Royal Tokaji Essencia 2009 37.5cl

Mouthfeel

• Body
  100%
• Acidity
  100%

Critic score

• Jancis Robinson 18/20

Wijngaard & vinificatie

Soil

Volcanic - lime

Philosophy

Organic (no certificate)

Type of yeast

Added

Maturation

Steel

Alcohol %

2.0 %

Serveeradvies

Serving temperature

8-10°C

Food pairing

Chocolate (dark) pralines

Bewaarpotentieel

Recommended drinking window

>10 years

Wine for storage?

true

Wist je dat

Did you know?

Louis XIV of France described Tokaji wines as "The wine of kings and the king of wines."

General

Climate

Continental with warm summers and cold winters

Altitude

150 - 300m

Age of vines

+/- 20 years

Harvest method

Hand-picked

Additional information vinification

There is considerable variation between vintages, with an average of only 3 to 4 good or abundant Aszú vintages every 10 years. Historically, Aszú grapes were picked and collected in 27-liter wooden vats called puttonies. The Aszú grapes are crushed, releasing their intensely sweet juice. The non-Aszú grapes are vinified to make a base wine. The bunches of grapes for the base wines are harvested by hand, while the Aszú berries are selected manually, berry by berry. Up to 5 kg of healthy grapes are needed for 1 kg of Aszú berries, and a picker can collect no more than 8 to 10 kg in a day. Before the Aszú berries are added, the must begins to ferment in stainless steel tanks until it reaches an alcohol content of 4-6%. The Aszú berries are stored in containers for a while before being pressed. Only a minuscule amount of free-flowing juice is collected (about 2-3 liters per 100 kg of grapes). This juice is known as Essencia or essence.

Rare?

true

Old vintages available on request?

true

Region info

The Tokaj wine region is located 220 km northeast of Budapest, at the confluence of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers. The Zemplén Mountains are volcanic and rise steeply in conical peaks from the northern edge of the Great Plain. Two rivers, the Bodrog and the Tisza, meet on the southern side of this range, where the Tokaj Hill rises above the villages of Tokaj and Tarcal. The summer winds from the plain, the shelter of the mountains and the autumn mists rising from the rivers create ideal conditions for the development of Botrytis. Tokaji was the first wine to be made deliberately from grapes affected by noble rot (Botrytis). The specific conditions that cause this rot – the shriveling of the grapes and the intense concentration of their sugars, acids and aromas – make the wines of the Tokaj region unique.

Vintage info

The best way to describe the weather in 2009 is 'extreme', a harvest with two faces. The budding started perfectly with beautiful sunny days and high temperatures, but by mid-May they were faced with severe drought. The late-ripening Furmint and Hárslevelű reached full maturity by the end of September and the harvest started very early, giving them a clear window to collect top-quality aszú berries - fortunately, because after October 10th it became rainy, which effectively ended the harvest. Between the end of September and mid-October, the 'aszúzás' took place, the process in which the pickers select and manually pick the aszú berries. Then the free grape juice, in this case only from the first generation of berries, was collected. A small and slow alcoholic fermentation took place spontaneously.

Closure

Cork

Original packaging

Chest 1fl

Weight of the bottle

0.70