Béres Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2017

The great success of this wine from Decanter World Wine Award is still hot: Béres has won one of the 8 Hungarian Platinum awards with 97 points! And now another great acknowledgment has been gained: Béres Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2017 received grand gold and has been selected the Best Foreign Wine at the 30th Catad’Or international wine contest of Chile.

“Gloriously rich”

Decanter review of the wine:
“A splurge of confit citrus unlocks kumquat, saffron and curry leaf aromas in tandem. Gloriously rich and rounded with a feverish acidity piercing the decadent sweetness and parading showstopping freshness towards the irresistibly long finish.”
See full Decanter fact sheet here

Fun fact: the same wine won DWWA Platinum last year as well. It is a wine worth stocking, isn’t it?

How was it made?

“Individually handpicked and selected Hárslevelű and Furmint aszú grapes were soaked in clean, fermenting 100% Furmint base wine overnight. The aim of soaking is to enrich the material to be pressed with the alcohol and carbon dioxide produced during the onset of fermentation. This Aszú was aged for 36 months in Szerednye-type, Zemplén oak barrels, then bottled.” This aszú has a massive 171.1 g/L residual sugar, however, it is brilliantly balanced by the 11.1 g/L acidity.
More about this wine

The laziest – and lavishest – food pairing: enjoy by itself

Noble sweet wines have a serious enemy: the diet. And indeed, it contains a significant amount of calories, especially if you pair it with a dessert. The solution is to REPLACE the dessert by Tokaji Aszú, and enjoy it slowly, because you deserve it.

A food pairing from a British fine dining restaurant

Three years ago, Zsuzsa Toronyi (Wine Communication / Wines of Hungary UK) organised a Tokaji Aszú campaign in England with several food pairing events. This is a pairing from that event:
Béres Aszú & The five gourds
By Urcino Garcia Hernandez head sommelier, Chef’s Table and Twenty Eight, Chester
DISH The five gourds (a dish that combines five different kinds of squash and pumpkin)
WINE Béres, Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2011
‘Squash has a natural sweetness’, explains Hernandez, ‘and it complements the sweetness in the wine. The wine’s residual sugar also works well with the heat of the togarashi spice and that hint of Asian flavours, while the candied pecans, which we scatter in with the seeds, bring out the notes of dried fig, date and sweet almonds in the wine.’
More about Twenty-Eight
More about Béres Vineyards

The best place to enjoy: Wine, Shine… Bénye festival on 13–16 August

Erdőbénye is a picturesque village in Tokaj wine region, this is where Béres Vineyard is located. It is worth visiting any time of the year, but the highlight is the annual cross-cultural festival, this year with 16 locations, including Béres.
More information here