Some weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a volcanic wine event in New York City. Of the many areas that make wines on volcanic soils, the Tokaji region of Hungary was not the first that came to mind. I have loved wines from this region for over 20 years. When I first received my Italian Sommelier Association Certification in 2004, I worked at a Tokaji tasting of Disnoko wines. It was a vertical tasting with wines from 1983 forward. I will never forget that experience. The wines were ethereal and elegant, with amazing apricot and honey, nutty flavors, and truly eye-opening aromas and flavors.

Grand Tokaj is owned by the Tokaji-Hegyalja University Foundation and is the largest winery in the Tokaj-Hegyalia region.They have 67 hectares and they buy grapes from another 800 hectares. As a coop they count for 35% of the wine region. Since 2013, the winemaker has been Karoly Ats. They make a number of different lines. I tried both some of their dry and a couple of sweet wines.

I love this dry white made from Furmint which is a minerally grape that makes a very friendly wine with lemon zest, pith, good structure, and an almond note on the finish.

The region is at the foot of the Zemplén Mountains in North-East Hungary.. The Bodrog and the Tisza Rivers impact the landscape and the wines that are made. Famous for centuries, the area was delimited as wine region iin 1737 when Emperor Charles VI (Charles III, King of Hungary) established it as a wine region. The combination of the volcanic slopes, rivers, and topography make for outstanding wines.

It was one of those wine moments when the stars were aligned when I tasted the first of his two dessert wines.

Grand Tokaj Eszencia comes from Aszú berries that have been affected by botrytis. The wine comes from free run juice, or the essence of grape. It often has more than 250 g/l of residual sugar. Esszencia is truly magical. It’s alcohol level is always less than 6%. Other sweet wines were always measured in puttony,  One that had 6 puttony could not have more than 180 grams per liter so the Esszencia category was created.

This is an incredible wine which is one of my favorite genres – sweet wines. Delicate, rich, luxurious, filled with minerality, with honey and apricot flavors. It can compete with Sauternes any day of the week.