2018 Royal Tokaji "Betsek" 6 Puttonyos Tokaji, Hungary - 500mL

ABOUT THIS WINE

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. 

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

The Royal Tokaji winery was founded in 1990, and has become one of the most admired wineries in Tokaji. At the outset, Royal Tokaji decided to concentrate on producing single-vineyard wines, made from First Grown vineyards of Mézéz Mály, Nyulásló, Szt. Tamás and Betsek. Acknowledged as one of regions top winemakers, they combine traditional techniques with modern tech to create the award winning range of wines. The winery is the acknowledged leader of the renaissance of this legendary Hungarian wine, which, in the words of the wine author and company co-founder Hugh Johnson, is “a wine that would make the angels sing out loud in praise.” Their goal is to revive and bring back to international acclaim the wines of and bring back to international acclaim the wines of one of history’s most renowned wine regions.