The benevolent Dr.T brought this wine to the DC Coast and Toast dinner last Friday. All 7 of us who were present ordered dessert and matched it with this wine. I had a double chocolate mousse and my wife had the chocolate souffle. This wine had the stuffing to match both.

Hungarian Tokaji Aszu is the one of the oldest and finest dessert wines in the world. Winemakers in the region were the first in the world to identify Noble Rot in 1650. Noble rot is a mold which covers the surface of the grapes and causes them to shrivel and dehydrate. The small amount of juice left in the grapes is super-concentrated and very high in sugar.

This wine is made from Furmint grapes. The grapes with noble rot, known as Aszu, are hand harvested and kneaded into a paste. This paste is added to the base wine in carefully measured units, called puttonyos (which literally means "basket" in Hungarian). The higher the puttonyos, the sweeter the wine. The wine comes in 3, 4, 5 or 6 puttonyos and the rare Esszencia (which is equal to 7 puttonyos). Disznoko is a top producer in the region.

This wine had a glowing copper yellow color with a slight orange hint around the edges. Aromas were of honey, apple and caramel. It had delicate acidity and good balance. The flavors centered primarily on tropical fruit and apricot. This was a very harmonious wine with a lush mouthfeel and a long, sweet finish. Excellent end to the evening. 92 points.

VM

VM/Others:
At what temperature was/should this be served?
I have a bottle of the 93 6 puttonyos which is itching to be opened.

Dave Mci -

I love Tokaji Aszu. Have been drinking it for years (long before I discovered Sauternes).

My preference is to serve it slightly chilled (pop it in the fridge for 1/2 hour before serving). At room temperature, it is a tad cloying and syrupy for my tastes, but once chilled, it goes down beautifully.

Enjoy your bottle!

Dave,

We had the restaurant put in in the ice bucket about a half hour before we served it. I would guess it was between 48 and 52 degrees.

VM

hi vino me,

great to see tn's on tokaji!!

92 points for the tokaji 5 putt. paradigma = ok
92 points for tokaji paradigma = way to hight!

and please,
essenzia is not equal to 7 puttonyos!!! not even
similar! why? because:

minimum sugar content per liter:

3 puttonyos - 60g
4 puttonyos - 90g
5 puttonyos - 120g top producer over 150g
6 puttonyos - 150g top producer over 200g
aszuessenzia - 180g top producer about 300g
essenzia - 400g to 800g (yes 800g/lt )

some essenzia have 70 - 100g dry-extrakt!!!
and 25 - 30g acidity!!!

Thanks all:
Now to complicate matters further, I have this stored in my fridge. Should I take it out, and then chill it or just take it out and let it come to its drinking temp. I am assuming the latter, but I am envisioning that I will have to drive somewhere with it in the car, have dinner, and then uncork it...like about a three to four hour gap from removing it from the fridge.

Vino
Thanks for the TN's.

Dave
Please let me know (TN's) how your '93 6 put's is, I've got a '95 6 put's laying in wait.

I have a question for anyone who can help. I saw the 1993 Disznoko 6 put in a store today for $33. Is this a good price?

Also, they had a 1988 Golya Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos for $40. Is this a good producer and price?

VM

Dave, when we travel with a chilled wine, I put in a plastic bag with a few ice cubes and seal with a twist tie. When we walk into the restaurant, I throw the bag in the garbage and hand them the wine.

VM, I don;t remember exactly what I paid for my '93 Disznoko 6 puttonyos, but I believe it was about $35. $33 is a good price. I also have a bottle of the '93 Essencia, but I got it as a gift and don't know what that cost. I'm not familiar with the Golya.

Vino Me,

yes 33.- us$ is a good price for the 6p.

i don't know about golya but 1988 was the first
non "comunist" year, and it's not a real good year! but 1993 was a great vintage!

buy the disnokö!! it's closed now, if you open
one, open it 24 hours in advance!

board-o,
do really meen the essenzia?
or is it the azuessenzia?

it would make a huge difference!!
in price and taste!

all,

drink tokaji at sauterne-like temp.!

