Royal Tokaji Wine Company

Hugh Johnson receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Hugh Johnson OBE, inspiration and founder of Royal Tokaji has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Institute of Masters of Wine and The Drinks Business Magazine for his wide ranging contributions to the world of wine.

The award was presented to Hugh at Vinexpo in Bordeaux, earlier this summer, by Sarah Jane Evans MW, Chairman of The Institute of Masters of Wine, and Patrick Schmitt MW, Editor of The Drinks Business.
 

As part of the awards ceremony, guests were poured a glass of Mézes Mály, a dry Furmint wine by Royal Tokaji to celebrate Hugh’s Award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented every two years at Vinexpo Bordeaux, with the recipient chosen in a vote by members of The Institute of Masters of Wine as someone who has made an immense contribution to the world of wine throughout their career.

Previous winners of this award include: Robert Mondavi, Marchese Piero Antinori, Jean-Michel Cases and Baroness Philippine de Rothschild.

Royal Tokaji was founded in 1990 by well-known author Hugh Johnson and a small group of investors, including Ben Howkins, who were inspired after the fall of Communism to restore and preserve Hungary’s precious wine legacy. Royal Tokaji’s ensuing success can largely be contributed to its unique combination of first and second growth vineyards, including one of Hungary’s two great first growths: Mézes Mály. The winery produces several exceptional wines, including three single-vineyard Aszú wines. Its Aszú wines are crafted using traditional gönci casks and aged in the winery’s 13th-century underground cellars. Richness with vibrant acidity is the hallmark of all the Royal Tokaji wines. 

Royal Tokaji owns a unique combination of first- and second-growth vineyards that have always been privately owned. At one time, first-growth vineyards Betsek and Szt. Tamás were owned by Prince Rakoczi I. His vineyards were sold in the late 1660s to save the prince, who was involved in a conspiracy that would have otherwise cost him his life. His son, Prince Rakoczi II, was able to buy back the prized land in the 1700s. Three centuries later, these vineyards continue to be highly valued.

Szt. Tamás (SENT tahm-ash)

First growth
Royal Tokaji owns 22 parcels of the Szt. Tamás Vineyard that are located north of the Nyulászó Vineyard on south-facing slopes at nearly 220 meters (720 feet), overlooking the winery’s cellars. Named for the apostle Saint Thomas, the vineyard’s red volcanic-clay soil is high in iron oxide and has the ability to retain moisture well, a characteristic helpful in drought years. Wines produced from grapes grown here have a lovely, pure fruitiness, nice acidity and good ageability.

Betsek (bet-CHEK)

First growth
The largest of Royal Tokaji’s first-growth vineyards, Betsek is named after an old Magyar family. Shaped like a crescent moon and facing southeast, it is located in what is known as the basin of the first growths. The Betsek terroir totals 89 hectares (219.9 acres), of which Royal Tokaji owns 15 hectares (37 acres), all of which are planted to vines except 1 hectare which lies fallow. The area where the vineyard is located is typically cold — lower portions of the vineyard have been known to freeze in the spring. The black volcanic topsoil contributes to the mineral and lovely black pepper characters in the wine. Being at the bottom of the valley, the vineyard imparts a much more earthy character to the wine than the other first growths.

Mézes Mály (MAIZE-esh my)

Great first growth
oyal Tokaji owns more than half of 46.9-hectare (19 acres) Mézes Mály, one of only two vineyards in all of Tokaj to be named as a great first growth in the classification of 1700 (the other portion of the vineyard is owned by Hugh Johnson). It has since been referred to as “pro mensa caesaris primus haberi,” or “to be the first choice at the royal table,” — an honorable distinction likened to Château d’Yquem’s status in Bordeaux. Located on a south-facing slope, “Mézes Mály,” or “honeycomb,” is Royal Tokaji’s only vineyard with loess topsoil, providing the wines with honey and floral characteristics. These wines are softer than other Royal Tokaji wines grown in vineyards with volcanic-clay topsoil.

The methods and traditions of producing Tokaji wines have changed little since the 17th century when aszú berries — grapes that are infected with “botrytis cinerea,” or “noble rot,” which dries and shrivels the grapes and concentrates the sugars — were individually harvested from bunches and collected in 20-liter (55-pound) wooden tubs called puttonyos or hods. The number of puttonyos added to each barrel of base wine made from grapes unaffected by botrytis determined the puttonyos level of the wine. On a scale of one to six, the more puttonyos the sweeter, richer and rarer the Tokaji. The process remains much the same today, minus the clumsy, heavy hods.

