…so no ! Or almost today, because we are going to speak about the famous Tokaj…but not only. Then no, I didn’t have time to visit the vineyards, but a discussion with a hungarian sommelier learnt me a lot !

Before to broach the star, detour toward the Elvezet. This sweet wine has the particularity to be produce with the same cepages of the Tokaj: the noble Furmint and its lttle brother Harslevelu. To confirm, it comes from the same area, then it is a “Tokaji”. Got it ! I have lost you ! The foretold star is a Tokaj, but the Elvezet, which isn’t a Tokaj, is a Tokaji ??? Wait before to take an aspirin, I explain you. Actually, the “-i” to the end means that the wine comes from the Tokaj region, but it isn’t a AOC Tokaj. Like the Crémant of Champagne, which comes from the Champagne area without the AOC Champagne. Is it OK ? Then go to this first sweet wine. A beautiful gold on appearance, intense and clear. By the nose, it’s honey, gingerbread and flowery. In the palate, the honey comes first, the acidity balances and the apricot appears. If the Tokaj is “the wine of kings, the kins of wines” (by the friend Louis XIV), then the Elvezet could be the prince… Now, honour to the king…but with a little precisions. The Tokaj is an AOC which gathers many types of sweet and dry wines. So, we can have a Tokaj Furmint, a Tokaj Hazlevenu, a Tokaj Zeta, … (names of cepages) but the sought after is the Tokaj Aszu !!! Where does that one come from ? It’s not produce each year, because the weather conditions have to be perfect to devise this prestigious wine. If the noble rot has attacked the grapes enough, then the wine-growers declare an ASZU year !!! So begins the production of the king wine, determines by puttonyos…Oulala, start to be difficult !!! We have a drink and we are attentive. The harvest is manual and the wine-growers only pick the grapes reached by the noble rot. Placed in the casks, they are treaded and make a dough, named “aszu”. The resulting juice has 2 futures: if it bottles, it is eszencia (luscious wine lightly alcoholic), otherwise it macerates in a dry white wine of 136 l. for 2 or 3 days. Now, take part the puttonyos. Actually, “puttony” is the hungarian name of the grape basket where the aszu dough rests, containing around 22 kg. Then, the number of puttonyos written on the bottle depends of the number of the grape basket blend with the dry wine. As for me, I tasted a 4 puttonyos, it means 4 grape baskets in the 136 l. of dry wine, knowing that the minimum is 3 and the maximum 6. You understant that more aszu units there are, more the win will be sweet. The farming is 3 years at least, whose 2 in oak, and bottled in 50 cl. Not so difficult ! But what’s the result ? AMAZING ! Mine came from Pendits Estate (2002). Obviously, the honey was present with apricot and range blossom in your nose. And the expecting firework for the palate doesn’t disappointed me: almond, quince, honey, gingerbread, … but despite its density and its rich substance, its acidity makes it ethereal and absolutly not fat and indigestible ! FASCINATING ! Usually, I don’t like this kind of wine, then I give in, in front of you, oh “king of wines” !