Béres – every single drop is medicine

The winery was founded by the son of the creator of the world famous Béres Drops – hence the slogan. The estate is located in the picturesque village of Erdőbénye, where the very first evidence of grape-growing of Tokaj was found.
On TasteHungary.eu Aszú-lovers can find a 2008 vintage Béres Tokaji Aszú, a true treasure!
“This wine is a blend of Furmint (70 percent) and Hárslevelű (30 percent) from volcanic soil in the Lőcse and Omlás vineyards. Vintage 2008 had an early spring, and enough rain to produce a good amount of botrytis and lots of Aszú berries. Grapes were harvested up until November 26th. The gorgeous dark golden-amber color of this wine is a promising sign of what is to come inside the bottle. This wine was fermented in oak barrels and aged in Hungarian oak barrels for 24 months (with an additional 12 months in the bottle before it was released).“

Available in the EU, while Béres Tokaji Esszencia is available in the US.
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Dereszla – affordable and outstanding

Having a good price would not be a merit without high, what is more outstanding quality. Edit Bai chief winemaker is devoted to select the best wines from the many barrels for the Aszú wines, the result is constantly great, for example vintage 2011 Dereszla Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos received 95 points from Wine Spectator. The current vintage available in most places is 2017, it is a blend of Furmint and Hárslevelű.
“A tightly wound and focused sweet wine, with intense acidity harnessing layers of apricot coulis, golden raisin, mango and passion fruit puree. It’s all about the fruit now, with some added notes of spice and chalk lifting the finish. Should develop nicely over time.“

Available in many countries, for example in the UK and even in Spain.
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Holdvölgy – the embodiment of Tokaj’s culture

This Tokaji Aszú is the odd one out – this is the only one with a name: Culture. Though Holdvölgy estate gives a name to each of the wines, the range consists of Intuition, Signature, Meditation and others. Holdvölgy is also unique to offer many vintages of the 6 puttonyos Tokaji Aszú on their webshop, 12 different vintages (!), to be precise. They make only 6 puttonyos Aszú wines and age them for 8 years! This is the reason for having released “only” 12 vintages. However, for keen Aszú lovers younger vintages are also available en primeur.
Holdvölgy Culture 2017 is made of Furmint, Hárslevelű and Zéta with a 100% Furmint base wine. “The nose is clean and precise, dominated by fresh cantaloupe and supported by apricot compote, candied lemon peel and a hint of clove. A lively citrus flavor attack on the palate with the cantaloupe returning on the core. The finish is long led by apricot and fig with persistence and fine complexity.“

Available in the UK, in the Netherlands, in France and other countries
(Aszú is on the way to the Dutch webshop!)
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Patricius – makes you beautiful

Let me share a personal memory: when I was pregnant with my third child, I happened to participate in a wine dinner in Tokaj with several producers. I refused to drink wine, but Péter Molnár, the estate manager of Patricius and his wife, Sarolta Bárdos (owner and winemaker of Tokaj Nobilis) insisted on having a tiny portion of Tokaji Aszú. “It is full of trace minerals, and, believe us, your baby will be more beautiful!” Certainly, they were joking with the second half of the sentence, but I looked around, at all the beautiful faces around me, and I was convinced. Needless to say, my daughter is a real beauty…
Patricius Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2019 is a varietal wine made of 100% Furmint. “Nicest aromas of botrytized berries followed by enormous, high structure and full body. Long, smooth, endless taste and exceptional deepness of peach, apricot and fig character. Full of Tokaj.“

Available in the UK, in the US and many other countries
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Sauska – impeccable, and full of life

The wines of Sauska estate – weather they are red wines from Villány, sparkling wines disgorged in Budafok or Aszú wines from Tokaj are simply spotless. When a wine critic wants to find a fault, the only thing they say is that it is “too perfect”. Well, perfection can be boring, but Sauska wines are full of excitement as well. 2019 vintage Sauska Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos is a blend of Furmint, Hárslevelű and Sárgamuskotály.
“Beautiful golden color wine with aromas of white nougat, lemongrass pannacotta, candied ginger, and dried mango. It is lusciously sweet with hard-to-believe fresh acidity that beautifully balances the natural sweetness of the wine. Very long aftertaste with ginger-like spiciness. This is the kind of wine that will only get better with age. We expect this wine to have a very long, 30+ year, life ahead.“

