imperial Cellar in Tolcsva could offer anything like it in terms of back vintages: Laszló said all he could answer was "Who were you occupied by, the Americans or the Russians? We obviously had the Russians, and they drank up all they could lay hands on!"

As to the use of sulphur at Királyudvar we had asked about, István added that one of the main difference between "his" (the Szepsy bottlings) and Királyudvar's wines is that his are sulphured only once "when fermentation has finished and the carbon dioxide gone out" (which is when the young wines lose their natural protection against oxidation), "after that, I allow my wines to develop more freely". In contrast, the Királyudvar wines' sulphur content is continually being re-adjusted (one can assume by oenologist Zoltán Demeter), which is why they look so significantly lighter and youthful in colour as well as smell and taste more primary and tropical. In István's words "the Királyudvar wines are fresher, my wines are denser" (which he partly attributes to the fact that his wines are allowed to sometimes referment in cask as well, which he says adds viscosity). He is convinced that Királyudvar's primary wines will do better on the "modern markets". For the same reason, hardcore Aszú lovers (especially of yesteryear) may take the point of view that Királyudvar's bottlings are less developed - probably a matter of one's personal point of view, but even though I like variety in style, I sometimes wish I owned a time machine to see how one and the other evolves in bottle. I asked István whether he would agree with me that the longer one ages his and Királyudvar's wines in bottle, they would eventually become more difficult to keep apart. He concurred and added it would only take about ten years for them to taste roughly similar (my guess is it will take longer, but as always, what do I know ...).

In short, my pet wet dream that Királyudvar would offer a greater quantity of inexpensive Szepsy Aszú has not been fulfilled. From a stylistic point of view, my impression is still the same I had tasting the first three Királyudvar wines in Bad Ragaz three weeks earlier. I was immediately reminded of when I first tasted wines Zoltán Demeter had vinified, either from Gróf Degenfeld or his own eponymous winery: maybe the winemaker does leave a greater mark on a product than the agronomist? Probably most so as long as the wine is young and unevolved. Either way, I am glad to report Királyudvar's wines are not weird and reductive at all, what you get here is a tamed version of Zoltán Demeter modernity, primary and tropical and fresh wines, if with the subjectively highest sulphur contents I have so far encountered in Tokaj (which the Swiss importer finds makes them more Sauternes-like than Szepsy's wines, although we agreed they are recognizably Tokaj and that terroir expression can be expected to surface increasingly as the wines age). My conclusion is that even though Királyudvar's wines are more primary and fresh than e.g. Szepsy's, I would still not drink them immediately following release but hold on to them at least until they have digested some of their sulphur, as I am convinced the primary-fresh tropicality of fruit that makes them seductive early on will hold in bottle for several years. The fact alone that they are so low in oxidation may well pay dividends as the wines age. I am certainly curious to see how they will evolve in bottle.

And a late addition: amongst the best news I heard during this trip was that István said they (I assume he meant both Királyudvar and his family winery) have given up the use of the abominable Zéta (formerly called Oremusz) grape variety; I am not sure when, though - the resolution alone is laudable!

By the way, for those who do not already know, Királyudvar means "Imperial Court" (Király meaning "Royal").

Királyudvar Tokaji Furmint Lapis 1999
Served with dinner at the winery. Creamy, off-dry and up front, small flowers, a bit tame, though, despite some good acidity. About very good?

Királyudvar Tokaji Furmint Úrágya 2000
Served with dinner at the winery. Pale yellow-coloured. Mainly macerated apple, quite high in alcohol, an effect subjectively reinforced by its lower acidity, quite tannic (which helps) but a bit bitter. Lacks the crispness and balance of the 2002 barrel sample. Good only.

Királyudvar [Tokaji Furmint Úrágya] 2002
Barrel sample kept open in the fridge for a couple of days. The minerality has darkened and become more Riesling-like, more nicely stony integrated Granny Smith apple, lime and chives and sound acidity, and a blackcurrant or cherry top note that reminded me of a Dönnhoff Kirschheck. While I cannot not agree with Anthony that Furmint has equal potential to Riesling and Chenin Blanc for making dry white (surpassing the latter for dry whites seems relatively likely, of course, but Riesling to my mind cannot be equalled). One of the first dry Furmints I have really liked, this will be best enjoyed with food. Very good indeed.

Királyudvar Tokaji Cuvée Ilona 2000
Not retasted in Tokaj, just once three weeks before in Bad Ragaz. For that TN click here.

Királyudvar Tokaji Cuvée Ilona 1999
Yellow with faint orange shadings. A full-bodied Beerenauslese style, lovely strong volcanic and bready botrytis bitter notes, the latter of which should integrate and probably taste roasted honey-like fairly soon. Tangerine and orangey liqueur notes, a bit Grand Marnier Cognac-like, in part due to the slightly warm alcohol. By comparison, the 139 g/l residual sugar are very integrated. Well-made product in a style one has to like. Although the 1999 is more open-hearted than the 2000, same as with the respective Szepsy Cuvées, I was not sure I preferred the 1999 at Királyudvar at first and was glad to be given the opportunity to retaste this from a bottle kept open in the fridge for a couple of days. Tasted directly after Szepsy's 2000 version of the same, the difference in sulphur content is particularly obvious, as are the primary floral-tropical fresh and candied yellow fruits with top notes of whipped egg and lemon rind. Ripe acidity gives this good cut. Lovely minor bitter note. This would be a perfect match for foie gras. Even so, I noticed Albino liked this rather better than me. Rating: 87+?

Királyudvar Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1999
Retasted at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting, where this was the only Királyudvar wine Demeter showed. No different from when tasted in Bad Ragaz three weeks before, I found it again about outstanding this time. For that TN click here. Even so, retasting this confirmed my impression that the deeper single-vineyard Lapis is by far my favourite Királyudvar bottling in 1999.

Királyudvar Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos Lapis 1999
11.2% alcohol, 198 g/l residual sugar, 11.3 g/l, 0.85 g/l volatile acid, 70 g/l dry extract, according to the web site, although it says 212 g/l r.s. on the back label. Another of these top quality 6Ps that theoretically would have qualified for Aszú-Esszencia labelling, but again, I find it subjectively correct to label it either 6 Puttonyos (which it only says on the back label) or then simply "Lapis Aszú", as this wine will be in the future. Good fresh yellow. Greater depth and minerality than the Királyudvar mixed field 6P. Not so much sweeter than more serious and structured, strong acidity and more volcanic soil typicity, dense, concentrated, viscous, long, candied yellow fruits with lemon rind and an impressive chalkiness and a tiny dried mushroom top note. Retasted a couple of days later from a bottle that Anthony had kept open in the fridge, which had kept perfectly fresh and revealed rather more volcanic bitter notes, stone dust, lemon rind and white chocolate subtlety than before, lovely sugar-acid balance and yet more length, but also more noticeable sulphur. Of course Albino, Victor and I had a little discussion as to who liked this or the Szepsy mixed field 1999 better and why. Albino voted in favour of the Lapis and Victor of the Szepsy, whereas I had brought up the question because I had a hard time making up my mind, especially because I like variety in style. At this early stage the Szepsy is more to my taste even though one can tell it is a mixed field blend. If the Lapis had already digested its sulphur, I might have favoured it to begin with. As things are, I will have to rely on my gut instinct, which says the Lapis may hold greater promise for future development in bottle. Rating: 93+

Királyudvar Tokaji Esszencia 1999
Retasted after dinner at the winery. Although the wine was no different, I may have been a tiny bit less convinced with it than three weeks before in Bad Ragaz (for my earlier TN click here), because being back in the region and tasting wines at this and other wineries, I could not help wondering about the difference in appeal between bottled Esszencia and unfiltered barrel samples, be those fermented or unfermented young ones. It is not that I would downrate any bottled Esszencia (including this one) I have tasted in hindsight now, it is rather that I suddenly found the explanation why I keep rating bottled Esszencia conservatively and so often with question marks as to their development in bottle, which has often struck me as strange given my undying love for Tokaji Esszencia. Truth be told, this has now become a matter of principle for me - although I see no reason to re-write my earlier TN or change my rating for this wine (or any other for that matter), as it is no less good as I first thought and wrote, as well as a fair QPR for Tokaji Esszencia, I cannot help being disappointed in general that I cannot buy in bottle what I know and love from barrel. In yet other words, I suddenly realized why my favourite 1999 Királyudvar product (i.e. in its own category) is the Lapis Aszú.