Thanks Board-O and Tsunami

VM: $33 is about what I can get it for here. I would have thought you could get it cheaper. Once in a while, PA can be competitive.

Gents and ladies-not in that order

WHIW- WS RATINGS on these wines

93 Vintage
Disznoko Aszu

4 puttonyos- 85 pts
5 puttonyos- 94 pts and #6 (desert) wine of the year-1998
6 puttonyos- 87 pts
essenczia- 95 pts

VM-
The 5 is better made than the 6 based upon the one small pour I had from a friend who turned me onto these wines. Based on this and WS comments, I would not buy more than 1...with effective cost $50 750 cc equiv for an 87 pt wine... unless those here who have tried it say otherwise.

DrT

[ 09-25-2002, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: dr.tannin aka x-man ]

Found some old TN from 4/02. Reproduced below.
"
Disznoko Tokaji Aszu -5 puttonyos. Haven't had much of this kind of wine before. I believe '93 was a decent vintage for botrytis in Hungary. Tsunami, Mishy, or others?
At $24.00 for 500 cc, given a special $5.00 discount, thought I'd take a shot. My 1st wine purchase of the month. Tried 5p, 6p, Aszu Essenczia several months ago from a friend. At that time essenzia was best, 6 p least, but close.

Color: Amber nectar. Cork was as tight as a drum. Thin slow legs---just my type.
Aroma:Glorious aroma of orange peel, something that reminded me of bath tile (wet ceramic), lychee and walnut.
Flavor: Not as sweet as I thought, old German Scheuerebe BA like. Like a mix of LH Viognier and Semillon. Old style English marmalade with hint of lemon and kumquat. Touch of butterscotch or caramel. Was looking for my English Muffins.
Slightly bitter midplate which was kind of pleasant, and not tannic. Definitely some acidity to keep it going. Couldn't sense even a drop of hotness. Not big, just smooth. Somewhat short on finish.
Cannot logically compare to any other Hungarian wines, since my experience of 2 or 3 is no experience.
Best guess,91 points on the sweet white scale.

Most recent comparative wine to this is the Noble 99. That wine is heavier; this is more elegant though less full bodied, and more preferable and more drinkable.

Those who drink or have some experience with this type of wine, please feel free to add your input.
The 93 Azsu Eszencia is also available, but at much heftier price ($85.00)."

My rerating of 92 likely is a function of how well it went with dessert and the 6 preceding wines, but I still agree with above

[ 09-26-2002, 11:33 PM: Message edited by: dr.tannin aka x-man ]

My notes from the DC COast & Toast thread....

This sucker blew my mind. Orange peel and apricots. Sublime. I cannot even describe what this was like beyond “Dr. T, dude, you MUST tell me where I can get some of this!!!”.

TJ Rating = 94 -- WOTN for me.

I loved this. Absolutely great stuff.

Aszu Eszencia

VM, I just saw the 93 Disznoko 6 for $68.95 so I would say that your price is great compared to mine....

I also saw the 1993 Aszu Baron Bornemisza 6 puttonyos for $45 and the 1996 Royal Tokaji 5 puttonyos for $30...any ideas about the last two?

please,please,please,please,please,please,please,

! ESSENZIA IS NOT THE SAME LIKE AZUESSENZIA !

please,please,please,please,please,please,please,

dr.tannin aka x-man,
i, had several tokajis and all disznokö from 1993
several time! was in tokaji 1999 at the winery
talked with dominique aranguat (winemaker) vistitat the vineyards watched the "grapepikers"
and compaired with the winerys i went to:
disznokö, hetszölö, royal tokaji, oremus, szepsy,
baumkauff, kereskehehaz, degenfeld, megyer, dorogy, kiralyudvar, monyok, pajzos and uri borok

i hope you beleve me

the 6 put. is better than the 5 put.!
i know the 5 p. is more approchable now, has
great complexity and good length!
but, the 6 p. is more and more, just more exotic, sweet, dense, acid, long
and the aszuessenzia is one of the aszu of the
year! wonderfull clean, exotic, spicy, mor dense,
extremly long, fine, fresh, and all is on focuse!

