Royal Tokaji Late Harvest Tokaj 2018 500ml

The fall of communism in Hungary saw many new beginnings, and one of note for wine lovers was the formation of The Royal Tokaji Company by wine-writer Hugh Johnson, and a consortium of foreign investors with the sole vision of revitalising the magnificent sweet wines of Hungary. The Royal Tokaji Company today is a benchmark for the noble wines of the region, from their 3 Puttonyos wines at around 60-90 grams per litre of residual sugar through to the intense Essencia at 450-850 grams, they are wines that offer the drinker a unique insight to one of the great wine styles of the world.

Nothing about wine moves me more than its ability to survive and express place and time, even through ordeals that seems ready to destroy it. Wine is a stage in a natural and inevitable process. We set it in motion when we plant a vine. The less we do to intervene with the behaviour of roots and leaves, soil, sun and rain, the better. - Hugh Johnson OBE, Founder of Royal Tokaji

Harvest was the earliest in living memory and probably the earliest ever, providing good volumes of healthy, ripe grapes with firm acidity and excellent quality. The warm, dry autumn was more conducive to drying the grapes than to botrytis, but nevertheless we managed to pick a very satisfactory amount of fine quality Aszú berries, a generous proportion of which are included in this blend. Overall, a record-breaking and outstanding vintage, ripe, rich, and balanced. The grapes were harvested in October and at the beginning of November. After pressing, the settled juice was fermented in tanks and then the majority of the blend was transferred to barrels for five to six months ageing. Bottled at 108 grams of residual sugar per litre.

Pale gold colour with delicate citrus and spicy aromas. Light and refreshing on the palate with hints of white peach and honey. It has an excellent acid balance, a smooth, silky texture and a clean, long, crisp finish.

This amber coloured late-harvest wine from Tokaj has aromas of honeycomb and white flowers, especially jasmine and freesia. In the mouth, it has nice fruit sweetness and flavours of clover honey, ripe apricot and yellow peach. - Jeff Jenssen, Wine Enthusiast, 92 Points

The Finer Details
Style - Sweet Wine
Varietal - Furmint, Hárslevelű, Muscat de Lunel
Country - Hungary
Region - Tokaji
Vintage - 2018
Bottle Size - 500ml
ABV - 12%