Tokaj
Climate and Grape varieties
moderate
best: hillside slopes with southerly aspects
Bodrog and TIsza rivers generaate early morning humidity
varieties, often blended
Furmint: concentrted, high acidi white wines, apple when young, nuts and honey as age
Harslevelu
late ripening, botrytis, sweet Aszu wines
late ripening, perfume to a b
Sarga Muskotaly: aroma
Wine style
sweet wine:50cl bottles, dry wine:75cl bottles. three different harvests to make a number of different styles in each vintage
Dry wines
dry wines without botrytis
vary from drunk young, to age worrhy blends, which fermented and matured in new oak, usually made from Furmint
Tokaji Szamorodni, may be dry or sweet
harvest as Sazorodni, which means bunches are partially afffected by noble rot
dry will show noble rot characters
similar to Fino Sherry. aged in cask for a minimum of 1 year and be two years old before release, more wines are longer. so may have an oxidative character
Sweet wines
Aszu wines
Aszu(rotten) are macerated in the base wine before , furing or after fermentation, lasting 12 to 60 hours,
uncrushed aszu avoids bitter flavours
matured for a period of time in oak
amount of aszu dermins the sweetness
Puttony: level of sweetness
deep amber, high acidity, intense aromas, orange peel, apricots, honey, more concentrated and intense as the rising of sweetness
Tokaji Eszencia
extremely rare wines, seldom available outside the region
made from free-run juice of aszu berries
so sweet can take years to ferment, very low alcohol, balanced by very high acidity
abe to mature and retain their freshness for a century or more
Modern style sweet wines
late harvest grapes
ferment the botrytised grapes, matured for less time
Tokaij sweet wine laws
Traditional laws
mimumum residual sugar was 60g/L,would be labelled three to six puttonyos
minimum ageing is spend 24 months in oak and only be released from the January in the fourth year after jarvest
Aszu category labelled Aszu Eszencia, minimum of 180g/L is required
2013 laws, were awaiting EU approval
minimum sugar for Aszu raised to 120g/L, which means 5 puttonyos
lower level of sugar lablled as Late Harvest or Tokaji Szamorodni
except free-run juice of asze berries, Aszu Eszencia has been abolished
shorter ageing requirements:18 months in oak, released in the January of the third year after harvest