the 5p. is well drinking now!
the 6p. needs at least 10 more years!
the aszuessenzia needs ..., who knows!
the essenzia is not even stardet to close!
and i guess it's well drinking the next
200 years, yes 200!

about the vintages:

1988 ****
1989 ***
1990 ***
1991 ***
1992 ***
1993 *****
1994 **
1995 ***
1996 ***
1997 **
1998 ***
1999 *****
2000 *****
2001 looks like to be also great (m.w.baumkauff)

dr.tannin aka x-man,
you won't find the essenzia for 85$/bot. hahahaha
never, hahahahahahaha!!!!!
at least the store has all priced corecctly!
i guess you ment the aszuessenzia!

aszuessenzia = 200g/l rs, 56g/l dry extract,
11% alc. 10'000 bottles produced!

essenzia = 750 g/l rs, 17.3 g/l acids,
4.5% alc. 374 bottles produced!

board-o

ttepper,
read above and decide!
the disznokö is the one you need of the 3!!

Hey Tsunami,

You're a kick in the pants. Thanks.

VM

tsunami, ever have the Monimpex? I have one 500 ml bottle remaining of he 1964 Aszu Eszencia. It's been wonderful in the past. Michael Broadbent calls Eszencia the longest-lived non-fortified wine.

tsunami-

You are correct. Azsu Essenczia is the wine available here. I edited post above for correctness. I will wait for discount coupon before repurchase. No one else has bought these wines here but me. So they will not go away. But they don't have a tsunami for help like I do.

I take it the 1999,2000 Tokaji won't make it to the US until 2004.

Ciao

DrT

[ 09-26-2002, 11:37 PM: Message edited by: dr.tannin aka x-man ]

board-o,

yes, i have had some monimpex.

monimpex was a half privat half goverment conection (mafia-styled ) they could
pick the better barells and bottled them.
but, 1964 is not a good year and if on the label
is written aszu eszenzia it's
NOT AN ESZENZIA !!! (like mentioned by brothbend)
if it is an eszenzia it would be writen on the
label natur-eszenzia or only eszenzia!

how you could easy know witch wine it is:

aszu-eszenzia has a 8° - 12° alcohol

eszenzia has a 3° - 4° alcohol

(if correctly labeled )

why?
eszenzia is the aszu-grape-jus witch drops down
only by the wait of the graps!
aszu-essenzia is aszu-grapes (without the eszenzia!) mixed with fermenting grape-jus,
fermented togheter than pressed!

dr.tannin aka x-man,

no, do not order/buy any 1999 2000 !!!

and leave them to me!

Broadbent gave the 1964 Monimpex his highest rating of five stars. I've had it twice and consider it amongst the best dessert wines I've ever had.

great to hear, i hope there all great!!

while the socialisus was at the power in hungary
was, mixed all togheter, added sugar, added alcohol.
the best steep vignards (grade A)were destroyed,
the vines on the flat land were strapped out to
seet new (bad, lots of fruit) clones on larger
lines to "better" driving thorough with the
land-maschine!
barrels were forgotten (closed into caves to avoid to be stolen while war).

please board-o,
take a look to the bottle about the alcohol level
and compare with my list above,
is it a eszenzia or an aszu-essenzia?
even if it is a aszu-essenzia i would beleve that
it was the greatest sweet wine of youre life.
that's why i am a big fan of tokaji!!

my best (socialsmus) bottle was a 1947 essencia
from kereskedehaz (also a name for the goverment-
winery)

The label reads Aszu Eszencia, but it doesn't list the percentage of alcohol.

I actually found a bottle of this today at the wine shop (I know, I know I am on wine budget. BUT it was ALL MRs. TJ's fault!).

Anyway, Dr. T, I know you picked one up with my name on it, but please do not worry -- I still want it!!!! Next time you're in DC or wherever we meet again.

I hope to serve this in 2 weeks at a dinner party we're having.