Tasting Notes
How does very old Tokaji taste?
Occasionally very old tokaji bottles are opened at tastings and many of those wines are not only enjoyable but exhibit an exceptional sensoric experience. One of many proofs for this comes from Michael Broadbent MW, the legendary founder of Christie's wine department: "I treated myself to an expensive bottle at one of Christie's sales and my wife and I sat up in bed, glasses in hand, on 31 December 1972 to see in the New Year ... Its fragrance and flavour were out of this world, 'ambrosial nectar' I gushingly wrote, 'intensely rich, piquant, reminiscent of crushed raisins, powerful and lingering; on the palate, sweet, indescribably luscious, concentrated, with wonderful binding acidity, long tenacious flavour.'
1606 Tokaji from the Fukier Cellar
"There is no flavor in the thousand scents of the world that would not struggle, fight, and embrace in this indecipherable, never-before-felt scent. We stand up and toast. I cannot describe the flavor. Once, in Naples, I drank a three-hundred-year-old lava wine at Mario Biffulco's with poor István Apáthy. I wrote at the time that it was ambrosia itself, the divine nectar known only to mythology. But it wasn't. The real ambrosia, the drink of the gods, the numbing of tongues, the inspirer of the most wonderful dreams, the king, the prince, the noblest of the nobles: Tokaji. Three hundred and twenty years old. A dark liquid, like the darkest Malaga, but it does not impress with its sweetness, but with the mystical complexity of its flavor. The gypsy plays again, the sound of the song merges with the taste of Tokaji into a single ancient Hungarian dream, and I sit there in Warsaw, the Polish capital, with more Hungarian pain, more Hungarian melancholy than ever before in my life."
János Bókay (1934)
Source: "300 years old Tokaji in Warsaw" in Borászasti Lapok, 17 November 1934
1646 sold at Christie's in 1977
Australian wine guru Len Evans had tasted this old Tokaji on his 50th birthday. He opened a bottle of and described the taste as “extremely rich and of incredible intensity and complexity.” He wrote to me that two large tears came to his eyes as he thought about everything that had happened since this wine was produced.
Len Evans
Source: private message to me
Imperial Tokay believed to be 1649. From the Royal Saxon cellar (sold at Christie's Nov 1968)
"However, this was by no means the oldest wine I have had the privilege of drinking in the past three decades, during which I have studied the subject intensively. That honor goes to an Imperial Tokaji from 1649. Tasted on October 14, 1985, at Hardy Rodenstock's sixth rare wine tasting at the ”Ente vom Lehel" in Wiesbaden. A wine harvested one year after the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War, in the same year that Oliver Cromwell's “Rump Parliament” executed King Charles I of England. Note in the catalog: "Reputed to be from the Royal Saxon Cellars of the late Dennis Wheatley. Elegantly shaped very dark hand-blown bottle (ca. 1740). Perfect string-rim constructed neck. Wide shallow kick-up. Sound cork, traces of wax seal; excellent level for age. My impression: Somewhat dull brown. Only a delicate red-orange shimmer remains. Dust-fine sediment. Pungent and woody on the nose. Intact on the palate and surprisingly full-bodied. Still slightly viscous. This wine, which had been aged in the barrel for approx. 90 years before bottling, was still perfectly drinkable, albeit somewhat dry on the finish. But who would criticize that given its age!"
Mario Scheuermann (1985)
Source: "Die großen Weine des Jahrhunderts"
1690 Imperial Tokaji from the Royal Saxon Cellar
"Color: Deep, amber and cloudy.
Ending: Extensive and flavorful
Flavors: Bread, toasty, and honey
Nose: Unclean, opulent, refined and mature
Taste: Average in acidity, low alcolol content, low tannin, perfectly balanced, concentrated, medium-bodied, sharp, round, rich vigor and medium-sweet. 89p"
Pekka Nuikki, Editor of the Champagne Magazine (2008)
"Moderately deep, yellow brown color. Intense, rich, dried apricot nose with chocolate, hazelnuts and burnt sugar. Fullbodied, crisp acidity, fleshy, roasted coffee, dark chocolate, burnt sugar, apricor marmelade, bitter botrytis finish. 95p"
Juha Lihtonen, Best Scandinavian Sommelier 2003 (2008)
Source: https://tastingbook.com/wine/tokaji_imperial_royal_saxon/tokaji_imperial_1690
mid-18th century Imperial Tokaji from the Royal Saxon Cellar
"Significantly cleaner, deeper, and more complex, dried vegetables, some vegetable broth, aldehyde, Madeira character. Then, after 15 minutes, a nice sweetness after bitter caramel, hints of dried fruit. Apple...good depth and complexity, significantly sweeter on the palate...more complex but with slightly sharp acidity, became really good after 1 hour, significantly longer finish with a noticeable caramel sweetness. Truly magnificent as a wine and as a piece of history...a wine at least 200 years old!!!! A pure goosebumps experience!!"
