BETSEK – 1st GROWTH
TOKAJI ASZÚ 6 PUTTONYOS 2018
In truly exceptional years Royal Tokaji selects the finest berries
from its finest vineyards and carefully produces a few barrels of
Single Vineyard Aszú.
After a cold winter, temperatures rose rapidly in April and May,
stimulating vigorous growth in the vines. Harvest was the earliest in
living memory and probably the earliest ever, providing good
volumes of healthy, ripe grapes with firm acidity and excellent
quality. The warm, dry autumn was more conducive to drying the
grapes than to botrytis, but nevertheless we managed to pick a very
satisfactory amount of fine quality Aszú berries. Overall, a record-
breaking and outstanding vintage, ripe, rich, and balanced.
The excellent Aszú berries with good structure and perfect botrytis
were macerated in fermenting must for two days. After pressing and
finishing fermentation in barrel the wines were filled into
Hungarian oak casks in our extensive, deep underground cellars to
mature for over two years. The final blends were carefully crafted
in the spring of 2021.
Betsek hill is a celebrated First Growth vineyard located in the Mád
basin. Its volcanic bedrock is overlaid with rich clay mixed with
dark, almost black soil and chalk-white minerals. Royal Tokaji
owns 15ha of south-facing parcels planted with Furmint and
Hárslevelű vines with an average age of around 50 years.
This wine shows typical spicy character, dominated by white
pepper and botanicals, vibrant honey and green tea on the palate
with a long, spicy finish.
Enjoy now or cellar for future enjoyment as the wine matures. Sip
on its own as an aperitif, serve with fruit-based desserts or hard
cheeses, or enjoy this mouth-watering wine on its own instead of a
pudding.
Alcohol: 11 %
Sugar: 203,2 g/l
Acidity: 6,53 g/l
Grape varieties: Hárslevelű, Furmint
Bottling date: June 2021