Château Megyer and Château Pajzos, Sárospatak
I am not sure this is the way the owners want it to be understood, but it seems to me as if Château Pajzos is the brand name of their top line and Château Megyer of the second.

Château Megyer Tokaji Aszú 4 Puttonyos 1999
Only tasted in passing at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting. No tasting note, but I remember I thought it light, yet with some vinosity, and with no more than sufficient Aszú and soil character, one of those wine that make you believe you can taste the base must or wine as if it was not yet fully integrated. Good only.

Château Megyer Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1999
Only tasted in passing at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting. Lighter, less dense and compote-like, and in this respect "fresher" than the Pajzos, rather better-balanced and smoother than Megyer's 1993 version of the same, but still simplistic. My favourite Megyer bottling so far. About very good.

Château Pajzos Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1999
Tasted twice, as after the Tokaj Renaissance tasting there was a banquet at the Gróf Degenfeld winery, at which I tasted all the wines and was glad to drink a bucket's worth of water as we were fed the Hungarian way (even someone of Albino's constitution would hardly been able to eat all that was served), and that as lunch on a hot and sunny day! Fat, sweet, and fairly concentrated and well-balanced, smooth and medium-long, with better oak management than in the 1993, in the very good to excellent quality range, i.e. there is really nothing wrong with it, but it remains anonymous, a notion that has become a serious problem for me in recent years. On the one hand, I realize that many people are probably satisfied with technically flawless, cleanly made wines that have little identity of their own, on the other hand, I fail to see on what basis a prospective customer should decide to buy one such wine and not another (in other words, if I had to do sales promotion, I would be at a complete loss for words). Mind you, Pajzos products are obviously among the better internationally-styled Tokaj wines, often wines of noteworthy extract and residual sweetness, and I thought this the finest Pajzos Aszú I have so far had. Plantations include a percentage of Zéta (the virtually tasteless and acid-free grape variety formerly called Oremusz that can make Müller-Thurgau look like a superstar grape variety in comparison) to achieve this goal, and it is exactly due to my experience to wines such as 1993 Pajzos Eszencia that I started realizing that even on the highest level, wines including any proportion of Zéta can take weird turns in bottle or at least have an accelerated aging curve and turn tired prematurely.

József Monyók, Mád
What can I say about Monyók that I have not said already? One is never sure what one gets in a bottle (wines differ from lot to lot, and that not only in terms of label), and even if what one gets is subjectively impressive stuff, one keeps wondering what it consists of in detail. Maybe I am not doing him justice, but I cannot help it: that is my impression. I believe the fact alone that I have kept rating some of his bottlings highly despite nagging doubts that what is in the bottle may not be what is on the label is my way of acknowledging that if rumours that he blends and manufactures wines rather than producing them are true, he has got to be a master at it.

Included below is the TN on a bottle I brought to the WLDG Offline in Alsace. The other wine was poured from a freshly uncorked bottle by Monyók's daughter, a sympathetic young woman with an interest in photography, as Albino found out.

József Monyók Tokaji Aszúessencia Király Dülö 1972
Tasted at the Alsace Offline on May 9th, 2003. 8.2% alcohol, 1200 bottles released, according to Gábor Rohály Wine Guide (218 g/l r.s. at 8.8% alcohol is what Norbert Monyók told us in 1999). As always the youthful tropical top notes and lively acidity that must be due to freshening up with young Esszencia (a legal practice in Tokaj!) prior to bottling over the usual dried date and dried fig, cocoa powder, coffee, raisins and roasted hazelnut. Long and refreshingly lemony, even if aged prune syrup-like on the long finish and aftertaste. Never easy to tell how concentrated this really is, but the balance keeps everything together admirably. No different from when reported on earlier (there should be several TNs on this in the Archive), let me add this definitely shows best if opened a few hours in advance, an advice to myself I followed this time ;^) Rating: 96 (in the Socialist era, i.e. oxidative, Aszú paradigm, which, as I have mentioned before, has not only brought about insipid and volatile, foul apple-scented stuff as some people claim, although finding a bottle in this stylistic paradigm that is as good as this is nearly impossible)

József Monyók Tokaji Eszencia(-Nektár) Nyulászó Dülö 1972
Finally, I said to myself at the Tokaj Festival, an opportunity to taste this. Unfortunately, the 8% alcohol and 400-420 g/l residual sugar that father Monyók claims this wine contains are impossible to believe. It seems higher in alcohol and lighter in sweetness than the AE Király Dülö. The mahogany-brown colour is quite pretty and the wine offers a complex nose and taste of cocoa powder, fig, date, dried orange, sweet pipe tobacco, a little coffee and a touch of candied lemon. A bit drier with oxidation in the middle and on the back end, and altogether less juicy, oily and lively than the AE Király, and not nearly as sweet as that wine or Monyók's 1975 Eszencia Nyulászó (on which you should be able to find a TN in the Archive, but that we already found less convincing than the 1972 AE Király). But I will eat the label if this has not been fortified (complexity of aroma and taste would have been at least very good to excellent, but the obvious brandy and lack of concentration annoy me), plus if it ever was true Esszencia from what many Hungarian still refer to as the "Vintage of the Century" to begin with, it must have been stretched (maybe it contained 400-420 g/l r.s. before then?). Not a bad taste of socialist era 5 to 6 Puttonyos by any means, but did I already mention this neither looks nor tastes like Tokaj Esszencia ...? Need I add this is outrageously overpriced for what it is?

Oremus, Tolcsva
If anyone knows a more sympathetic winery director than András Bacsó, produce him for me. Unfortunately Albino, Victor and I had little opportunity this time to talk to him as we could only participate in a guided tour (of course we were grateful he sneaked us into his full calendar) that he led in Hungarian. His fine humour could be sensed even so, and I was not surprised to look into thirty happy faces by the time we were served a generous lunch that András had announced as a "snack". The winery seems to be finding its own style now, I believe.

Thanks to the fact that András Bacsó was chief oenologist of the State monopoly Borkombinát (now Kereskedöház) for a number of years and even general director for three, i.e. his intimate knowledge of the nearby Imperial cellar's old wine inventory, Oremus has a selection of the most serious available Aszús from the Socialist era. I had planned to buy a bottle of the 1975 Essencia for a tasting, and then, by the end of the tour, learnt Victor had somewhat miraculously arranged an additional tasting of old wines plus the 1995 Esszencia for the three of us.

Oremus Tokaji Szamorodni Édes 2000
Tasted twice, at the Tokaj Renaissance banquet at Degenfeld and at the winery itself. Impressive sweetness and far here, nicely balanced for the vintage, though. Very good.

Oremus Tokaji Furmint Szaráz Mandolás 2000
Dry and very full-bodied, a bit warm with alcohol, not what I like but certainly about good quality.

Oremus Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1999
Medium sweetness, some volcanic minerality, some faintly gluey botrytis, medium length. Very good?

Oremus Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1999
Tasted at least twice, at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting, where I first overheard women say they loved its exceptionally floral style, and at the winery itself. 50% Furmint, 30% Hárslevelü, 12% Zéta, 8% Muskotály, aged three years in Hungarian oak. 220 g/l r.s. at 9.5% alc. Very flowery indeed, pretty and forward, easy to appreciate, but difficult to say how it will age, not only because of my distrust in all Tokaj that contains any percentage of Zéta, this is just one of those wines where I would need a time machine to be able to say it will age well. Despite my unlimited sympathy for director András Bacsó and trust in his knowledge and abilities, there has been so much experimentation in this winery's early years (in order to find a style?) that I cannot help being a bit confused. An excellent plus quality wine or am I underestimating this? The intense florality gives it such appeal at this early stage that for those who like this style it may be irrelevant what will become of it later. One thing is certain, this is my favourite modern Oremus to date, and another theoretical AE by analysis that I find correctly labelled as 6P.

Oremus Tokaji Esszencia 1995
A 250 ml bottle with wax capsule, a format I like for Tokaji Esszencia. Opened in front of our eyes. 450 g/l residual sugar at 3% alcohol and 16 g/l acids. No doubt filtered, as this shares this inexplicable uniformity of character many bottled modern Esszencias show. Pretty orange colour. Honeyed and marmalady quince, apple juice concentrate and orange extract, dried apricot and some peach, sound acidity. Fruit could be fresher and more complex, but it is nice and clean in a compote-like way. Thick like jelly and well-concentrated, but not among the most concentrated and intense (the 1999 and 2000 versions, both so far only tasted as barrel samples, are significantly more promising). A bit too chilled in the cold cellar to be forthcoming on the nose, but there is a tender note of sophisticated tobacco and a touch of hazelnut. Long, if not extra-long. Outstanding. Not inexpensive, but fairly priced.

