Tokaji Wine Review: Királyudvar Tokaji Pezsgő Henye 2007

During numerous trips to the Tokaj-Hegyalja region in Hungary, I’ve had the opportunity to taste hundreds of Tokaji dessert wines, and I’ve managed to build a small personal collection. With no great claim to being a sommelier, I will share with you my impressions about the wines, and stories about the people who make them.

I’ve already introduced the Királyudvar winery in a recent post. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they’ve started making sparkling wine, and that it’s available, albeit with limited distribution, on the U.S. market. After a field trip to PJ Wine in Inwood, I became the proud owner of a bottle of 2007 pezsgő (sparkler in Hungarian).

Back in the communist days, sparkling wine, like many other things, was an affair of dubious quality. Sure, it was regularly decided to increase production at a frantic pace to give the masses the appearance of a happy, festive life, but wine-growing and fabrication methods weren’t much of a concern. The only producer in Hungary was Törley, and their production reached 30 million bottles annually by the end of the 1980s — not bad for a country with 10 million inhabitants. For those with a very, very sweet tooth, Törley’s offerings included a sweet Tokaji sparkler. (As a matter of fact, they still do, and it’s even imported in the U.S.! I’m tempted to buy a bottle for old times’ sake, and to write about it.)

Nowadays, a handful of producers have realized that making a sparkling Tokaji isn’t necessarily a bad idea, and that it doesn’t have to be attrociously sweet. Királyudvar’s Tokaji Pezsgő 2007 was the first sparkling wine produced by the winery, and it’s definitely dry. The grapes, a blend of furmint and harslevelű, come exclusively from the Henye vineyard.

The tasting revealed none of the orange blossom and apple aromas mentioned on Királyudvar’s web site. This wine has evolved quite a bit, and I find lemon and a hint of grapefruit on both the nose and the palate. This is a pleasant wine, without being as outstanding as the winery’s aszú bottlings. And at around $25 a bottle, I consider it a viable alternative to champagne — it’s certainly better than the Spanish, Italian, or German sparkling wines I’ve tried, and I’ll keep my rant about Champagne-champagne for another time.

Henye vineyard, photo © Királyudvar

Tokaji Wine Review: Királyudvar Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2000

During numerous trips to the Tokaj-Hegyalja region in Hungary, I’ve had the opportunity to taste hundreds of Tokaji dessert wines, and I’ve managed to build a small personal collection. With no great claim to being a sommelier, I will share with you my impressions about the wines, and stories about the people who make them.

Királyudvar, which means the king’s court in Hungarian, is probably the most renowned of all Tokaji producers. The reason is simple: it makes some of the very best wines and exports to North America, Europe, and Asia.  Located in a 16th century wine-press house in the village of Tarcal, the winery was founded in 1997 and owns parcels in the Lapis, Henye, Percze, Becsek, Danczka, and Nyulászó vineyards. Until 2008, the wines were produced by István Szepsy.

I read on their web site that the winery is now open to the public for tastings, and this is great news. Back in 2004 when we visited, things were a bit more complicated. Only professional visits were accepted. We were tipped off that a group had an appointment the next morning, and that Szepsy, being a sympathetic man, would probably not turn down a couple of enthusiastic tourists looking to tag along. This also meant that we had the grand tasting, a 2-3 hour affair from the dry Furmints to the super-sweet Aszú Eszencia — just count the bottles in the picture below! To this day, this remains one of the greatest tastings I’ve ever had.

Made up of 70% Furmint and 30% Hárslevelű, the Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2000, we are told, “has a classic Tokaji nose”, and I couldn’t agree more. The golden amber wine smells of caramel and mixed tropical fruits, mostly pineapple and mango. The day after opening, the nose develops into more caramel, with apricot preserves replacing some of the tropical fruits. A perfect example of the outstanding 2000 vintage.