Tokaji Aszú Wines

The berries are crushed once they arrive at the winery, and the syrupy aszú paste is added to the current vintage’s base wine which has already been fermented in stainless steel for approximately three weeks. After the mixture is stirred repeatedly for two or more days to extract the natural sugars and aromas of the paste, it is added to gönci (140-liter or 37-gallon barrels, named after the village of Gönc, known for its barrel-making) and stored in Royal Tokaji’s 13th-century cellars, originally dug out in defense against Turkish invaders. Here, along the moss- and mold-covered walls, is where a second fermentation takes place — a result of the addition of the aszú paste and one that can take several months to several years, due to the cold cellar temperatures and the high sugar content of the wine. Legally, Tokaji Aszú wines must be aged for a minimum of three years prior to release; Royal Tokaji’s wines are usually aged for a longer period of time, including some time in old oak — to truly express the terroir of each vineyard and allow the elegance of the fruit to shine through.

Essencia

Essencia is produced using only the free-run juice that slowly oozes from aszú berries that are waiting to be crushed — no base wine is added. This juice that accumulates at the bottom of a vat by the gentle pressure of the grapes’ own weight is sticky and pours like rich honey. Because sugar levels can be as high as 85 percent, the juice ferments extremely slowly; it took the 2003 Essencia seven years in Royal Tokaji’s cellars to reach only 2.23 percent alcohol.

Measuring Sweetness

Today, a wine’s puttonyos level is determined by the amount of residual sugar in the finished wine, thus the key factor in the production of Tokaji Aszú wines is the proportion of aszú berries to base wine. 

Below is a chart outlining the sugar levels and percentage of Aszu in Tokaji Aszú wines.

Minimum residual sugar levels:
3 puttonyos: 60g/L
4 puttonyos: 90g/L
5 puttonyos: 120g/L
6 puttonyos: 150g/L
Essencia: 415g/L

Percentage of Aszú wine in blends:
5 puttonyos: 60%
6 puttonyos: 70%

Tokaji Through the Ages

Tokaji Aszú wine was the world’s first great sweet wine, created in the 1600s, perhaps by accident — a harvest delayed by threat of enemy invasion. In 1700, Tokaj became the first European wine region to have its vineyards classified, its uniquely varied terroirs and climates rated “primae classis, secundae classis, tertius classis,” or “first growth, second growth, third growth,” by Prince Rakoczi II of Transylvania. This classification system is still used in Hungary today.  

“Vinum Regnum, Rex Vinorum,” or “The Wine of Kings, the King of Wines.” – King Louis XIV (1638-1715), Versailles

“...invigorates every fiber of the brain.” – Voltaire (1694-1778)

In the 18th century, Catherine the Great stationed soldiers in Tokaj to protect her vineyards.

“The Tokay is much more superior to what you sent me last year under that name. It is very much esteemed by all who drink it and preferred to all others. It comes dearer than you imagined.” – President Jefferson, in a letter to Justus Erich Bollman, December 6, 1804

“I can assure you that they are esteemed on the continent of Europe among the best wines of Europe, and Champagne, Burgundy, Tokay are used at the best tables there.” – President Jefferson, in a letter to friend/tavern owner Samuel J. Harrison, September 18, 1817

“I received successfully the two bottles of the wine you were so kind as to send me. The first, called Tokay, is truly a fine wine, of high flavor, and, as you assure me there was not a drop of brandy or another spirit in it, I may say it is a wine of a good body of its own.” – President Jefferson, in a letter to John Adlum, pioneer of American viticulture, April 11, 1823

“The tokay ... sent to Queen Victoria as a jubilee present was of the rare variety known as ‘Mezesmale’ or ‘Honey Beams.’ This is produced only in Tarczal, near Tokay ... the grapes are never gathered until fully ripe, and are put into a cask without any artificial pressure being applied; the juice extracted from sun-dried grapes is then added, and the mixture becomes really essence of tokay.” – The Washington Post, November 30, 1890

“Send immediately one case of the wine that removes screws from the coffin lid.” – A satisfied Tokaji customer, in a letter to British wine importers Berry Bros & Rudd, 1933

“Tokaji has long enjoyed a reputation for marvellous health effects. This fame rested partly upon ‘endorsements’ from personages such as Napoleon III’s wife, Eugénie, who lived to the age of 94 and attributed her health and well-preserved beauty to drinking two small glasses of aszú every morning.” – “Keep young and beautiful,” Harpers, January 23, 2004

“Whenever I drink Essencia, I feel ... imperial.” – Sharon Stone, in a thank-you note to Royal Tokaji for a gift of Aszú Essencia to celebrate one of her marriages

Pope Benedict XVI was given bottle first bottle of Royal Tokaji 1993 Essencia, thus reviving the ancient tradition of each Pope keeping a bottle of Essencia by his bedside to see him through any illness. 

To renew the custom of Russian Czars enjoying Essencia, a practice that started with Peter the Great in the 1600s, President Vladimir Putin was presented with a few bottles of the Royal Tokaji 1999 Essencia. – September 2006

Hugh Johnson followed in Franz Joseph’s footsteps by giving Queen Elizabeth II a few bottles of the still-rare and much sought-after Royal Tokaji 1999 Mézes Mály to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. The first of these bottles will be enjoyed at Balmoral. – June 16, 2012