Oremus Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1975
This was so convincing this time I could not make up my mind whether I had ever tasted it before or not (my notes reveal I had it twice before, but never thought it better than very good plus). 156 g/l r.s. Full amber-orange colour. Lovely, quite strong tobacco top note, Darjeeling tea and Cognac-tinged candied orange, virtually perfect sugar-acid balance, crisp, racy and long, with convincing vinosity. About outstanding. Fairly priced, this deserves recommendation.

Oremus Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1981
In contrast to the 1975 5P, I liked this again worse than last time, as this bottle was reminiscent of one I had rated badly years ago, only that this one was not offensively dry with oxidation (although a little): Medium-deep orange colour. A bit ashtray-like tobacco, dried orange and macerated orange blossom with a touch of Grand Marnier Cognac, short finish. Good to very good only, depending on the individual bottle's performance?

Oremus Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1972
From the so-called Vintage of the Century (someone show me the wines to prove it!). Kept in oak for 22 years with constant re-adjustment of the alcohol, and this makes itself felt badly now. Deep, lightly amber orange colour. Black toffee or burnt sugar as used to colour broth, coffee, soft orange and muscat blossom liqueur, hot disintegrated brandy on the finish, relatively short. A major disappointment given the fact that the best bottle of this wine (tasted years ago) had been well-outstanding, even on the verge to greatness. This was good only. Too bad András Bacsó could not put super wines such as the 1962 AE or 1959 6P on the list for sale.

Oremus Tokaji Esszencia 1975
Also opened especially for us. "Only" about 400 g/l r.s., I believe. I had wanted to taste a bottle ever since I heard this was one of the few serious Esszencias from the Socialist era available on the market, plus it remains fairly priced. Full still glossy mahogany-brown. Impressive powdery coffee, minor nuts, strong caramel, dried apricot, date and dark chocolate, or rather cocoa powder. Remains quite viscous and thick, lemony acidity keeps this well-balanced. Even so, this lacks vibrancy and the tobacco top note has already taken its turn towards cold ashtray cigarette ash, a sure sign that this is getting old ("a bit dead" is what I said to my buddies in German, which this really should not be at barely 30 years of age). I am sure this was a well-outstanding wine a few years back, but as things stand, I would rate excellent minus. A pity, but given the stage (of decline it must just have entered, that is) this is in, it is possible one might have more luck with another bottle (or less, of course).

Pendits, Abaújszántó
It is no secret that Márta Wille-Baumkauff is a dear friend of ours. After all I said about personal bias in the introductory part, it would seem logical that poor Márta is the target of my harshest criticism. However, she is herself a severe judge of her wines, so much so that another Swiss Tokaj fan, Jürg Richter I believe, told her not to worry and that nothing could keep her from making superlative wine, because after all, she has got all the winemaking equipment of 1811 at her hands ;^) If you have ever had the opportunity to witness the making of Aszú (it is really quite simple, especially provided you have well-selected grape material to start with), you will realize just how true this observation is. Chances of doing too much in the cellar are much greater than vice versa.

Be that as it may, I can hardly express how glad I am to report that her wines are steadily improving and that, in fact, three of her most recent Aszú barrel samples were amongst the highlights of our tour. That and the fact that she uses some of the most simplistic winemaking methods to make some of the most unmanipulated wine anywhere in the world gives me reason to hope that her wines will live up to their immense potential sooner than I had once thought possible.

The tour of her vineyards (click on this link for some pics) was most impressive, especially the historic Pendits Premier Cru whose name she now uses eponymously for her re-named winery (formerly called M.W.-B. Pince Kft.). Márta is the only winery owner we know who actually restores historic terraces instead of destroying and grading them. Of course all her neighbours must think she is crazy, as this work is doubly labour- and cost-intensive, because of the rebuilding of walls, stairs, paths and streets, and because the terraces can only be worked manually (and by horse). There is steady replanting of vines going on here, and we were amazed to see guards and German shepherds are needed to protect the vineyards, because "anything gets stolen here, including the young vines, and those are particularly easy to steal". All in all, the fact that Márta tries her best to respect tradition (here finally used in the real sense of the term) makes her our local hero regardless of our friendship. Now I am curious to see the next generation of bottled wines.

Albino, Victor and I could taste quite a number of barrels. Typing tasting notes on them seems of little consequence for several reasons, the most important among them that we do not know which barrels are going to be bottled separately or blended together (nor what it will say on the label). Fact is, I regard these write-ups primarily as my own private wine-related diary (or I would concentrate on keeping texts short and sweet), and these are all wines I hope to get an opportunity to retaste either still from barrel or then bottle, and whose development I am best able to observe if I keep notes. For this reason, some of the following TNs are purely academic (but short), whereas those wines that are likely to be marketed will continue to evolve (some still fermenting) in cask before bottling. Márta usually bottles her 3 to 6 Puttonyos Aszús in the winter or spring two years after the vintage, i.e. when they are approximately two and a half years old.

Note that wines bottled in autumn 2001 and later wear the new Pendits label, wines bottled before then the M.W.-B. Pince Kft. label.

Pendits Tokaji Furmint "Botrytis Selection" 2000
Tasted only once at the Tokaj Renaissance banquet at the Degenfeld winery. Took no new TN, just this much: although this is not a bad wine, probably in the lower very good quality range, and has deepened somewhat in bottle since I last tasted it a year ago, and even though it is an attractively priced product, I could never warm up to this bottling as, same as with the 1998 version, I find it lacks interest in comparison to Márta's Aszús. In fact, I cannot even see it stands out much from the plethora of other attractively priced late harvest wines from Tokaj Hegyalja and other wine-growing regions. I could add in my defence is that I know my friends like this bottling rather less than me, but the truth is that even if, when I rate wines at all, I try my best to rate them solely in terms of the quality I find in the glass in front of me, I would sometimes rather drink a faulty wine that stands out from the crowd than one that is better but does not. What I find worthy of mention is that this wine has started to taste more typical of the region as it ages in bottle, whereas at release it tasted more like a bland Neusiedlersee BA.

M.W.-B. Pince Kft. Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1996
Only tasted in passing at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting. The botrytis bitterness this once exhibited (especially from barrel before fining, to a lesser extent from bottle after release as well) seems all gone, it does not even taste especially baked (but some warm Tarte tartine apple, of course) or of roasted almonds anymore. It appears to be doing well in bottle, more harmonious every time I get to taste it (early harmony is rather a trademark of most 1996s). Also, considering she had presented us this wine from barrel in November 1999 as "5 Puttonyos Tarcal-Deák", I find its balance more 6P-like now than I did back then, although it is not among the super-sweet. Even so, this cannot make me forget Márta still has some surprises up her sleeve (wines in the making, I am alluding to the finest barrels in her cellar). Márta agrees this wine seems beyond its difficult closed phase now, in particular because she finds her wines herbaceous during that time, actually downright unattractive on the nose after the fruit has shut up (she says this usually is the case already soon following bottling, and taking earlier vintages into account as well, we figured out that the wines probably need about six years to come around). The 1996 6P should now enter its more aromatic plateau of maturity, developing tertiary aromas and flavours of coffee, tobacco and chocolate. But as pretty as this has turned out, she agrees her recent wines are even better. Very good plus?

Pendits [Tokaji Furmint Szaráz Krakkó] 2002
Fascinating education in what difference oak can make. Three barrel samples, one from used Hungarian gönc (more oxidation but rounder), a second from a French barrique that had only been used for a couple of vintages or three by the Gantenbeins in the Swiss Rhine Valley (more acidic and blossomy, with basil and chive notes), and a third from new Hungarian (fairly balanced but for the overwhelming dried thistle-scented oak). Dry Furmint and new oak combined for me is barely preferable to Riesling aged in new oak - it just does not seem to work, with the acids and the oak remaining disintegrated like separate parts from the wine. The not wholly new Gantenbein barrels convinced us more and more as we tasted barrel samples of different wines, but for this one, the used oak fared best.

Pendits [Tokaji Furmint Édes Bea] 2002
Racy grass and herbs, the high acids are a bit disintegrated at this stage, some alcohol is noticeable (12.5%), there is good length and a tiny French oak note (barrel sample from used Gantenbein barrique).

