1993 Domaine Disznoko Tokaji Aszu 4 Puttonyos
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85 WS
Quite thick and rich, but it remains closed on the nose. Full-bodied, with interesting layers of citrus, honey, cigar-box, smoke and spice flavors, but it finishes angularly. Needs time. Best after 2000. 10,000 cases made. –PM
December 31, 1997 --Wine Spectator
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| Description | ||||
| The Aszú grapes picked one by one are put into vats, trodden a bit by foot and then the aszú vats are stored at cool temperature waiting for the base must or wine necessary for making Aszú wines . During the storing we gain the Eszencia (essence) that is the rich juice of the aszú grapes dripping out because of their own weight. This is a real nectar, its sugar content is between 500-700 gr/lit, with hints of honey, fruit-jam and flowers in the nose. The richest Eszencia we ever gained was in 2000 with a sugar content of 914 gr/lit. The Eszencia matures in glass containers, it ferments very slowly for years because of its extreme concentration. Its alcohol content does not exceed 5-6% even after several years of fermentation. The Eszencia is traditionally added back to aszú wines, most commonly when we make Aszú Eszencia. We always bottle a few hundred bottles from the greatest vintages for collectors. Since hundreds of years the aszú wines (3, 4, 5, 6 Puttonyos Aszú and Aszú Eszencia) have been made in Tokaj according to the same principle: the aszú grapes are macerated in fermenting must or wine (base must or base wine) for 12-60 hours. After maceration, the aszú grapes saturated with wine or must (aszú dough) are pressed and the juice gained this way is fermented. The aszú wines are aged in oak barrels for years in the cool cellars of Tokaj carved into stone. Depending on the quality of the aszú grapes we use fermenting must or fermented wine in Disznókő. The more botrytised and less shrivelled aszú grapes are typically macerated in wine, while the more shrivelled and less botrytised grapes are macerated in fermenting must, which results in a more intense extraction. The number of “puttony”: Long ago the aszú grapes were collected into 36-icce (25-26kg) wooden puttonys. They measured 3-6 puttonys of aszú grapes (75-150kg) to a vat used only for this purpose. It was trodden by feet, then one Gönci-cask (180 icce, = 136lit small barrel) must or wine from the same vintage was added. It was macerated for 12-60 hours, stirred from time to time. The liquid was filtered out with sacks. The sacks containing the “aszú dough” were trodden by feet, the liquid gained this way was racked into barrels, where it fermented slowly. The aszú wine’s number of puttony meant, how many puttony of aszú grapes were used. The principle is the same today, but of course the components are not measured with puttony and Gönci cask, but by kilogram and litre. Today the puttony number indicates the concentration of the wines. The more residual sugar the wine contains, the higher the puttony number. |
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