Inside this stout little bottle is just under nine ounces of the most concentrated, other-worldly sweet wine you’ll ever taste. It may even be a stretch to call it a “wine”: it is fermented grape juice, but it only manages a few degrees of alcohol amid a deluge of residual sugar. How such a nectar is even physically possible strains credulity. But here it is, a vestige of one of the world’s most historic wine regions, Hungary’s Tokaj (toe-KAI), which in centuries past made wine for Kings and Popes and Tsars.
The golden, sweet, aszú wines of Tokaj—of which this 2008 Eszencia is the most extreme example—were viewed as magical elixirs and often treated more like medicine than recreational beverage, with Eszencia more likely to be dispensed by the spoonful than by the glass. Created from the ‘free-run’ juice of botrytis-affected grapes left to crush under their own weight, this is a true nectar and surely one of the most singular wines we’ve ever offered here. It’s for the thrill-seekers, cultural explorers, and romantics among us who collect taste memories like others collect albums or antiques.
To say that “a little goes a long way” with Eszencia is understating it. We were treated to relatively healthy one-ounce pours from the wine’s importer, and that was enough to get heads spinning—not from alcohol, mind you, but from the seemingly impossible concentration of sweetness in the liquid. There really is no other wine like it in the world: to make it, vintners take late-harvest grapes that have been withered by botrytis bunch rot—called aszú in Hungary—and pile them in a vessel so that they burst naturally and throw off their sweetest juice. This juice can reach 800 grams/liter of residual sugar before fermentation (an astronomical amount), while also maintaining refreshing, balancing acidity. The intense concentration of the liquid makes fermentation a slow slog, and it can take years for the wine to reach just a few degrees of alcohol. Traditionally, it’s served via a spoon. In Hungary, there’s also a tradition of one drop on your tongue at birth and a drop before death. These are wines which, given their sugar levels, can age hundreds of years.
The terrific American importer Blue Danube Wines brings in this Eszencia from Dorogi Testvérek (“Dorogi Brothers”), whose property is planted to the traditional Tokaj varieties Furmint, Hárslevelu and Sárgamuskotály (Yellow Muscat). They farm about 6 hectares in and around the village of Tarcal, in the characteristic volcanic soils of the region. The 2008 vintage was said to be an excellent one for aszú grapes, with the right combination of moisture and heat to encourage the development of the botrytis bunch rot. Another feature of the 2008 vintage is the pronounced acidity of the grapes, which survived the withering intact. This Dorogi wine is an amazing physical specimen: it contains 470 grams of residual sugar, just 4.3% alcohol, and a refreshing, invigorating acidic backbone clocking in at an impressive 10.2 grams/liter.
In the glass, the 2008 Dorogi Eszencia is a rich golden-amber color in the glass (or spoon!), and as viscous as motor oil. The intensity of the aromas almost makes your eyes roll back as scents of drippingly ripe apricots and peaches, wildflower honey, caramel, ginger, and beeswax fill both your head and the surrounding area. On the palate it is syrup-rich, completely mouth-filling, and yet magically energizing. We tend to think of sweetness and acidity in wine as being inversely related, but the raisining caused by botrytis concentrates the sugars without eliminating the grape’s natural acidity. This is a special treat to share with special friends as the exclamation point on the end of a great meal. If there are four of you, everyone can get about a two-ounce pour (a delicate, flared Riesling stem, or Port/Sherry glass, would do the trick); for a larger group, break out the spoons! Serve it just below cellar temperature, about 50 degrees, and don’t worry about pairing it with anything—this is dessert unto itself (or medicine, if you prefer) that will leave a lasting impression. To your health!