Pendits [Tokaji Furmint Édes Bea & Király] 2002
Cloudy yellow colour, not unusual for a barrel sample. Grapefruit, unripe pineapple, some dried apple peel, lightly salty minerality, riper acids, sweeter, still yeasty, still fermenting. More immediate charm than the sample from Bea.

Pendits [Tokaji Furmint Édes Tarcal-Deák] 2002
High alcohol, difficult to taste due to prominent carbon dioxide, but despite high acidity there is remarkable sugar-acid balance here. If what we tasted a couple of days later with Victor was from the same barrel, I noticed a little botrytis bitterness on the second attempt. Judgement deferred.

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú ? Puttonyos Tarcal-Deák] 2002
White ox-eye daisy, basil, apple, quite ripe acidity has cut, relatively high alcohol, long finish. In hindsight, it must have been at this point (i.e. with this barrel sample) that I started realizing what a success Márta enjoyed in this vintage.

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú Forditás] 2002
Have I ever mentioned I yet need to taste a Forditás I like? This barrel sample was no exception: Lemony with bitter and overly toasted Hungarian oak, quite alcoholic. Liked it no better upon retasting it a couple of days later. Márta told us she does not care for Forditás much either.

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú-Essencia Tarcal-Deák] 2002
Barrel sample from new French barrique. Pear juice concentrate, thick and creamy, very sweet, a volcanic bitter note from the minerality, soft bakery spices and some brown-bready botrytis, very concentrated, lightly tannic, high yet well-integrated acidity. A beauty! Safely in the outstanding to great quality range, this is truly serious stuff. Upon retasting this a couple of days later with Victor, I noticed prettily rich quince in addition (flavours such as apple and quince is so typical in young Tokaji Aszú, one soon forgets to take notice). Balanced and quite long, with aromatic and round acids.

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú-Essencia Király & Holdvölgy & Bea] 2002
Barrel sample containing a lesser proportion of grape material from Bea than the other two sites. Aged in one year-old barrique. Hugely fat and rich yet acidic beneath, compote-like yet flowery, bread dough and dried as well as fresh lemon, with tropical, almost passion-fruity acidity, lightly tannic. As extreme as this is in its burly youthfulness, it is very well-balanced. Wow! These two 2002 AEs are among the handful wines Márta has made I cannot wait to sample again. In fact, they are currently my high points of the vintage, with this being the best sample of 2002 Aszú we could taste during our entire trip. I must admit I was almost surprised by my own enthusiasm here, but how delighted (and relieved in a way: I hate being pedantic and negative) I am that Márta is making such serious stuff now! I am curious to see what these will taste like from bottle. This should really make for a great quality bottle. Retasting both a couple of days later with Victor, I noticed the mixed field blend is not only richer, sweeter and fatter, but that the minerality seems uplifted by the dazzling passion-fruity acidity. When everything goes right, the acids Márta gets from her finest parcels are really in a league of their own, high yet not out of balanced, at their best they can be intoxicating as in top quality German Riesling. On our way back to the car after we had walked Márta home, Albino, Victor and I exclaimed in joy and admiration that among our beloved private vintners' wineries, Márta's might well become a bastion of high-end quality, naturally-made and natural-tasting Tokaji Aszú (along with, of course, Szepsy and Vince Gergely's Úri Borok).

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú ? Puttonyos Tarcal-Deák] 2001
Márta was afraid the step back in sweetness from one barrel sample to the next might render tasting this difficult, but in contrast to drinking dry reds, whites and dessert wines back and forth as one does at trade tastings, I do not find it difficult to compensate for sweetness, in fact find tasting vintage by vintage easier than tasting by category but across vintages. Intriguing roasted almond, viscous with already white glue-scented botrytis, clean and pure, medium length. Very good.

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú ? Puttonyos Király] 2001
To be more precise, this barrel sample was made for the most part with grapes from Király but not 100%. Strong botrytis, less almond and darker minerality (as seems to me typical of the site, even if Márta is right that there is just as strong minerality to her wines from Deák) than in the sample from Deák, candied pear, lemon and apple, spicy orange extract, nicely integrated acidity. I know my soft spot for wines from Király (because of the nature of the minerality), which is why I prefer staying conservative in my verdict: Very good plus?

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú 6? Puttonyos Tarcal-Deák] 2001
Analytically, this would qualify as AE, but I prefer thinking of it as a high-grade 6P. Deliciously green tea-like Vince Gergely Aszú, sultanas and apple and some sweet paprika (which is again reminiscent of a Gergely), dense and quite thick yet beautifully balanced, with lots of finesse, and impressive depth and precision, and great length, with the green tea subtlety unfolding again on the aftertaste. No wonder this is Márta's favourite 2001. A perfect example of what I mean when I say that an Aszú that exceeds the legally required minimum of residual sugar and extract for Aszú-Esszencia, yet tastes like a superlative 6P subjectively, does not ever need an excuse. Now, although this is safely in the outstanding to great quality range from cask today, it is one of those wines whose early harmony and completeness make me fear it can only suffer (shut down and turn monolithical) with additional barrel age. Needless to say, I hope I am wrong and this will go into bottle every bit as light on its feet, detailed and finesse-laden as it is today. Every bit as convincing when we retasted this with Victor a couple of days later, gorgeous juice.

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú 6+? Puttonyos] 2000
Barrel sample with 220 g/l r.s., enough to market this as AE, but it is really a most unusual wine, if typical of the vintage, a bit Passito-like in fruit and almost Sauternes-like in balance. Maracuja and tangerine, an almond bitter note and brown bread as well as rich white glue botrytis. Creamy and quite full in body, with ripe but low acidity. Quite long on the finish. The tropical fruit speaks for itself, but unless the additional barrel age gives this unexpected shape, the sugar-acid balance will appeal to some prospective customers more than to others. I cannot say I disliked this, on the contrary, but even Albino thought this low in acidity in balance (and his tolerance in this regard exceeds mine by far), even if the ripeness, i.e. aromatic quality, of the acids in top 2000s is something to behold. Aging this should be the least of all problems, though, it seems sufficiently packed with raw materials. Excellent plus?

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú-Essencia] 1999
About 80% of the grape material from Tarcal-Deák. Especially in direct comparison to the 2000, this comes across as lower in alcohol yet much higher in acidity. The aromatics are lovely, but evaluation is fraught with difficulty today due to residual carbon dioxide. Viscous tenderly bitter lime, quite long on the finish. Márta said she could hardly believe how differently barrels show from one week, sometimes one day to the next. Judgement deferred. Either way, what I am most curious of course, is what these wines will be like from bottle.

Pendits [Király & Holdvölgy] 2002
A barrel sample we tasted only once, during of our second visit with Victor. Must have been a dry Furmint, but I forgot to note. However, this was the only one of Márta's dry wines that left a memorable impression on me. Despite a fairly dry and high-alcohol, yet also minerally finish, this seemed a bit off-dry on entry. Full-bodied and quite impressive. Very good.

Pendits [Király] 2002
A barrel sample we tasted only once, during of our second visit with Victor. Must have been a dry Furmint, but I forgot to note. Aged in a François Frère barrique, I remember the French oak notes were more detailed than Hungarian, but that other than that, it tasted appley and quite bitter. Judgement deferred.

Pendits [Holdvölgy] 2002
A barrel sample we tasted only once, during of our second visit with Victor. Must have been a dry Furmint, but I forgot to note. Bitter-almondy marzipan, a bit higher in alcohol than the sample from Király. Judgement deferred.

Pendits [Tokaji Aszú Forditás] 2001
Two different barrels we tasted when we met again at the cellar a couple of days later, this time with Victor. I may not have found these as offensive in terms of oak toasting as the 2002 sample, but other than that, they were Forditás - need I say more?

Pendits [Tokaji Essencia Tarcal-Deák] 1999
As could be expected, this provided again the single best taste of wine of our entire tour. Márta shrugs off such praise as in contrast to her other wines, she has difficulty taking pride in a product she finds she did not have much of a hand in making (Mother Nature just gave this to her, so to speak). We tried to convince her that even though Esszencia can do little to show off a vintner's winemaking skills (except sometimes in the negative sense), it can be looked at as her personal achievement insofar as the work in the vineyards and the quality of selection (picking of Aszú berries) is concerned. Although I always thought this one of the top Esszencias of the vintage, I had not fully realized early on that this is not merely promising, it now looks like a modern-day legend-in-the-making, provided everything goes right from here to bottle.

