2008 Tokaji, Essencia, Royal Tokaji Wine Company, Hungary

2008 Tokaji, Essencia, Royal Tokaji Wine Company, Hungary

Product: 20088021568
Prices start from £430.00 per case Buying options
2008 Tokaji, Essencia, Royal Tokaji Wine Company, Hungary

Buying options

Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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1 x 37.5cl half bottle
BBX marketplace BBX 1 case £430.00
BBX marketplace BBX 1 case £450.00
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Description

"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” as Mary Poppins once said, and the legendary Essencia wines of Tokaji were long heralded for their medicinal qualities not to mention their high sugar content. Nowadays the healing capabilities of this magical wine may not be quite so readily accepted but Royal Tokaji’s 2008 Essencia certainly puts a very broad smile on ones face. A deep golden hue with a plentiful supply of opulent viscosity. Emerging from the syrupy depths comes a rich honeyed nose encapsulating juicy apricots, sweet pear, white tea, wood sap and delicate orange blossom that holds true for as long as you care to keep it in the glass. The palate is the definition of unctuous, packed full of honeyed apricots and oozing with a deliciously languid, mouth-coating seduction. A fresh citrus drive provides all the necessary vitality to ensure this mind-blowing wine powers through on to an incredibly long, thickly coated finish adding beautiful floral notes and a touch of demerara as it goes. In reality it is difficult for a tasting note to do this wine justice and whilst it might cost a little more than ‘tuppence a bag’ there is no denying this is a truly ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ offering. Surely a 100 point wine. Drink from here to eternity.

Ben Upjohn, Senior Private Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate97/100
The latest release, the 2008 Tokaji Essencia from the Royal Tokaji Wine Company, was tasted over a period of three days. It is clearly cut from a different cloth to the 2007, disproving the idea that wines of such extraordinary sweetness conform to type. It is lighter on the nose than the 2007, with freshly cut tangerines, apricot and orange zest. There is a brightness here, a sense of energy. The palate is founded upon energy and tension, a silver thread of acidity that cuts through the layer upon layer of orange zest, Japanese yuzu, tangerine and honey. This is an elegant and you might argue, more reserved Essencia compared to the 2007. The alcohol is slightly higher at a whopping 4%, a relatively easier Essencia to consume compared to the unctuous previous vintage. While it might not achieve the concentration of the 2007, the 2008 Essencia remains an otherworldly feat of nature. I actually shared the remaining bottle with winemakers from Argentina and Portugal in Hong Kong and they became wide-eyed with amazement. That's the magic of Essencia. It might constitute blasphemy, but the freshness means you can enjoy this now, or as my drinking window suggests, wait another 100 years, as temporally fantastical as that sounds. Tasted November 2016.
Neal Martin - 29/11/2016 Read more

About this WINE

The Royal Tokaji Company

The Royal Tokaji Company

The Royal Tokaji Wine Company was established in 1989 in the village of Mád in the Tokaji region and is a joint venture 63 local growers led by Istvan Szepsy, who was a descendant of the legendary Mate Szepsy, and foreign investors, among those, the celebrated wine author Hugh Johnson. Hugh has put all his effort into preserving the unique values of the Tokaji region to create high quality Aszú wines and pioneered the production of Single Vineyard wines. Today, The Royal Tokaji Company has become one of the most famous wineries in Tokaji.

Fine Tokaji wines became almost extinct when Hungary fell under Communist rule after the 1939-1945 war when quantity replaced quality. Their renaissance was triggered by the crumbling of Communism and the founding of The Royal Tokaji Wine Company in 1989, a joint-venture between local wine growers in the village of Mád and an inspired group of international investors.

The mission of The Royal Tokaji Wine Company was to restore quality and to make the finest wines of 5 “puttonyos” or more, so that once again Tokaji Aszu wines could be described in the hedonistic words of Louis XIV as, “The king of wine, and wine of kings”.

During 2009, on the eve of their 20th anniversary, the Royal Tokaji winery has undergone a metamorphosis which combines the best of tradition with the best of 21st century technology.

By contrast, in their vineyards and cellars the age old traditions of making Tokaji wines remain unchanged.  The rotten, raisin-like Aszú berries are selected and picked one by one from bunches of grapes hanging on the vines in late autumn into wooden tubs known as “puttonyos”.  A “puttonyo” holds 20 kilos of Aszú grapes and is used as the standard measure of the final sweetness in Tokaji wines. The wines are created in a unique two-stage process which gives them their magical combination of luscious richness and sensual acidity.

The intensely sweet juice gradually oozes from piles of Aszú berries and is added to small oak “gonci” casks filled with base wine of the previous year.  This mixture is repeatedly stirred for two or more days to extract the maximum flavour and sugar from the Aszú paste and then left to ferment gently in Royal Tokaji’s deep, dark, damp underground cellars, a transformation which may take one or two years. Legally Tokaji Aszú wines must be aged for a minimum of three years, but Royal Tokaji prefer to set their own higher standards.

Essencia wines are made from the viscous honey-like Aszú juice only, and are fermented in the underground cellars in glass jars, a transformation which can take more than six years due to a combination of the extremely cold atmosphere and intensely high sugar level in the grape juice.

The Royal Tokaji range includes dry white Furmint, late harvest Ats Cuvee, 5 and 6 puttonyos Aszu blends and single vineyard wines, Aszu Essencia and very limited quantities of Essencia wines.

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Tokaj

Tokaj

The Tokaj wine region lies 240 kms north-east of Budapest in Hungary, at the confluence of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers. Tokaj enjoys long sunny summers, while dry autumns and the early morning mists, created by the meeting of the two rivers, encourage the development of noble rot on grapes. The Botrytis Cinerea makes the berries dry and shrivel, thus concentrating the compounds and developing the Aszú grapes.

Furmint is the dominant grape in Tokaji, and Aszú in the name refers simply to the dried, nobly-rotted grapes, which are hand-picked from the vines. The number of puttonyos is an indication of sweetness, with 2 the driest and 6 the sweetest. A 3-Puttonyos Tokaji indicates at least 60g of residual sugar, 4 indicates at least 90g, 5 at least 120g and 6 at least 150g. From 2015 the new minimum is set to 130g of residual sugar per litre,and  the 3 and 4 ‘Puttonyos’ categories are eliminated.

A wine of 7 puttonyos is known as Aszú Essencia and is only produced in the very best years. Aszú Essencia is incredibly sweet and is one of the greatest dessert wines in the world.

By the end of the 17th century, Tokaji aszu wines were so well regarded throughout the Royal Courts of Europe, that Prince Rakoczi was urged to classify all the finest vineyards around the 28 villages in the region. Thus, the Tokaj wine region has the distinction of being Europe’s first classified wine region.

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Furmint

Furmint

A white grape variety grown in Hungary and Slovakia and the main ingredient of Tokaji Aszú. It is an early budding late ripening variety and and is particularly susceptible to botrytis.

Its wines are characterised by their high alcohol levels (sometimes as much as 14%) and their high acidity - it is the latter which gives Tokaji wines their longevity. It is most commonly planted in the Tokaj-Hegyalja region and is usually blended with Harslevelu and sometimes Muscat to produce Tokaji Aszú. The grape is also grown widely to produce acidic but sturdy dry white wine.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.