Queues for Tokaji Aszú in New York City

October 18, 2018

Queues for Tokaji Aszú in New York City

Chateau Dereszla tasting with Cognac One

„It was an honour to pour our wines at Benoit restaurant for New York professionals, and we were amazed to experience how much they loved our 5 puttonyos Tokaji Aszú”– said Anikó Demeter (marketing and export) from Chateau Dereszla winery, Tokaj. Cognac One, the distributor of Dereszla holds its portfolio tasting biannually, and it always proves to be a big hit among the trade members of the metropole, since Cognac One portfolio is really precious with fine wines mostly from France with some pearls like Chateau Kefraya in Lebanon, Quinta Do Pessegueiro in Portugal or Chateau Dereszla in Hungary. „Our mission is to assemble a curated selection of diverse fine wines coming from exceptional terroirs, boutique Estates, and creative winemakers. This unique savoir-faire, through traditional, organic and biodynamic methods, translates into authentic and exquisite wines. We know how to take risks by discovering and presenting unconventional wines allowing our clients and theirs to explore new horizons, appellations, and obscure grapevarieties/blends”– as we can read the philosophy of Cognac One.

Aszúesszencia – the non plus ultra

Benoit New York is a contemporary French bistro by Alain Ducasse, the French chef guru. In August 2016, Alain Ducasse transformed the original Benoit into a more modern 21st century dining destination in Manhattan. Cognac One often conducts tastings, wine dinners in the world famous restaurant, which boasts a stunning wine list with French and American wines. French wines are still the most important in US gastronomy, especially French red wines, so is there a market for white wines from a country like Hungary? As Anikó Demeter told us, the US market is tough, French brands rule the top of the charts, but Dereszla wines were immensely popular at the tasting, probably due to their unique characteristics. The sweet, yet absolutely balanced Tokaji Aszú was the favourite, but their Dry Tokaj white wine was also received with great attention. „WSET instructors, wine writers, sommeliers and other wine professionals came to our table to taste, and they were really knowledgeable, they even knew the procedure of Tokaji Aszú with „puttony” and botrytis” –commented Anikó, who participated at the tasting on 25 September with Gábor Weiner commercial manager. She added that their Aszúesszencia was also huge success (aszúesszencia is a category above 6 puttonyos aszú, it is not used any more, but Dereszla still has some stocks of this extraordinary wine). Dereszla team was more than satisfied with the attention they received from visitors, and some of the participants might even travel to Tokaj, Hungary, to see the unique terroir of Aszú wines.