No detailed TN this time, as I have already posted several (all of which you should be able to find in the Archive) and this wine has, after all, yet to be bottled; just a little additional information. Tasted from all four demijohns this time, all free-run juice of 100% Furmint from the Deák vineyard, two of which were still fermenting and thus more difficult to appreciate, especially the one that seemed a bit lighter than the other three. Other than that, although the four were really closer to each other than could be expected after three years, every sample differed a little bit from the next in terms of development or primariness, residual sugar content and acidity (the acids here are nothing short of intoxicating!), aromatic openness, yeastiness and carbon dioxide content. We were glad to hear how reluctant Márta is to subject this wonderful, near-perfect gift of nature to filtration. As a result, she is still trying to figure out how to best bottle it. In addition, she still needs to try and find the best possible assemblage of the four lots (she might even decide not to use all four, although they are all in the great to perfect quality range). Now that would be the job of my dreams ;^)

Dániel Szabó, Sárospatak
Albino and I have met this vintner only once in 1999 and have not tasted a single one of his wines. The reason I mention him is that Victor, who found a little more time to visit the Tokaj Festival booths than Albino and me, reports there is still 1993 Aszú-Esszencia to be had there that he said is qualitatively beyond Kereskedöház's Szarvas. All I can tell you is that Szabó is one of the most highly reputed producers among those who still make thoroughly oxidative Aszú (not what some refer to as controlledly oxidative: I remember seeing some of his wines at a wine shop in Budapest once, among them a 1988 Esszencia in 100 ml bottle that was almost pitch-black), the style that former State winery officials still have the audacity to call "traditional". This only to remind everybody that gorgeous Aszú can be made in the oxidative style as well and that it would be a pity if this style became extinct as a result of the ill reputation caused by the plethora of awful wines the Borkombinát made in the Socialist era, and more than anything else it is a reminder to myself that next time round I finally need to taste some of Szabó's Aszús.

István Szepsy, Mád
Needless to say, István Szepsy is a great personality, a fountain of knowledge and one of our favourite dessert wine producers anywhere in the world. Even so, my friends Albino and Victor find it a pity that István no longer makes Aszú-Esszencias while I am a bit unhappy he no longer makes single-vineyard bottlings. Of course it is easy to see that it is difficult to market products of which even in great vintages like 1993 there were only up to 390 bottles each (there were four AEs in 1993, all included in our small 1993 Aszú-Esszencia horizontal, compared to only 240 bottles of AE Danczka in 1991), apart from the fact that Szepsy got tired with not getting permission from the board to bottle and market his Aszú-Esszencias when he wanted (and needed to financially). Every one of these aspects have changed now, though, and Szepsy would be able to market somewhat more important quantities of AE if he wanted. He believes in blends making for more complete wines, however, and that single-vineyard bottlings should be restricted to truly great vintages, the latter a notion I wholeheartedly agree with. What Szepsy offers now is a mixed field 6 Puttonyos of probably unprecedented quality that analytically would probably qualify as AE. From subjective sweetness and balance perspective, however, none of the mixed field 6Ps since 1993, when he made his last single vineyard 6P Danczka in addition to the four AEs, could be mistaken for a Szepsy AE (I find it irrelevant for the discussion what AEs others producers find worthy of labelling and marketing as such). The finest recent vintages of 6 Puttonyos Aszú, the 1999 in particular, are smoother and rounder and possibly more complete than the early 6Ps, no doubt about that, plus I feel the oak management has improved significantly, an advantage that can hardly be overestimated. In short, quality continues to improve, so that I guess one should not complain. Of course, people like us, who bought these wines from the start, are not happy to see that the 1999 6P now costs more than any of the 1991 and 1993 AEs used to, but it is self-explanatory that the early AE releases (the 1991 Danczka and 1993 Király in particular) were sold below value.

Apart from the improved oak management, I find that on average, what oxidation Szepsy's recent Aszús exhibit fits individual vintages better, although I am still not convinced the amount of oxidation he gets is always ideal. As explained further above, István likes adding sulphur once only and let his wines evolve freely beyond that, which comes down to saying it depends on the oxidation resistance of the individual wine (in other words, on the vintage characteristics) how oxidized it will be when it is bottled. A part reason why we like the 1997 6 Puttonyos particularly well among recent vintages is that this high-acid wine seems to have a higher natural resistance to oxidation so that it seems to have gone into bottle with a near-perfect amount of oxidation (for the wine, that is, as this can only be looked at individually). But of course none of the recent vintages shows amounts of oxidation anywhere near that of the 1989 6P, which I must add many people think of as a particularly successful wine (which it no doubt was in the historical context, as well as of the vintage), so that all I have just said on the subject should be understood as relative and purely constructive criticism.

As to the Tokaji Cuvée (for more on what the product is about see the TN on the 1999 below), although I prefer Szepsy's Aszús, I have often noticed others see it the other way round, so that I can only recommend that people taste both, in particular because the Cuvée can be an attractive QPR.

What else is new? István now owns 2 of a total of 2.8 ha of the eponymous Szepsi Dülö that I believe had once belonged to his grandfather (if I understood correctly, the remainder of this cru has been destroyed as it was used as a tuff mine - something unfortunately no so uncommon even as far as prime quality sites go). For more news on Szepsy, see the introductory part and that on Királyudvar above. As already mentioned, there will be a 1999 Esszencia marketed possibly later this year (a barrel sample from Danczka was among the most promising Albino and I could taste in November 1999, so we are very curious to see what is going to be bottled).

István Szepsy Tokaji Cuvée 1999
The latest stats for this wine are Nerval's from August 1, 2001, after he had he visited Szepsy in Tokaj, are 50% Furmint, 20% Hárslevelü, 30% Muskotály, 11% alcohol, 163 g/l r.s., acids 9.8 g/l, dry extract 52 g/l, and that 5,400 bottles were made. A bottle I drank with my sister off a restaurant wine list in Zürich shortly after my return, chilled with lunch on a hot summer day with beef roast in Barolo and grilled vegetables, a combination that, as unlikely as that may sound, worked as well as I had expected. Virtually unchanged since when tasted in November 2002. This remains more Beerenauslese-like in style yet still terroir-typical of the region, and it remains my favourite of the three Tokaji Cuvées I have so far tasted from Szepsy and Királyudvar (this plus both producer's 2000s). My sister found this extremely tasty and even added the following night, when I cooked for her and her boyfriend, that she preferred it to the Disznókö 1993 5P I served with dessert from a stylistic point of view. I would still rate the 1999 Tokaji Cuvée on the borderlines of excellent to outstanding quality, plus have difficulty believing bottle age will improve it (it has been an exuberant from the start, so why age it, even if in terms of raw material/structural components, I have little doubt it can be cellared?). What I find worthy of mention is that I accused this product unjustly of being a modernistic product whose main purpose I felt was that it could be marketed earlier. István showed Albino and me a reprint of a book from the 18th century which explains the old method of making Tokaji Föbor ("prime wine"), the basis of his inspiration to make what for legalistic reasons has to be called Tokaji Cuvée: around the year 1500, when vineyards were still planted with approximately 30 grape varieties (a majority of which Furmint already back then), there was no picking and stacking of Aszú (dry) berries as later on, i.e. no picking in repetitive passings through the vineyard. Instead people waited and harvested very late (running the risk of bad weather destroying the harvest) and vinified the grape material, some of which was botrytized, some healthy, on the same day. When I asked whether it would be correct to think of the product as a "super-Szamorodni Édes" (Szamorodni is Polish for "the way it was grown", meaning it is a product of fate rather than scheme, as there is no breaking out of dry berries as in the Aszú-szölö bor method), István agreed. The Aszú-szölö bor ("wine from desiccated grapes") method was invented later, the obvious advantage being that vintners did no longer run the risk of losing a complete harvest by leaving everything hanging until late autumn. István added that Tokaji Föbor was of course not bottled at the time but sold in cask so that people went down into their cellar to fill jugs to serve it, so that it was always drunk young (as most wine was) and ageworthiness not an issue. Although the early drinkability can be regarded as a plus, István feels the Aszú method gives the wine more serious structure and thus finds it preferable. Nevertheless, as Anthony Hwang of Királyudvar already explained us, the production of their Tokaji Cuvée is more cost-intensive than that of Aszú. Rating: 89+?

