“Butterscotch, peach and apricot in a traditional style with orange and greengage aromas. Luscious, with dried fruit, mango, Christmas pudding, and white chocolate. Toasty and nutty…

“Royal Tokaji was the first Tokaj producer to be privatised and continues to a be a pioneer in raising the region’s profile, especially with its single-vineyard bottlings. This was the first wine region in the world to be classified, in 1700 by Prince Rákóczi, and the vineyards designated then still give many of the best wines today.

“Just 2,522 bottles of this wines were produced in 2007 from the 11hqa Szent Tamás vineyard. Manager director István Turóczi says the British and Hungarians share a fascination with the weather as it can be so changeable. The summer of 2007 was hot and dry until September, when it rained for a month. Turóczi says, ‘We worried about losing the whole crop, then we had an Indian summer throughout October and November — the Furmint developed perfect aszú berries.’

“As Hugh Johnson (one of Royal Tokaji’s founders) says of Tokaj, ‘this is a wine that tastes of a place; it can’t be reconstructed elsewhere.’ This is true of the Szent Tamás vineyard: it produces some of the region’s best wines, like this luscious offering. A great example of why Tokaji deserves its place in the top rank of the world’s sweet wines.”

The 2011 Szt. Tamás is one of just 155 wines, out of 14,362 tasted, to win a Regional Trophy in the 2013 Decanter World Wine Awards.