Royal Tokaji Nyulaszo 1st Growth 6 Puttonyos Aszú 2017 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
In truly exceptional years Royal Tokaji selects the finest berries from its finest vineyards and carefully produces a few barrels of Single Vineyard Aszú. 2017 was such a year, just the eighth this century, showing exceptional richness, structure and backbone balanced by lively acidity - a truly volcanic vintage. Summer was hot, so we began the Aszú berry harvest in early September and continued to pick steadily in the ideal autumn weather. In particular October provided three textbook weeks for fine quality Aszú, with day after day of early morning mists, afternoon sunshine and drying winds. The Aszú wines show great structure, plenty of botrytis, depth and freshness with excellent complexity, all attributes of long ageing potential. The excellent Aszú berries with good structure and perfect botrytis were macerated in fermenting must for two days. After pressing and finishing fermentation in barrel the wines were filled into Hungarian oak casks in our extensive, deep underground cellars to mature for over two years. The final blends were carefully crafted in the spring of 2020. Bottled at 203.3 grams of residual sugar per litre.
Nyulászó (meaning “a good place to catch hares”) is a celebrated First Growth vineyard overlooking the village of Mád. Its volcanic bedrock is overlaid with rich, brown clay interspersed with lighter rhyolite tuff, consistently producing racy, perfumed, elegant wines with a steely backbone. This wine is lively and elegant, highly perfumed on the nose with ripe peach and apricot on the palate balanced by silky acidity. The finish is long and incredibly complex.
Spicy and earthy notes of ginseng, dried pineapple, candied citrus, fig and toffee apple. The sweetness is balanced and complemented by earthy, complex layers. Lots of spicy botrytis character. Extremely long. Complex and thought provoking with so much dried-fruit and spicy flavour at the end. Dense and tight, yet agile. Delicious now, but if you give it another five or six years, you will see even more. - Jamessuckling.com, 98 Points
The Finer Details
Style - Sweet Wine
Varietal - Furmint, Hárslevelű, Muscat de Lunel
Country - Hungary
Region - Tokaji
Vintage - 2017
Bottle Size - 500ml
ABV - 10.5%