István Szepsy Tokaji Cuvée 2000
First tasted three weeks before in Bad Ragaz (for my earlier TN click here), retasted with István one early morning at the Királyudvar winery (his own cellar in Mád being renovated at present, the majority of his wines were transferred there for the moment). I liked it similarly well this time, finding it more low-acid in balance but more open. 206 g/l r.s. (43 g/l or one and a half Puttonyos' worth more than the 1999!) at 11% alcohol. 8400 bottles made. Fat and round as is typical of the vintage, melon and apple compote with a tiny fresh bee's wax top note, pretty volcanic minerality and botrytis bitter notes and some tannin. More different from the 1999 in terms of vintage style than from a qualitative perspective. Either way, the 1999 Aszú 6 Puttonyos served right after this struck me again as significantly more structured and serious.

István Szepsy Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1999
First tasted three weeks before in Bad Ragaz (for my earlier TN click here), also retasted with István at the Királyudvar winery. Medium amber-orange. Good body and revealing its acid backbone now as it clearly seems to be closing down, lovely tobacco leaf, candied mixed fruits, mainly orange and a little tangerine with a tiny waxiness (already less open and in that sense complex than less than a month ago), nice viscosity and density, very long on the finish. This showing confirmed my impression that the 1999 is the best-balanced Szepsy 6P so far, probably the purest, too, but it had better be left alone now, because at the rate it appears to be closing down, people will not have much fun with it for a few years. It should be fascinating to compare this to Királyudvar's 1999 Lapis in five or six years and beyond (despite superior oak management and better controlled oxidation vis-à-vis earlier Szepsy vintages, I would feel more at ease to bet on a wine whose sulphur versus oxidation level were half-way in-between these two than making prophecies as to whether this or the Lapis is likely to age better). If only pricing had not gone up by 50% from one vintage to the next ... No reason not to stick to my earlier rating of 93+?

István Szepsy Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1996
István was so gracious as to open a bottle of his 1996 for us to retaste, which along with his 1999 he finds his most successful 6 Puttonyos (in what high regard, relatively speaking of course, Szepsy secretly holds the vintage can be seen in that he bottled a single vineyard Király and some Esszencia as well). I wonder whether this is due to a stylistic preference of his rather than a purely qualitative, since although the 1996 6P may be the most similar in overall balance, roundness and early harmony to the 1999 6P, I have never preferred it to the high-acid and thus more oxidation-resistant, dense, structured, tight and intense, if more primary 1997 (another 1997 that comes across as somewhat more Germanic in overall balance, but that for me comes rather closer to the classic ageworthy, structured Aszú I look out for). 11.% alcohol, 176 g/l residual sugar, 8.6 g/l acidity, 0.86 volatile acid and 72 g/l dry extract. Compared directly to the 1999 6P, I noticed more yellow reflexions in the otherwise similar medium amber-orange colour, a softer structure (although the 1996 is not lean, in terms of density and viscosity I find it does not top either of the 1991 6Ps, if no doubt the 1995 6P), a more roasted fruit aspect and a tiny medicinal aspect to the brown-bready botrytis (It is a characteristic of the 1996 vintage that Aszú berries were dusty-dry), here the candied orange and lemon flavours seem considerably more developed (more than the three years of age difference would lead one to expect) and already exhibit secondary notes of Cognac, Ceylon black tea and white chocolate. The pretty early harmony and complexity have always been a plus in Szepsy's 1996 6P, but it is also a wine that has shown an oak top note since release. Although not irreminiscent of the 1999 6P in overall balance (a lighter and more developed version of it, so to speak, at two thirds of the price), I miss the 1999's acid backbone (let alone the 1993 6P's, which is subjectively, and probably analytically as well, rather less sweet than the 1996, let alone than the fuller 1999), density and viscosity. Medium-plus finish and a lovely aftertaste. But for those who do not want to wait for a long time, the 1996 may be ideal, although I find it is probably in its short transitory phase now, where I would prefer giving it a little more time to fully open up again. Rating: 90+

István Szepsy Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1998
With Dani after my return home. More of a yellow-gold with only a light copper-orange hue than other Szepsy 6Ps. Rich, a bit Esszencia/free run juice-like (in taste, not sweetness level) pear and apple juice concentrate and mixed bakery spice (including soft cinnamon powder) aromas and flavours, some baked apple and strong banana. A couple of hours later there is ripe quince and chalky minerality as well, a touch of candied lemon, a medium bitter note and minor paraffin waxiness. Yet later the typical top notes of curry and smoke I often get in young Aszú make an appearance. Juicier if a bit looser in the middle and less structured and balanced than the 1999, and the acidity is less aromatic and refreshing, if convincing for the vintage and by no means low. Fairly sugary-viscous, yet with sound vinosity, this is one of those wines whose glycerine makes itself felt primarily when it is chilled, but that soon turns vinous and liquid when it warms up in the glass. István once told us, referring to his four 1993 Aszúessencia bottlings whose alcohol levels vary between 8.5 and 12%, that for him body is all-important in Aszú, i.e. that it should always have 12% alcohol. Even focusing solely on his own Aszús since 1989, I could not agree. Some might think of it as a miracle that wines that were allowed to ferment and develop in cask freely achieved any sense of sugar-acid-alcohol balance - in reality most turned out well-balanced enough, the 1997 6P at a low 9% alcohol no less than the 1996 at 11% and the 1998 at 11.5% (the 1997's more Germanic overall balance being rather due to the crisp acids and resistance to oxidation, some even said early herbaceousness, in short, the fact that it is youthfully burly and intense rather than soft, round and evolved). As far as I am concerned, I cannot help thinking there was no miracle at all, as unmanipulated wine can often be observed to have a mind of its own and achieves balance with a regularity that technocrats deem impossible (not that Szepsy is a technocrat, on the contrary, but I do not always agree with his constant longing for greater control in the cellar, a consequence of the fact that he is an exceptionally gifted, as well as studied, agronomist with comparatively lesser confidence in his ability as an autodidactic trial-&-error winemaker - that being said, I accept he is a perfectionist who cannot help wishing to make sure of results; the bottom line still is, of course, that one has to admire him for his steady search for better quality). Such contemplation aside, three more aspects worthy of mention are that the 1998 is another 6P that one can assume may analytically have been sweet enough to qualify as AE but where the decision to bottle it as 6 Puttonyos seems correct to me. What I remain a bit underwhelmed with is the finish, where this manages no more than medium persistence, even if followed by a somewhat longer aftertaste that is assisted by the healthy amount of alcohol rather than floating on it. As Dani put it, the fruit simply does not cling to one's palate. In other words, this lacks the core of reserve fruit of a great vintage, and as a result there is little beneath the surface that could unfold on the finish. The best part about this wine, for me at least, is how convincingly it confirmed my impression that since the 1997, the oak management has gotten better here, a tremendous plus that will pay dividends as Szepsy's recent vintages age in bottle. The 1998 is delicately tannic, the taste of the oak itself subtle, and the amount of oxidation seems virtually ideal for the wine (in terms of balance I would be hard-pressed to tell which is the more oxidized, this or the high-acid 1997). I remember how worried István was that even the finest 1998s might show signs of rot and/or mouldy botrytis. His 1998 6P seems representative of the handful most successful wines of the vintage in that it does not surprise the taster with an impression of unexpected cleanliness and purity, but one gets the impression the wine was not doctored (subjected to excessive fining and filtering) to smell and taste as satisfyingly clean as it does. There is a naturalness to this wine that one rarely encounters in so-called "off" vintages, which puts it above what else I have so far tasted from the 1998 vintage, with the exception of Úri Borok (no other 1998 offers the jaw-dropping level of intensity and raciness Vince Gergely achieved in his best wines). I believe Szepsy's 1998 6P holds greater potential than the more developed 1996, whose main advantages at this point - greater early harmony, finesse and length - go hand in hand with fruit that tastes more roasted and seems quicker to evolve in bottle, apart from the fact that the 1996 is oakier, more oxidized and perhaps lighter overall. In comparison, the 1998 should evolve more slowly and ultimately acquire greater complexity, perhaps reveal more depth also. I kept a glass in the fridge for three days and am glad to report it kept its naturalness and, as long as one drinks it chilled, its Esszencia/free run juice-like ripe quince and pear juice concentrate character (allowing it to warm up in the glass remained a problem, though), plus the ripeness or ripe quince-like aromatic quality of the acidity became more apparent. It is hardly as complete a wine as the 1999 6P, and it remained looser in the middle and less persistent on the finish than would be ideal - but even though it would not be up to scratch as Szepsy AE, a less distinguished producer might have labelled this Aszú-Esszencia. Even so, at two thirds the price of the 1999 6P, I find this a similarly stiff QPR. To this day I wish I could have bought some of Szepsy's wonderful 1998 Szamorodni édes. Rating: 91