Available in the UK, in the US and many other countries
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Zsirai – the “One & Only”

The Mád winery led by two sisters, Kata and Petra Zsirai has recently gone through a rebranding: new logo, new labels, new wine names. The One & Only wines are unique, outstanding ones with a serial number, so that they are collectibles. Zsirai Tokaji Aszú No1 2021 is one of the three One & Only wines, it is made of 100% Furmint from Középhegy and Nyulászó vineyards.
The hand picked grapes fermented spontaneously and then aged for 24 months in 4th use 220L barrels.This wine has the highest amount of residual sugar of all we listed with 288.5 g/L! But do not worry, the acidity of 9.14 g/L balances it brilliantly.
“The perfect combination: good grapes, good vintage, good balance. One of the greatest Aszú wines we have ever made. There are no words, let us speak the wine for itself.”

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+1 Aszú Glass – to dress your Aszú properly

Riedel created a Furmint glass in 2017, God bless them, and more recently, in 2023 Halimba Crystal, a Hungarian company created a glass dedicated to Tokaji Aszú wines. “A new glass, designed and tested to show Tokaji Aszú at its best, has been ceremonially unveiled today in Andrássy Kúria Hotel’s conference room in Tarcal. The approximately ninety invitees to the special event, mostly local winemakers, were treated to two Aszú wines, served in this elegant, uniquely shaped glass, selected from five finalist designs at a tasting by multiple local growers and wine professionals in August earlier this year. The event was hosted by Tokaj expert and author of the award-winning Tokaj Guide Gergely Ripka who has been the originator of, and driving force behind, the project. The glass is now available for purchase from manufacturer Halimba Crystal and, while few will be able to clink this with an Aszú on 10th December, International Aszú Day, the new glass will certainly adorn many more tables this coming Christmas in Hungary, and then hopefully become an essential part of the glassware range for bars and restaurants the world over.”
From Tokaj Today on 8 December 2023

ASZÚ GETS ITS OWN GLASS ON THE EVE OF INTERNATIONAL ASZÚ DAY

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Aszú Day – since 2017

The idea of the International Aszú Day came from Dániel Kézdy, an avid fan and great expert of Tokaj. Mr. Kézdy has published a book on the wine region in 2014 with the title Tokaj – People and Vineyards which is available both in Hungarian and English. He was also the initiator and organizer of Furmint Február an annual event since 2010, and Hárslevelűk Éjszakája since 2014. The two events are designed to highlight these important Hungarian varieties. It was also Mr. Kézdy who came up with the idea of the International Furmint Day to be celebrated on the 1st of February. „You might say I am biased but I am convinced that it would be a hell of a task to refute me, so I’m not afraid to declare that Tokaj Aszú is the greatest sweet wine in the world and it deserves to be put in the limelight worldwide”, says Mr. Kézdy.
He also led an online campaign on social media and maintained a website dedicated to Aszú Day, however the landing page does not funcion any more. Nevertheless, Aszú Day is alive and is on, as long as there are fans of this magic wine.

Tokaji Aszú in a nutshell

The Tokaj wine region is situated in North East Hungary at the foothills of the Zemplén Mountains, along the rivers Bodrog and Tisza. The world’s first delimited wine region since 1737, the regulations were designed to protect local values and they prohibited the import of grapes, must or wine to the region. The soil is of volcanic origin (andesite, liparite, quartz) and this is reflected in the wines which show a certain minerality and tightness. The climate is continental with long and dry autumns. One of the defining features of the wine region is the multitude of microclimates and soils in the various vineyards resulting in wines of great variety and distinct characters.

Thanks to the special microclimate of the wine region the onset of Botrytis cinerea or noble rot responsible for the shrivelling of berries is an almost certain occurrence each year though admittedly with varying degrees of intensity. In autumn the diurnal alternation of morning fog created by the rivers and dry sunny days is conducive to the production of aszú berries.

Botrytis punctures the grape skins thereby assisting the evaporation of liquid matter and by doing so increasing the concentration of sugar, acidity and flavour compounds. However this is not a uniform process so the shrivelled berries have to be picked one by one over a prolonged period. Needless to say this is an extremely labour-intensive process; even experienced pickers can gather only 6-7 kilograms a day and the same vine might have to be revisited 4-5 times in one harvest period.

