Words by Colin Hamdpen-White
It must be said that Royal Tokaji ‘Essencia’ is not low alcohol by design; it is low alcohol because of the way it has to be made. Although this tokaji is only 4%, it is certainly not a wine to drink to lose weight as it has a residual sugar level of around 500 grams per litre, so around half of it is liquid sugar. I remember trying this wine a few years ago and a tiny amount was presented on a crystal spoon as so little is needed to satisfy your taste buds. Much more than that would have had me bouncing off the ceiling. Tokaji is, after all, known as the Viagra of wine.
It takes 20Kg of grapes to make 37.5cl of Essencia and the wine is not made from crushed grapes at all, but only from the free-flowing juice which is collected as the grapes weep under their own weight. This particular version, the Tokaji Essencia is only produced in years when the weather conditions are just right and where a ‘noble rot’ called botrytis naturally occurs and shrivels the grapes (Furmint, Yellow Muscat and Herslevelű) into little brown raisins. Royal Tokaji Essencia 2008 is only the sixth vintage to be released by the winery, which was founded in 1990 by Hugh Johnson.
Recently, magnums of this divine wine were created and can be found at Hedonism Wines in London.
ABV: 4%
Size: 1500ml
Buy now for £30,000