István Szepsy Tokaji Aszúessencia Mádi-Király Szölészet 1993
When we told István about the showing of his four single-vineyard 1993 AEs at our small horizontal a year before and I added that the last bottle of this, which I had brought to the Alsace Offline the Iversons had organized on May 9th, seemed almost fresher, with perhaps a little livelier acidity (István had told us before that he had always thought this wine's acidity low because the vines had only recently been planted back then), he informed us of something that had hitherto been completely unknown to us: that it is a 100% Hárslevelü! Albino, Victor and I looked at each other and exclaimed simultaneously: "That explains a lot!" Now, I have not asked the others how they meant it, but to me, this wine's structure, if to a lesser extent aromatic and flavour profile, has always seemed very different beyond the fact that it obviously was made from young vines (which, let us not forget, many other of these early nineties Aszús were). I should add that this new piece of information in no way degrades my respect for this wine, on the contrary: I can hardly believe this should be 100% Hárslevelü, or in other words, I would not have believed a pure Hárslevelü Aszú could be so good, as judging from other examples (100% Hárslevelü Aszús such as Hétszölö's, a 1999 Esszencia at Monyók I still remember vividly etc.), I had come to believe the grape variety is only useful for blending. But on to the TN now:

Tasted at the Alsace Offline on May 9th, 2003. A particularly fine bottle this time, fresher and seemingly higher in acidity, maybe even sweeter and more glyceric. A little pipe tobacco, candied orange, highly concentrated prune juice core, quite spicy (maggis among other), some caramel and chestnut, very long. Even so, a minor amount of oak and rancio oxidation can be detected aromatically, this definitely does not have the balance of Szepsy's other three AEs in this vintage. With airing during the evening the pipe tobacco and orange rind notes got rather more pronounced, along with a top note of aged bee's wax. Interestingly about half the people at the Offline liked this better than the 1972 Monyók AE, a not quite as concentrated but harmonious and of course much more evolved wine. I found it more difficult to pick a favourite, other than that the 1972 Monyók AE must be regarded as the even grander in its own, i.e. socialist era, context than Szepsy's 1993 AE Király in either the context of that vintage, what makes more sense to me, the context of modern, i.e. 1989-and-after, Tokaji Aszú. That being said, I was enormously pleased with this showing, having feared this wine was already on its way down, an impression by the way shared by István Szepsy himself, who confirmed in Bad Ragaz that this wine is developing at a somewhat accelerated speed essentially because "it was made from young, recently planted vines [which he had told us earlier accounts for the lower acidity vis-à-vis his other three 1993 AEs, which is also why Szepsy feels this needs its higher alcohol of 12% for balance], plus we have since modified our winemaking methods, hoping to make our wines more ageworthy". Even so, this showing reassures me there is no instant necessity to drink my remaining bottles up. In addition, I felt the superiority of Király's terroir over e.g. Szepsy's Nyulas plot, in particular in terms of depth and minerality, showed again, even if the AE Nyulas has turned out the better-balanced of the two AEs in 1993 - in fact, despite the indisputable superiority of his two bottlings of Danczka AE in this vintage, my gut feeling is that his Király plot may have the noblest terroir of what he owned back then (of course, in the meantime, István acquired so many more quality parcels in these and other vineyards that this contemplation is of purely academic value, especially in view of the fact that the abandonment of Aszú-Esszencia in favour of marketing a greater quantity of 6 Puttonyos blend plus a small quantity of pure Esszencia for prestige purposes precludes future horizontals). Out of the fridge on the third day, there was a strong emphasis on oily-sweet liquid dried apricot over prune, still with fine, partly green tobacco leaf, curry and smoke, long and definitely backed by pretty, if not very high, acidity. Delicious! To think this cost less than half the price of the less sweet and thick (but better balanced) 1999 6P ... Rating: 93

Úri Borok, Mád
Vince Gergely is the kind of soft-spoken vintner that one is sometimes afraid people might overlook, but he is also a vintner with the uncanny ability to make wines that do all the talking for him - and more! It was three and a half years ago since we last visited him and his cellars, and since then we had heard rumours that his winemaking was no longer be up to scratch or that he never made another wine on the quality level of his 1993 Aszúessencia (I should have asked again to make sure, but if I understood correctly, he mentioned in passing that this earlier super wine, probably still the strongest candidate for the Aszú of the Vintage, is a single-vineyard Bojta). I am glad to report that is not the case at all. The only negative thing to report is that due to the fact that his vineyards suffered from hail twice prior to harvest in 1999, his portfolio from what on average is considered at least the second-best vintage of the nineties comes across as a bit underwhelming, both in terms of quantity and quality. In short, his 1999s are surprisingly not superior to his 1998s - which will surprise no one who actually tasted his 1998s! Those are, quite simply, breathtaking. Anyone tasting around Tokaj with a vintage chart in their hands deserves no better than to miss these. In fact, anyone who had only tasted Vince Gergely's would be led to assume 1998 is one of the two best vintage of the decade. His best wines, by the way, are often single vineyard bottling from Szent Tamás although it rarely says so on the label. What he does have in contrast to others, too, are old vines, a majority of which between 30 and 70 years-old. Vince told us he presently owns 15 ha of which 13 are in production, 1 ha of which Muskotály. Other than that, I can only add two things Márta Wille-Baumkauff said about Gergely, that his Aszús are as typical expressions of Tokaj as one can find and that he is the local Muscat de Lunel magician - on both accounts, I could not agree more.

Impossible (and useless) to describe all barrel samples in detail, but among other there were a nicely balanced, still fermenting 2002 Late Harvest Furmint and a high-must-weight 2001 that had fermented completely dry, with huge body and a taste reminiscent of complex hay and alcoholic Dijon mustard.

Úri Borok Tokaji Furmint 2000
"Száraz" in small letters on the lower part of the label means dry. I was a bit underwhelmed with this when first tasting it in the cellar, although it is fairly structured, with good cut and sound, one-dimensional lightly oxidized apple flavour. I opened another bottle for my sister and her non-husband for dinner at home. Quite strong dark apple and mineral notes, full body (actually a bit alcoholic at 14% if one allows it to warm up in the glass), medium-low in acidity as is typical of the vintage yet still high enough thanks to the fact it is a bone dry Furmint. Fairly long. Oxidation is minor and fits the wine well. My guests liked it rather better than me. About very good quality, though.

Úri Borok Tokaji Muskotály 2000
Also "Száraz", i.e. dry. Variety-typical, a bit alcoholic macerating tangerine blossom, a bit liqueur-like especially on the nose and finish. Good!

Úri Borok Tokaji Hárslevelü Late Harvest 1994
This is "édes" of course, i.e. sweet. Vince keeps showing us the same 1994s, I guess they are not much of a success. It certainly has not developed negatively in the last three years. Dandelion, linden flower, a bit oily, good body, fresh sunflower oil, some nuttiness, medium-plus length. Very good.

Úri Borok Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 1998
60% Furmint and 40% Hárslevelü. We were all, including Márta Wille-Baumkauff, who has obviously a little experience in such matters, surprised that this contains no Muskotály, because it sure smells and tastes as if there were some. Amber-orange. Lots of botrytis for a 5P. Orange and tangerine blossom, bee's wax, nicely viscous and fat, some crushed sultanas, with the classic tiny bitter note, tiny hazelnut, sound acidity, good purity and length. An amazing achievement for the vintage. Excellent!

Úri Borok Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1994
Dried blossoms/flowers. Candied orange, a bit waxy, lovely balance especially for the vintage, nice acidity. Seems less exotic and detailed than three years ago, but perhaps a bit longer. No doubt a success for the vintage, but does it go beyond very good bordering excellent quality?

Úri Borok Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1999
Albino had very much wanted to taste Vince Gergely's 1999s, but when we went there for a second time expressedly to taste these, we learnt that he does not think 1999 was as much of a success for him as it may have been for others, as his best vineyards had suffered from hail twice prior to the harvest. He offered to show them to us all the same, and of course it turned out they are far from bad! Note not only the Essencia but also the 6P is a barrel sample and still fermenting! Carbon dioxide and subtle orange blossom aromatics, some oxidation noticeable. The second barrel was sweeter and less oxidized. Albino was thoroughly convinced, especially taking QPR into account as well, whereas I liked it well enough, but thought it inferior to what Gergely has to offer in 1998 or 2000, or to the best 1999 6Ps we could taste at other wineries. But no doubt in a difficult phase right now. Judgement deferred.

