Return of the King (of wines)

Hey Everyone,

Here's a bit of a throwback to an earlier post. In fact, the post with which I first made this blog public was a declaration of my love for the Hungarian Tokaj region. I rarely get a chance to taste Tokaji, yet my fondness for this beautiful and noble sweet wine is always at the front of my mind when I am considering any other wine region. For me, Tokaji wine is the criterion against which I measure all other regions and styles, by virtue of it's everlasting adherence to tradition and commitment to representing the Hungarian people.

Therefore, when I get the chance to tast Tokaji, I never pass it up and by wonderful coincedence, I had two such opportunites in the past week; each a mere two days apart. Here are my findings...

The first, a Tokaji Szamarodni Edes from 2002 was a simple tokaji, the kind of wine I imagine would be more or less a common wine for everyday consumption if I lived in Hungary or a country that gave enough attention to the import and consumption of Tokaji wines. 'Edes' meaning sweet, it didn't have any statement of puttonyos concentration, but I would say it was around about a 4; not a sweet viscous thing, nor was it particularly dry. The nose was full of flowers and peaches with a bit of marshmallow and some roasted vanilla beans involved.

At a slightly touristy wine shop I paid the equivalent of ten quid for this bottle. I'm guessing that in a local bórszag one would pay about two-thirds that price, making this about the best value sweet wine I have ever had. Bringing this wine back with me, I felt like I'd made a huge profit form my trip to Hungary, especially as I could imagine a bottle of this quality selling for around 40 pounds. That disparity in price was more than the cost of my flight (both ways) on Wizz A!r.

The second wine was a classic 1999 Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos from Crown Estates. Crown estates is likely to be the only producer of Tokaji anyone in the UK has ever tried, although the Royal Tokaji Company is hopefully making more inroads to the British market, and therefore can be a sort of standard for judging the quality of Tokaji. That said, this was a fantastic bottle of wine. It was beginning to show signs of approaching maturity, with a beautifully sweet palate, rich stewed fruit character and a surprising off-dry finish. Though this bottle sells for a hefty price tag of around 42 pounds, I would take it anyday over a German Auslese or Sauternes of the same price.

Tasting these wines reminded me of just how much I love Hungarian wine and I wish for a day when Tokaji of this character and quality are available on a larger, more affordable scale. But until that day, I feel very fortunate to have tasted these wines when I did, and if you ever find yourself in the position to taste some of the amber nectar of the Magyar, I Hope you go for it.

Much love,

G

 

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