Winemaker Notes
An exceptional wine only made in vintages where a tiny selection of grapes show more complexity and more concentration but always underlined by a perfect acidity, and with unparalleled ageing potential. Progressing from golden to deep amber depending on its age. Great precision and finesse in the nose. When young, Disznóko Tokaji Aszú 6 puttonyos buzzes with freshness: citrus, honey, tropical fruits. Over 10 years old, it has developed even greater aromatic complexity with the emergence of dried fruits, spices (mints), tobacco box and toasted notes. Creamy and full-bodied, while retaining the distinctive Disznóko freshness. Intensity combined with finesse and a lingering finish. Opulent and elegant.
Individual, berry by berry Aszu grape selection was carried out several times in the vineyard. The selected Aszu berries are stored in stainless steel containers until vinification in early November. The perfect quality grapes (unpressed) are macerated in fermenting must for 48-60 hours, then pressed. After fermentation in stainless steel, the wine was aged in barrel for two and a half years, partly in new oak and bottled in January.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Golden amber in the glass, this wine has aromas of wildflower honey, honeycomb and ripe peach. It is velvety smooth in the mouth, with flavors of freshly baked tarte Tatin, peach and canned pear halves. Good acidity balances well with the sweetness.
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James Suckling
Honey, creamy pineapple, lemon curd, wax and paint. Bright acidity gives it a real lift on the palate that will invite a second glass, despite the sweetness. Long, with creamy, citrusy flavors in the finish.
Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.
Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.
Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.
Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.
Best known for lusciously sweet dessert wines but also home to distinctive dry whites and reds, Hungary is an exciting country at the crossroads of tradition and innovation. Mostly flat with a continental climate, Hungary is almost perfectly bisected by the Danube River (known here as the Duna), and contains central Europe’s largest lake, Balaton. Soil types vary throughout the country but some of the best vines, particularly in Tokaj, are planted on mineral-rich, volcanic soil.
Tokaj, Hungary’s most famous wine region, is home to the venerated botrytized sweet wine, Tokaji, produced from a blend of Furmint and Hárslevelű. Dry and semi-dry wines are also made in Tokaj, using the same varieties. Other native white varieties include the relatively aromatic and floral, Irsai Olivér, Cserszegi Fűszeres and Királyleányka, as well as the distinctively smoky and savory, Juhfark. Common red varieties include velvety, Pinot Noir-like Kadarka and juicy, easy-drinking Kékfrankos (known elsewhere as Blaufränkisch).