Úri Borok Tokaji Muskotály Aszú 6 Puttonyos 1998
When Albino and I first tasted this from barrel in 1999, Gergely was still undecided whether to bottle it as 6P or AE. He has no doubt taken the right decision here, which does not mean I am no longer convinced this is one of the finest Muscat de Lunel-based wines I have ever tasted (my benchmark by far remains F.X. Pichler's 1998 TBA, of course, followed at some distance by Wenzel's 1995 TBA and this wine, then probably József Monyók's 1993 Muskotály Aszú-Eszencia Nyulászó). Quite hugely fat for a 6P of course if not overwhelmingly sweet (Gergely told us at the time that it holds approximately 200 g/l r.s. and that like most of his greatest wines, it stems from his old vines in Szent Tamás), with variety-typical candied tangerine and orange, with tangerine- and orange-scented acidity, well-integrated oxidation. Fairly powerful despite the low alcohol content of 9% alcohol (there is sufficient vinosity all the same). Victor finds this single-mindedly apricot-flavoured at present, and indeed, it is neither primary nor has it developed tertiary aromas and flavours, instead it is a monolithical block now (at this stage it is so much more reminiscent of Monyók's 1993 AE than I had expected - careful, by the way: I am not sure Monyók did not make another AE, a Furmint-based blend, in 1993 as well), if with most impressive structure and impeccable balance. The great subtlety, floweriness, depth and finesse, and even some of the once great (at present very satisfactory) length are rather subdued today, and I am afraid this might well take a long time to reach maturity. Victor, who I am not sure has ever tasted any of the rare pure Muskotály Aszús before, had a hard time interpreting this, and I can see why: you will hardly encounter a more stubbornly monolithical late harvest wine than a Muscat that has gone into a shell. However, decades and centuries ago, customers used to search these rarities out and did not mind paying extra. I do not exactly have a soft spot for Muscat de Lunel, but I know that at its best, it can age into something extraordinary. Well outstanding without doubt, but hardly the right time to attack bottles. Retasted at the Tokaj Renaissance tasting, where I simply thought this the finest wine on show. I plan to have another look at this soon, though, at home in peace, just to make sure it still holds as much promise as it used to.

Úri Borok [Tokaji Aszú 6+P?] 2000
Tasted on two different occasions. Barrel sample from Szent Tamás with the base wine Muscat de Lunel, Aszú berries from Furmint and Hárslevelü. Creamy banana, beautiful candied yellow fruit, low acidity and alcohol, good length. Nicely fresh and primary, Albino loves this and I am glad its alcohol balance is in the German BA to TBA range. Retasted during our second visit I again found it extremely ripe if with low acidity, fat and round, sweet apple juice concentrate, with the usual notes of green tea. From a second barrel denser and more floral, as well as more liqueur-like and more tannic. Vince said the key to 2000 was to use an early-picked high acid base wine. Promising 2000 Aszú I would love to retaste (and that I would personally bottle as 6P, not AE).

Úri Borok [Tokaji Aszúessencia] 1998
Barrel sample with approximately 400 g/l residual sugar, tasted from two different barrels. Vince says the vines soaked up water every time it rained and that the result was that the not so dry Aszú berries yielded an above average quantity of Esszencia. That is to say, even though this wine contains no base must, he finds it too light to bottle as Esszencia (which would now be too late anyhow, as the new legislation requires a minimum of 450 g/l). This took 2 years to ferment, in fact we noticed it is still fermenting now. Medium Cognac-orange colour. Very rich and deep, with wonderful aromas and flavours of orange, quince and tea of terrific freshness, this has fine acidity and great length. Back in November 1999 in his cellar in Mád, István Szepsy showed Albino and me a similar 1998 barrel sample from the Henye Dülö which he said contained about 350 g/l r.s. and that in the meantime appears to have gone into Királyudvar's 6P Aszú; I will never forget István presented it to us saying we should watch out for minor signs of rot. The sample was downright terrific for the vintage, no doubt a base must-free light Esszencia same as this Gergely, and as hard as we tried, we could only get off notes in passing but soon later were unable to pin them down anymore. Now in Gergely's only slightly more developed version, I honestly could not find any off characteristics, and I feel elated this should be bottled as it is and that there is even some quantity (4 barrels or 8 hl or 1600 bottles, if Albino's on the spot calculation was correct) to go round. Whether this is a more balanced and complete effort than the just over half as sweet 1993 AE is not easy to say, let alone whether it will develop the same subtlety and finesse, but I would be most surprised if this were not again an early candidate for the Aszú of the Vintage. Great stuff and probably the Aszú highlight of our trip (even if technically speaking it is debatable whether, containing no base must or wine, it really qualifies as Aszú-szölö bor)! Not inexpensive but definitely worth it.

Úri Borok [Tokaji Essencia] 1999
No doubt the same free-run juice of 50% Furmint and 50% Hárslevelü that Albino and I were offered to taste soon after the vintage, but how this oxidized due to the fact it was kept in a merely half-full Gönci! Quite deep orange-amber in colour. Barrel sample still fermenting, with strong Grand Marnier Cognac orange aromas and flavours and strong carbon dioxide. Without doubt in the 500 to 600 g/l residual sugar range. Difficult to assess, judgement deferred, as my gut instinct suggests this must be in its worst possible phase now.

Úri Borok [Tokaji Essencia] 2000
Literally off the scale: analysis as yet unknown, and Gergely's refractometer does not go beyond 70; my quick rule-of-thumb calculation assuming that the sugar-free dry extract of high octane Esszencia is usually around 10% of the total extract reveals that this must have at least 600 g/l residual sugar, probably quite a bit more in this must weight record year, Vince notes. Hugely sweet, rich and jelly-like, with primary and surprisingly fresh fruit despite low acidity, although what little acidity there is, is gorgeously ripe and aromatic, providing a quality of retro-olfaction only German TBA and Tokaji Esszencia achieves. Both the low acidity and exceptional purity are no doubt due to the sunny weather and late harvest with barely any botrytis. What is more difficult to explain is why this has never even started to ferment. When I wondered whether this could have to do with the warm and sunny autumn weather, Vince answered he was convinced there must be yeasts in this and that he had no explanation. During our second visit we could taste this both from glass demijohn and oak Gönci. The former sample was extremely fat and sweet, subjectively even more low-acid, and primary almost beyond belief, but very long on the finish. The latter was also pale yellow-coloured and only a little more developed, but that sojourn in oak still made all the difference - this is gorgeous stuff of rare florality. Why this refuses to oxidize in oak is another question we were unable to answer. In comparison, Disznókö's even fatter and subjectively even lower-acid 2000 Esszencia is already in its worst in-between fallen apple oxidation phase that it will need additional time to get out of again (as Disznókö's 1993 did so gloriously). Guess how long it took Albino to figure out that if this refuses to ferment, it could be bottled unfiltered? Low-acid and alcohol-free and with the purity of a great percentage of healthy, botrytis-free, sun-shrivelled grapes, this will be highly unusual no doubt, but it is great stuff and, as we learnt, fairly priced.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

P.S.

I have discontinued divulging numerical scores on this board (in order to avoid e-mails solely concentrating on the virtues of numerical rating, since I'd really rather talk about the wines themselves). For those who have problems interpreting my "verbal scoring", the numerical correspondences are as follows:

79 and below = NOT GOOD (i.e. no need to figure out exactly)
80 - 84 = GOOD (same as 16 and over in the European 20-point system)
85 - 89 = VERY GOOD (same as 17 and over; I sometimes use EXCELLENT or ALMOST-OUTSTANDING to indicate 88 - 89)
90 - 94 = OUTSTANDING (same as 18 and over)
95 - 99 = GREAT (or CLASSIC, same as 19 and over; I sometimes use NEAR-PERFECT to indicate a 98 - 99 score)
100 = PERFECT (20/20)

Note I will rarely buy wine below my own EXCELLENT rating (that's where wine really starts standing out for individuality from the mass of technically impeccably-made wines) except for an occasional and there truly exceptional QPR (I must insist any wine in the VERY GOOD category with me is serious stuff, way above average wine, that I still wouldn't buy because I've got to somehow limit my wine buying). But if a wine is costly, it had better be at least OUTSTANDING!

July 4, 2003

All contents © copyright 1981-2009 by Robin Garr, www.WineLoversPage.com

Cliffwood Organic Works