TOKAJI ASZU WINES
This is the wine which made Tokaj world famous and is proudly cited in the Hungarian national anthem.
The original meaning of the Hungarian word aszú was "dried", but it came to be associated with a type of wine made with botrytised (i.e. "nobly" rotten) grapes.
The process of making Aszú wine is as follows:
- Aszú berries are individually picked out of the bunches, collected in huge vats and trampled into the consistency of paste (known as aszú dough).
- Must is poured on the aszú dough and left for 24-48 hours, stirred occasionally.
- After the aszú dough has soaked, the wine is racked off into wooden casks or vats where fermentation is completed and the aszú wine will be kept to mature. These containers are stored in a cool environment, and are not tightly closed, so a slow fermentation process continues in the wine, usually for several years.
The concentration of aszú was traditionally defined by the number of puttony ("hods") of dough added to a Gönc cask (136 liter barrel) of must. Nowadays the puttony number is based on the content of sugar and sugar-free extract in the mature wine. Aszú ranges from 3 puttonyos to 6 puttonyos, with a further category called Aszú-Eszencia representing wines above 6 puttonyos. Unlike most other wines, alcohol content of aszú typically runs higher than 14%. Annual production of aszú is less than one percent of the region's total output.
The original meaning of the Hungarian word aszú was "dried", but it came to be associated with a type of wine made with botrytised (i.e. "nobly" rotten) grapes.
The process of making Aszú wine is as follows:
- Aszú berries are individually picked out of the bunches, collected in huge vats and trampled into the consistency of paste (known as aszú dough).
- Must is poured on the aszú dough and left for 24-48 hours, stirred occasionally.
- After the aszú dough has soaked, the wine is racked off into wooden casks or vats where fermentation is completed and the aszú wine will be kept to mature. These containers are stored in a cool environment, and are not tightly closed, so a slow fermentation process continues in the wine, usually for several years.
The concentration of aszú was traditionally defined by the number of puttony ("hods") of dough added to a Gönc cask (136 liter barrel) of must. Nowadays the puttony number is based on the content of sugar and sugar-free extract in the mature wine. Aszú ranges from 3 puttonyos to 6 puttonyos, with a further category called Aszú-Eszencia representing wines above 6 puttonyos. Unlike most other wines, alcohol content of aszú typically runs higher than 14%. Annual production of aszú is less than one percent of the region's total output.
$39.00 |