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Tokaji
I: Royal Tokaji ‘95
True
Hungarian Tokaji, spelled in English “Tokay”, but pronounced with a long “i”,
offers one of the simplest and most reliable quality rating systems in the world
of wine. Botrytized Furmint and Muscat grapes, mealy with noble rot, are crushed
into a paste, and the resulting batter is divided into “puttonyos”, an
enchantingly arcane measure of weight. To a simple base of characterless Furmint
wine, at least three puttonyos of this botrytized paste are added. Tokay makers,
with little encouragement, often add four puttonyos to the base wine, and
sometime five, raising the sugar levels proportionally thereby. At times, they
can even be convinced to mix in six shares of joy to the base before setting the
wine down to re-ferment in oak. True Tokaji Aszú (ie., sweet, as opposed to dry
Tokay) will indicate how many puttonyos were used in making the wine, and that
number will always be between three and six. Higher ratings get higher prices.
We have seen 3 putt. Tokay at $ 18 for 500 ml (note the atypical quantity for
bottle, which bottle also usually has a stretched neck) while 6 putt. wines
inhabit the $ 40 to $ 50 range.
There are currently only a half dozen or so Tokay producers selling in
North America. We have had great luck in serving the Royal Tokaji Company’s
1995 Tokay Aszú, 4 putt., to our port friends, whose affinity for viniferous
sweetness easily transferred to this fine dessert wine now well on its way to
revival in the West.
In our house, it is de rigeur
to tell the story whereby the bishop of Zagreb presented a glass of Tokay to
Pope Pius IV during the waning sessions of the Council of Trent. The pope
savored the wine in silence a moment, and then exclaimed “Talem
vinum decet summum pontificem!” or, “Now this
is a wine that well suits the Supreme Pontiff.” I, like the Tokay masters
above happily adding more puttonyos to the base, need little encouragement to
parley this story into Tokay having been thus made the official wine of the
Council of Trent! +++ |
