Royal Tokaji Esszencia 2016 DD + kristálykanál (0,375 L)

Essencia is the world’s most concentrated essence of its ripest grapes, it is the ’liquid gold’ that very slowly oozes from a pile of aszú grapes raisined by botrytis and climatic conditions.

In 2016 we had a mild and dry winter with no serious frosts. This was followed by a long spring, with lovely, warm days but cool, almost chilly nights. The flowering season was unusually long resulting in uneven fruit set in many vineyards and across all grape varieties. From the middle of August, the botrytis began to spread all over the region and highly affected the grapes. By summer time we were quietly confident of an ideal harvest, straightforward with high quality – but July and August brought intermittent rain and hail, reducing the crop and encouraging botrytis.

Our expert pickers carefully selected the finest berries throughout September and October, and we were rewarded with a small Aszú harvest of exceptional quality.

Then the free run juice – in this case from first generation berries only – was collected. A gradual and very slow alcoholic fermentation took place spontaneously, lasting over 3 years.

Dark gold colour with reddish notes. The nose opens quite rapidly and gives a lot of botrytis and extreme complexity with lots of medlar, rosehip jelly, peach and pear.

In the mouth citric, bold and complex. Outstanding candied fruit character, cornel jelly, and a nice touch of lemon balm herbs. Balanced with endless freshness and fruitiness where the high acidity balances the sweetness and contributes to a long and thrilling finish to the Essencia.

Serve in a crystal spoon.

• 2023 Vinous/Essencia 2016/98 tasting score,
• 2023 Harpers/Royal Tokaji/Royal Tokaji eyeing ‘potential for growth’ as Essencia 2016 unveiled in UK,
• 2023 The Drinks Business/Royal Tokaji Essencia 2016/Why one ‘wine’ is made to be sipped from a spoon
• 2023 Decanter-Sylvia Wu review/Essencia 2016/95 tasting score