Wset - Tokaj

Question 1

Which climate is it in Tokaj and where are the best vineyards found?

Answer 1

Tokaj’s climate is moderate
the best vineyards are located on hillside slopes with southerly aspects.

Question 2

Which two river run through Tokaj?
How do they affect the grapes?

Answer 2

Bodrog and Tisza
their many tributaries help generate the early morning humidity necessary for the development of noble rot.

Question 3

Which are the three principal white grape varieties that are used in making of Tokaj?

Answer 3

Furmint
Sárslevelü
Sárga Muskotály

Question 4

What’s the characteristics of Furmint?

Answer 4

concentrated, high acidity
young: apple
Ages: nuts, honey.
style: dry and sweet

Question 5

What similarities is there between Furmint and Hárslevelü? And what does Hárslevelü bring to a blend?

Answer 5

both ripens late!
Hárslevelü contributes perfume to a blend

Question 6

What’s Sárga Muskotály also named as? and what is it used for?

Answer 6

Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains
it is also used for its aromatic qualities.

Question 7

How many cl is a Tokaj bottle?

Answer 7

dry: 75cl
sweet: 50cl

Question 8

There is three different harvests a picker can do to make a variety of different styles of wine, which are the three different harvests?

Answer 8

When noble tor has been widespread picker pass through the vineyards several wines selecting individual aszú (rotten) grapes.
Bunches that remain unaffected by noble not are collected separately.
There is also a selection know as Szamorodni, which means “as it comes”

Question 9

Which two different styles of dry wine are there?

Answer 9

Dry wines without botrytis
Tokaji Szamorodni

Question 10

What’s the characteristics for a Dry wine without botrytis ?

Answer 10

they can vary in style from simple, unoaked that are made to be drunk young to more concentrated age-worthy blends, which are often fermented and matured in new oak

Question 11

What is a Tokaji Szamorodni?

Answer 11

These are made from grape harvested as Szamorodni and may be dry or sweet, depending on the amount of noble rot that is present.
casks for the dry wines are not completely filled, to enable flor-like yeast to form naturally on the wine.

Question 12

What’s the characteristics/style for a Tokaji Szamorodni?

Answer 12

By the nature of the harvest the dry wines will show noble rot character. The wines must be aged in cask for a minimum of six months and only
the dry ones; will develops a character similar to that of a Fino Sherry
the sweet ones: the modern trend is to produce a less-oxidative wine by filling casks for sweet wines compleatly.

Question 13

What’s the word for dry and sweet?

Answer 13

sáraz - dry
édes - sweet

Question 14

How does the production of Tokaji Aszú works?

Answer 14

starts with a base of healthy grapes, before, during or after fermentation, the aszú berries are macerated in the base wine.
the maceration usually lasts for 12 to 60 hours. Traditionally the botryrised berries were made into a paste, but using uncrushed aszú berries avoids the extraction of bitter flavours.
This mixture is pressed and than the wine is matured for a period of time in oak.

Question 15

What determines the sweetness level in a Tokaji Aszú?

Answer 15

the amount of aszú berries used.

Question 16

What’s the characteristics for a Tokaji Aszú?

Answer 16

deep amber, with high acidity and intense aromas, and flavours of orange peel, apricot and honey. The wines become more concentrated and intense as they rise up the sweetness scale

Question 17

What is Tokaji Eszence (Essence or Nectar)?

Answer 17

Eszencia is made using just the free-run juice of the aszú-berries. The must is so sweet ir can take years to ferment, and even after that time the wines wemain very low in alc, around 5%.

Question 18

What’s the characteristics for a Tokaji Eszence?

Answer 18

The legal minimum level of residual suger is 450g/L. This is balanced by very high acidity and the wines have an enormusly concentrated flavour. They are able to mature and reatain their freshness for a century or more

Question 19

What’s a modern style of sweet wine from Tokaji?

Answer 19

The wines are usually made from grapes that have spent extended time on the vine and are often labelled as Late Harvest. Some may be botrytis-infected fruit, where the are fermented rather than macerated, such as in the production for Tokaji Aszú.
They may also be matured for less time than Aszú wines.

Question 20

What does the word puttonyos means? and how does it work?

Answer 20

The sweetness of Tokaji Aszú has traditionally been matured on the puttonyos scale. A puttony is a picker’s bucket, and this measure described the number of buckets of aszú grapes that went into each barrel of wine.
5 puttonyos = minimum of 120g/L residual suger; which is the minimum amount of suger.

Question 21

For how long is the minimum maturation in oak vessels for Tokaji Aszú?

Answer 21

a minimum of 18 mounts in oak vessels, which can be new or old