I blogged last time about the first part of our recent wine tour to Hungary. From Eger, we moved on to visit Tokaj, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2002 in recognition of the unique wine traditions of the area. The region is famous for its luscious sweet wines made from a blend of the native grape varieties Furmint and Hárslevelű but the producers we visited were keen to show us a range of their dry whites, too. Made from the same varieties, for me, the few unoaked examples we tasted generally worked better than the oaked bottles. Oremus’ ‘Mandolas’ (mainly Furmint) showed real depth and complexity while Barta’s Hárslevelű had a lovely floral freshness.
But the main reason for a wine visit to Tokaj is to enjoy the sweet wines. As in Sauternes, the key to most of these is the effect of botrytised grapes. Botrytis, aka noble rot, is a fungus which attacks the ripe grapes which then shrivel and dry out. This concentrates the sugar to the point where the yeast struggles to do its work, leaving a naturally sweet wine with modest alcohol levels.
The basic level of traditional sweet Tokaji is ‘Szamorodni’. This uses a mixture of botrytised and non-botrytised berries to give delicious wines with flavours of marmalade and honey. Strangely, the locals serve this with some red meat dishes – a combination that I struggled to come to terms with. A step up from this and the wines are labelled ‘Aszú’. These are definitely dessert wines and use botrytised berries, individually picked grape by grape, then pressed into a sticky paste which is added to already fermenting wine. The result is aged in oak barrels for at least 2 years before bottling. Although no longer needed under Hungarian law, you may see the words ‘4 puttonyos’ or ‘6 puttonyos’ on the label – the higher the number, the sweeter the wine. And the taste? Wonderfully rich with flavours of oranges and honey; obviously very sweet but with enough balancing acidity to ensure that the wine isn’t cloying.
As close to liquid nectar as you will find and a lovely ending to a fascinating trip. We travelled with Good Wine Tours (www.goodwinetours.com).
(For the eagle-eyed amongst you, the 2 different spellings are intentional: Tokaj is the place, Tokaji is the wine).
Wine talks and tastings 