Once the liquid matter has evaporated the aszú berries are macerated in the fermenting juice or base wine of the same vintage for 24-48 hours with regular stirring for proper extraction. Once the maceration is done the aszú paste is removed, pressed and the resulting must is fermented to arrive at Tokaj Aszú. Post-fermentation residual sugar content must reach at least 120 gramm/liter.

Properly stored Tokaj Aszús can be enjoyed for several decades. A properly stored 20 year old Aszú is still magnificent with slightly transformed flavours, added complexity; it’s easy to see why they are so higly regarded by connoisseurs. However tasting younger Aszús with their more springlike, fresher and brighter profile provides just as much pleasure.

On Tokaj wine styles read our Vocabulary section

Lobster in a spicy nage

Paired with Barta Öreg Király Aszú 2016 and Royal Tokaji Gold Label 2016

After the “warming up” activity, some snack of mangalitza ham with Patricius and Juliet Victor Tokaji Aszús, the first course was lobster with citrusy flavours (lime and lemongrass). Tamlyn Currin, wine writer of JancisRobinson.com participated in the lunch, and she considered Royal Tokaji too tropical, too dense, too much, it overwhelmed the dish, while Barta was a better choice: “Barta, despite having considerably more residual sugar, was piercingly fine, very racy, almost as delicate as the lobster. It made an exquisite pairing. Perhaps one of the best pairings of the whole meal.”

Crispy veal sweetbreads, wild herb and kombu salad

Paired with Hétszőlő Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2017 and Zsirai Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2013.

Here – according to Tamlyn Currin – both wines were great with the dish. Hétszőlő Aszú made of 100% Hárslevelű lifted the dense food with the sweet jus. “The Zsirai, with very slightly higher acidity but tasting of orange marmalade on dark-toasted rye bread and pecans in cooked-orange syrup and even a little smoky, synchronised with the dish in a totally different way. Instead of lifting the dish, it echoed the flavour notes, like two tenors singing the same song together. The wine and the food seemed to melt into each other, lines blurred, boundaries lost.”

Pigeon and Persimmon

Paired with Sauska Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2003 and Füleky Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos 2007

Edit Szabó, editor-in-chief and owner of Borsmenta.hu, a Hungarian food and wine online magazine refers to this course as the peak of the whole meal. The Tokaji Aszú wines here were mature and complex with inevitable notes of ageing. The Sauska Aszú celebrated its 18th birthday, yet fresh and persisting. I can’t do anything but to quote Tamlyn again: “When tasted with the food, the two seemed to take each other’s intensity to a new depth, almost as if daring each other to go higher, longer, deeper, bolder. The texture of the wine gave extra grip to the textures of the dish.”

Roquefort, Colston Basset Stilton, Époisses

Paired with Chateau Dereszla Tokaji Aszú 5 puttonyos 2017 and Megyer Tokaji Dry Szamorodni 2011

Isa Bal MS initiated some game here: he proposed the guests to taste the sweet Aszú first (with 169 g/l residual sugar) and then the dry Szamorodni, which was the only dry wine of the menu with only 2 g/l residual sugar. According to Tamlyn Currin Dereszla Aszú was “simply heavenly with the Roquefort”, while the Szamorodni and the Stilton “were a stunning combination.”

Yoghurt gelato

Paired with Patricius Tokaji Eszencia 2000

The estate manager of Patricius, Dr. Péter Molnár was present at the lunch and he gave a wonderful introduction to Tokaj. It was a shiny crown put on to have his heavenly wine at the end of this splendid menu. The spoon in the photo is on purpose: Tokaji Eszencia is even richer in sugar than a Tokaji Aszú, it is the “nectar” in the lyrics of the Hungarian anthem, a natural sweet wine in case of Patricius with 618 g/l residual sugar! As Tamlyn wrote, it was an “all-body experience”: “Just dipping the tip of your tongue in it is almost enough. It’s almost impossible to sip. It was a genius combination.”

Today is Aszú Day. If you haven’t tried any, you can taste it at Trivet – since the above described fabulous lunch the restaurant offers Tokaji Aszú by the glass!

Read Tamlyn Currin’s whole article on JancisRobinson.com

Read Tamlyn Currin’s review of Tokaji Aszú wines

Watch a short video about the lunch

Sweet Tokaj lunch from Wines of Hungary UK on Vimeo.