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Royal Tokaji has launched the 2008 vintage of its Essencia, the sixth vintage produced since the Hungarian producer was founded in 1990.
The 2008 vintage was launched with a dinner at the private residence of Damon de Laszlo, shareholder and company director of Royal Tokaji, in London this week.
Of all of the Tokaji wine produced in Hungary’s Tokaj region, in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains, Essencia is its most rare. Made from the very best Aszu grapes that have been raisined by botrytis, the result is a highly concentrated, intensely sweet ‘wine’ with an ABV that rarely tips above 2%, with a minimum sugar content required for a Tokaji Essencia wine 450g/litre.
Tokaji Essencia can only be produced in exceptional years when the conditions are perfect for botrytis to develop, which shrivels Furmint, Harslevelű and Yellow Muscat grapes into brown raisins.
Royal Tokaji’s 2008 is only the sixth vintage of Essencia to be released by the winery, which was founded by Hugh Johnson in 1990, with the five prior vintages being 1993, 1999, 2000, 2003 and 2007.
The 2008 vintage in Tokaj was very mild with rain in early summer and a dry August which was followed by a cool and wet September, creating the perfect conditions for botrytis to develop and affording grapes a longer ripening period.
A long Indian summer began in October which turned a “good vintage into one of the greatest in living memory”, according to Royal Tokaji.
Harvesting of the grapes began in mid October, and continued for the following month, with individual raisined grapes picked by hand with scissors at a rate of less than 1kg an hour.
About 20kg of Aszu berries make a 37.5cl bottle of Essencia, with their free-run juice collected in glass demijohns to ferment. The must is so sweet that it takes years to ferment, with the wine’s high sugar balanced by high acidity, resulting in an unctuous, perfumed elixr capable of retaining its acidity and ageing over centuries.
Traditionally served from a crystal spoon, just 2,906 bottles of Essencia 2008 have been produced.
Royal Tokaji’s winemaker, Fruzsina Osvath, described it as: “Deep gold colour with hint of amber. Fresh, ripe peach on the nose with complex honeyed, spicy, ginger notes and background presence of botrytis. Full but graceful to taste, intensely concentrated, rich and sweet, balanced with taut acidity.”
The 2008 Essencia will be available initially from select retailers including Farr Vintners and Hart David Hart Wine Co., with an RRP of £391.25.
Winter was very mild followed by rain from spring until early summer. In August the weather changed dramatically September was cool and wet again, delaying ripening. A lovely and very long Indian summer from the beginning of October turned a good vintage into a great one. The miraculous weather provided perfect conditions for developing aszú berries and the harvest was of unmatched size and quality. The aszú wines have the lovely botrytis character of the great 1999 vintage which was the second vintage of Essencia in our history.
Wine Description
The Story
Essencia is the world’s most concentrated essence of its ripest grapes. Royal Tokaji has offered a few bottles of essencia only six times in its twenty-six-year history.
Essencia is the fermented liquid gold that very slowly oozes from bins of individually hand-picked grapes raisined by botrytis. One skilled picker may harvest 10kgs of these grapes in one day. The juice slowly accumulates in the bottom of the vat by the gentle pressure of the grapes’ own weight and pours like rich honey. It is essentially the essence of the grape, and yeast has a near hopeless task. From this rare liquid, the cellar master will select the very best to be bottled.
Wine Information
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The 2008 Essencia from the Royal Tokaji Company comes hot on the heels of the all-conquering 2007 Essencia. One thing that should be impressed upon you is that when it comes to "wines" of such high residual sugar levels, it is easy to come away with the impression that they are all very similar. To a degree... But there is no question in my mind that the 2008 is cut from a very different cloth than the 2007. So for sure, we are still talking about a wine with 468.8 grams per liter of residual sugar compared to 560 grams per liter for the previous vintage. This is a much more tensile and elegant Essencia compared to the 2007. The word that springs to mind is nimble. In fact, when I served it to some winemakers in Hong Kong, they were surprised how fresh such a wine could be, expecting more unctuousness, and it is the 13.5 grams of acidity per liter that drives it along. It is also higher in alcohol than the 2007, although at just 4.2% you are more likely to pass out from sugar overload before alcohol poisoning. To reach that figure, apparently the fermentation spontaneously stopped and started over an eight-year period until this year. I guess they reach a point where the exchange of sugar for alcohol just ain't gonna go much further! As in other years, it comes in a special lacquered presentation case with glass spoon. This is not an ornament. Essencia does taste far better when imbibed via spoon rather than a regular glass. You just get more of the flavor, whereas in a normal glass, too much just sticks to the sides. Whilst I might just have a preference for the sheer outrageousness of the 2007 Essencia, the 2008 is an intriguing follow-up that demonstrates how this elixir can give pleasure in such a different manner. |
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| Score: 97 | Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, November 2016 |