16 December 2023 / Edit Szabó (Translated by Sue Tolson DipWSET / Photos: Dániel Ercsey)
Dr Tibor Kovács, head of the Tokaj Wine Region Research Institute of Viticulture and Oenology, had been cherishing a plan to organise an exclusive tasting of Tokaji Aszú wines from the 1990s in the beautifully renovated cellar of the research institute since its inauguration. “Everyone always says that Tokaji Aszú wines retain their beauty for decades or even centuries, that they do not age, but rather improve over the years. However, the truth of the statement is debatable, as nobody has tasted these wines in recent years. There are too few of them and they are too valuable to just open a bottle. It was time to change this practice, so I approached the Tokaj winemakers, and we created this event,” says Dr Tibor Kovács.
Fourteen Tokaj wineries exhibited at the event, with a total of 24 Aszús and Eszencias being tasted by invited guests. Most of the wines were from the 1993 and 1999 vintages, and there were no wines at all from 1992 and 1997, so there is still no information on those vintages.
The wines of the 1990s are also very exciting as the quiet revolution of Tokaji Aszú was taking place at that time in Hungary. After the regime change, not only was the air “fresher” in Hungary, but the gates also opened, allowing a flow of professionals back and forth and an international exchange of winemaking experience. As a direct consequence, Tokaj producers began to review the Aszú production process. More and more of them broke with old school traditions and followed the “new school”, thanks to which coffee tones in the finished wines were replaced by a pale golden colour, while the nutty, tobacco aromas were replaced by peachy, citrusy fruitiness. The “Aszú debate” lasted nearly a decade, but by the early 2000s, there were few followers of the early old style left. That’s why it was so exciting to taste the 90s vintages. A curved emerged that clearly shows that what was considered a good wine then is still in great shape now, and looks to stay that way for a few decades to come.
Winemakers say that two vintages were considered outstanding in the 1990s, 1993 and 1999. We tasted wines from both at the event. The difference was almost palpable, not only because of vintage, but primarily due to the difference in style. It’s hard to taste a 30-year-old wine without being moved, but fortunately, most of the 1993 Aszú is still in great shape, so we could bow to its quality as well as to its age. In one or two of the 1999 wines, however, there is a vitality and fresh fruitiness that foreshadows a much longer life span for these wines.
Winemaker András Bacsó, currently estate manager at Mariasy Winery, is a great witness to the era, having been at the helm of Tokaj-Oremus Vineyard and Winery since 1993. If anybody has insight into how change took place in the nineties, it’s he, and he was the instigator of many of them. In his opinion, the world has unfortunately sped up, and people always want to drink fresh wine, so we are not familiar with the sensory dimension that appears in wines after the second decade of bottle ageing. Yet this is what is really important, this is what should be shown to everyone, so that they know what the Tokaji Aszú they bought when their daughter was born and will open for her wedding will be like. “The delicate balance of this noble sweet wine will charm you and make you smile,” says the expert, who hopes that this tasting will encourage restaurant owners and wine collectors to stock up on Tokaj sweet wines, as Aszú and Eszencia are clearly not only a national treasure but also a time-honoured value.
And what are these Aszús like? Intense, elegant, creamy and rich, and some of them seem decidedly young. Often more coffee than amber in colour, they taste of honey and a multitude of dried fruits -apricot, fig, date, plum and mango, tinged with a subtle sweet spiciness. Vanilla, ginger, clove, anise, cocoa and dark chocolate are the most common notes. Some wines are remarkably herbal, while others reveal a world of smokiness, tobacco and mushroom, yet in almost all of them, the acidity provides a solid foundation for their composition. There’s no sign of fatigue or emptiness, each bottle holds unparallelled richness, and each affects your senses in a different way. It’s also interesting to note that although the residual sugar of these wines can be up to 150-200 grams per litre, these aged Aszús don’t seem sweet at all. The sugar has not disappeared, of course, just the sweetness has diminished, giving way to other flavours. This is why there is a recent trend in modern gastronomy to serve Tokaji Aszú not at the end of a meal or with dessert, but paired with the main course.
Tibor Kovács tells us that a few years ago, the idea of every Hungarian family opening a bottle of Tokaji Aszú at Christmas was widely discussed. However, there is not enough wine for that today, with only half a million to a million bottles produced each year, depending on the vintage. “Tokaji Aszú is not the drink of the young, nor is it meant to conquer the world with hundreds of millions of bottles. Our noble sweet wines are consumed by connoisseurs who seek out rare, high-quality wines. This segment exists, we just need to find a way to reach them,” says the organiser, who believes that this tasting will be a major step towards opening up the market. These wines have now been tasted by wine writers, sommeliers and wine merchants, and hopefully more useful wine descriptions will be written about them to help potential buyers find them.
The exhibiting winemakers were delighted to taste each other’s wines and left satisfied. They know full well that they won’t make a living from Aszú after this either, but that is not the aim. However, if a Tokaji Aszú sells for a high price at auction, its light will also shine on other wines, and the main thing is to get people to come to Tokaj and buy Tokaj wines.
Tibor Kovács plans to present the wines from the 2000s at a similar event next year, to which international wine experts will be invited. Let the world marvel at us! Tokaj’s world-class Aszús deserve the attention.
