Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos Aszu Blue Label Tokay 50cl

Description

Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos Aszu Blue Label Tokay is a sweet white wine made from “Aszu” grapes, which are affected by Botrytis Cinerea or Noble Rot. It is one of the world’s greatest and most famous sweet wines and Hungary’s gift to the world.

The Royal Tokaji Wine Company

After the fall of Communism in 1989, the Royal Tokaji Wine Company was founded in 1990 by a group of foreign investors working with growers in and around the village of Mád. The investors included the highly regarded wine writer and historian Hugh Johnson, and it was some of the very first foreign investment permitted in the country after Communism. From the outset, the goal of the Royal Tokaji Wine Company was to concentrate on producing only the best Aszu wines with a sweetness level of 4 puttonyos or more.

Only The Best Vineyards

Using the Tokay classification of 1700 as their guide to the finest terroirs, the association of growers and investors produced their first vintage in 1990. The company is also committed to producing some of the finest single-vineyard wines made from the first growth vineyards. The Royal Tokaji Company now comprises 107 hectares of vineyards – a unique combination of first and second growth vineyards, including one of the two great first growths, Mézes Mály, along with Szt Tamás, Betsek, Nyulászó, Birsalmás. As well as this fabulous 5 Puttonyos wine, they also produce a 6 Puttonyos Gold Label Tokay.

Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos Aszu Blue Label Vinification

Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos Aszu Blue Label Tokay is a blend of carefully selected grapes from several of Royal Tokaji’s vineyards, using the 1st growth Nyulaszo vineyard as the benchmark. The meeting of the two rivers Tisza and Bodrog at Tokaj creates a mist similar to Sauternes, which encourages noble rot to affect the dried and shrivelled Aszu grapes.

• Aszú grapes are harvested by hand into 20-kilogram wooden tubs called “puttony”.
• The Aszú grapes are crushed into a paste, releasing their intensely sweet juice.
• Non-Aszú grapes are used to make a base wine.
• The Aszú paste is added to the base wine and left for 24–48 hours with occasional stirring.
• The wine is then racked off into wooden casks or vats for fermentation.
• After fermentation, the wine is transferred into 300- or 500-litre second- or third-fill Hungarian oak casks.
• The casks are moved down into extensive, deep underground cellars to mature for over two years.
• Finally, the wine undergoes a final blending and bottling.
• Historically, the sweetness level was determined by the number of puttony of Aszú added to the base wine in a 136-litre Gönc cask; today, it is determined more scientifically.

As with all Aszu wines, the three grape varieties used are Furmint, Harslevelu and Muscat de Lunel.