Sigi Hiss (2006)
Tokay believed to be 1794. From the cellars of Count Radziwill
"Deep, rich warm amber, mahogany shading to olive rim; magnificent old bouquet, sweet, supple, raisiny; sweet, full-bodied, excellent honey and raisiny flavour, good length, excellent acidity keeping it vigorous. Sept 1987 *****"
Michael Broadbent
Source: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5162720
Tokaji wine the Royal Saxon Cellar in 1802
"In one of the lists of Tokay Cabinet wines in the Dresden court cellar dating from the reign of King Augustus III, 79 different varieties are listed, most of which are labeled with Polish names and some of which are gifts from Polish dignitaries, including a hundred-year-old wine, which is described in the table as "very good despite its great age, but very dry.“
The table on the quality of ”the Tokay wines in the Cabinet, Anno 1802" lists the following wine patriarchs:
No. 1. 75 bottles of hundred-year-old wine. “This wine,” the table states, “was already called a hundred-year-old wine in the time of King Augustus III, and despite its great age is still very good.”
No. 27. Czartoryski, 23 bottles of hundred-year-old wine; it says of it: “This wine, at least 140 years old, is of good but dry taste.”
No. 38. 197 bottles. Bacchus. “This wine takes its name from one of the large barrels in the Bacchus cellar, where it was previously stored. It is very good with liqueur.”
No. 53. Woywode von Cracau from 1700. 28 bottles, “it is very good with liqueur.”
All wines have the rating: “very good, but dry.”"
Source: Friedrich August O'Byrn, "
1811 Bretzenheim Tokaji from Berry Brothers
"Wine bottled around 1840, walled up in 1863, then rediscovered in 1925. At first, the aromas are somewhat ordinary. As it opens up, the finesse and purity become incredible. The density is immense. The aromas start with candied notes and the tartness of the best German Rieslings. Added to this are notes of iced tea, nougat and raspberry brandy. It is an olfactory marvel. The palate follows suit. There is no heaviness or cloying sweetness. Everything is fabulously harmonious. The length is in keeping with the rest. The acidity, coated in a richness that is ultimately the sugar, supports the whole with extraordinary strength. This bottle is much better than the one I drank in 2000. It thrilled me almost as much as the 1811 Yquem. What more can I say! (*****)"
Dominique Fornage (2016)
Source: https://ecole-nobilis.ch/2021/09/28/crus/hongrie/tokaji/
Tokay Essence 1834. From the Bretzenheim family cellar. Berry Bros & Co. St James London
"The greatest mid nineteenth century vintage. Lemon-amber colour; high-toned, raisiny bouquet; very rich with high sustaining acidity. ****"
Michael Broadbent, June and October 1972
Source: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5150539
Tokaji 1879 (5 puttonyos)
"At first glance, the color of the wine is extremely dark, which may be due to the fact that at that time the aszú berries were soaked for much longer than usual. However, when the wine meets the glass, we see a rich color palette, which also refers to the contents. The aroma is a mixture of roasted elements, leather and dried fruit.
The aroma is reminiscent of soaked aszú berries. However, the unmistakable aroma of botrytis is also recognizable. It is worth letting the wine rest for a while as the high volatile acids will dissipate and the wine will open up more. It is true that a slight mousey smell can also be detected. The taste of the wine is as expected from the aroma: nut liqueur, chocolate, jam notes, with the most dominant flavor being dried plums! After resting, oriental spices also appear. However, the vinegar acid is also noticeable in the swallowed sip, which scratches the throat. The volatile compounds really "hit" at first, but after a few seconds, the typical aszú flavors come out.
The flavor is unmistakably Tokaji. The wine is very long and has a special stability and structure; it is a truly thick wine. The wine also has characteristic, beautiful acids that balance the sweetness of the wine."
Stephany Berecz, László Mészáros and Samuel Tinon (2017)
Source: Zoltán Bihari, Zoltán Kállai "1879-ES ASZÚ A POHÁRBAN!" SZŐLŐ-LEVÉL, VII. évfolyam 9. szám, 2017
Tokay 1888 Essencia
"Black as molasses and not much more liquid; swirling the glass, nothing remained in the bottom. It clung, brown glinting with green lights, to the sides. The point of Tokaji is that it makes ridiculous amounts of sugar drinkable. That was surely the reason crowned heads adopted it in the days when anything sweet was a luxury. Its secret? Balancing acidity that rises to equally ridiculous heights and gives an impression of zippy freshness. The 1888 smelt like an infusion of tea leaves, herbs, quince and apricot. Japanese brown tea, in fact: tannic, minty, mind-clearing. Umami is the taste of appetite: this had that savoury quality. Together, acidity and umami make the tang that defines Tokaji. No other wine has it. Apricots, pears, quince, raisins, figs, orange… everyone finds dried fruit flavours in it. Sometimes I find barley-sugar, sometimes butterscotch. With age comes madeira, sometimes mocha, sometimes tobacco."
Hugh Johnson (2006)
Source: https://www.decanter.com/features/the-golden-age-of-tokaji-wines-247564/