What is Tokaji (pronounced Tok-aye) and why is this blog called 'Tokaji the Noo'?
Well it all started with the planning of our 2012 Portfolio Tasting (held on the 27th of February 2012), with Master of Wine Chris Donaldson from The Royal Tokaji Wine Company confirming that he would be coming along and showcasing an exclusive range of wines from The Royal Tokaji Wine Company.
Here in the AW office we like to keep ourselves amused and in the past we have often referred to Tokaji as 'Tokaji the Noo' (being Scottish we are proud of our strange and unique words!), and therefore during the lead up to our event this was a running joke. On meeting Chris we told him about our little quip which he found highly amusing and thought it would be a great way to get the name of Tokaji out to world.
So what is Tokaji?
Tokaji wines have a long history from Hungary dating back to the 17th century, where the quality of these wines were noted by Prince Rakoczi II of Transylvania and the vineyards were classified into Great First growths, First, Second and Third Growths. In doing this Tokaj became the first wine region in the world to have their vineyards categorised in such a way and these classifiactions still stand today.
The grape varieties used to make these exculsive wines, from The Royal Tokaji Wine Company, are - Furmint, Harslevelu and Muscat de Lunel with each grape variety bringing its own unique element to the wines. These wines range from the enticing dry and aromatic 100% Furmint to the unique and exclusive Essencia which only has up to 3% alcohol due to the level of sugar from the grapes.
The sweeter dessert style wines, termed aszu, have an aszu classification system in which their sugar levels can be categorised. The aszu classification was traditionally based on how many puttonyos (types of barrels used to collect the grapes) of
dried out, aszu, grapes were added to a barrel of dry wine. Now it is
based on sugar levels. The sweeter, the richer; the richer, the rarer;
the rarer, the more expensive. Therefore a 6 puttonyos is sweeter than a 5 puttonyos. Essencia, the sweetest of all, often takes years to ferment to an incredible 3% alcohol, and is the rarest wine of all from The Royal Tokaji Company.
We were lucky enough to open a bottle of the Royal Tokay Aszu Essencia 1993, where only 450 bottles were produced. This liquid delight was perfectly balanced with rich and lucsious sweetness but with a delicate acidity to finish.
So lets raise a glass of this delicious and exquiste wine and say 'Tokaji the Noo'!
