The grapes ripened early in the warm summer of 2017, and botrytis followed quickly, allowing Royal Tokaji's team to produce a particularly lush late-harvest wine. It has a hot-house intensity, with rich, warm flavors of honeysuckle and peaches, and a gingery prickle of acidity. Plump and spicy, it would make a terrific companion to an apricot tart.

2016 Tokaji Gold Label 6 Puttonyos Botrytis came early to Tokaj in 2016, after a wet summer, allowing Royal Tokaji to bottle several Aszú wines. This one, a barrel selection of wines from the company's best vineyards, feels like satin on the palate. It's dense with residual sugar, yet it's not overwhelmingly sweet; Furmint's fiery spice reins in the honeyed fruit while floral and herbal notes add lift. There's a youthful tension as well, a prickle of energy that runs through the wine, promising that there's more to come with time in the bottle.

This is a more elegant and restrained 6 puttonyos Aszú compared to the other single vineyard examples from the producer in 2016. The Nyulászó Aszú has a floral and flinty nose, the struck match-like notes follow to a palate of concentrated sweet spices, fig, dried and fresh apricot and lime zest. The piercing acidity (10 g/l) runs throughout the luscious body, leading to a pure and lingering finish.

The 2016 Nyulászó First Growth Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos, which delivers 180g/L residual sugar, has a deep, honeyed, slightly more introverted bouquet compared to the Ste. Tamás. It gradually reveals scents of manuka honey, orange pith and quince jus, yet it clearly deserves several years to really open. The palate is very well balanced, harmonious and brimming with tension. Pears, Seville orange marmalade, hints of mandarin and fresh figs vie for attention. This is a powerful, intense Tokaji, but razor-sharp, delivering real precision and "bite" toward the finish. Outstanding.

Silky and dry with tangy fruit; fresh and racy with juicy style and smooth texture.

The 6 Puttonyos version displays more floral notes than the 5 Puttonyos sample; with more fresh apricot and citrus fruits on top of the waxy and honeyed undertone. The 188 g/l sugar gives the wine a luscious texture but by no means cloying – refreshing acidity (10.9 g/l) dances amongst dried apricot and layers of sweet spices, dried apricot and marmalade flavours, leading to a lingering finish. Similar to the [Red] Label, the Gold Label has been aged in 300-500 litre second or third use Hungarian barrels, but the grapes used are mainly from the producer’s own vineyards.”

From the ‘Great 1st growth’ Mézes Mály, this 2016 Aszú has a lime, struck match and earthy nose, backed with aromas of fresh apricot and white blossoms. Sweet spices and grapefruit zest are sprinkled on the pure, honeyed palate of raisin and dried apricot, with piercing acidity (10.7g/l) as the spine, complex and extremely long.”

From the dark clay and mineral-dominant single vineyard, Royal Tokaji presents a refreshing Aszú with a distinctive dusty, herbal spices and sour dough nose, which opens up to yellow apple, apricot, lemon fruits and bee wax complexity. While residual sugar sits at 185.8 g/l, the sharp acidity (10.2g/l) gives the Betsek a refreshing thrust. Crunchy green apples, citrus and lemon zest are dusted with peppery spices on the palate, fresh and inviting.

The 2016 Betsek First Growth Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos contains the most residual sugar this vintage, at 185.8g/L. The clean, pure bouquet offers dried honey, a light adhesive note, lanolin and candle wax, very complex and mercurial in the glass. The elegant, well-balanced palate features apricot, quince, marmalade and a touch of ginger. What I adore is the manner in which this Betsek builds in the mouth and fans out like a great Tokaji ought to. Another outstanding single-vineyard offering from the Royal Tokaji Company.

The 2016 Mézes Mály Great First Growth Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos, which contains 180.9g/L residual sugar, is the one cuvée whose nose I could not quite work out at first. It needs a few minutes to really coalesce, eventually offering toffee apple, adhesive, lanolin and wood resin scents. Personally, I prefer the Betsek and then the Nyulászó on the nose. The harmonious palate is business as usual, featuring pure botrytized fruit, a superb bed of acidity, and orange peel, marmalade and a touch of lemon sherbet toward the persistent finish, where a welcome touch of bitterness lingers in the mouth.

The 2016 Gold Label Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos, which delivers 188g/L residual sugar, is slightly more limpid in the glass than the Blue Label. The aromatics are also a serious and tangible step up, with much more Aszú character coming through: dried honey, a light adhesive aroma, orange pith and quince explode from the glass. The palate is ripe and viscous on the entry, then very fine acidity imparts great tension, particularly toward the finish. There is an underlying salinity at play that keeps the saliva flowing, yet unlike some botrytized dessert wines, this does not feel heavy or cloying in

The 2016 Blue Label Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos, which contains 158g/L residual sugar, has an intense nose of dried honey, toffee apple, gingerbread, pumpkin and a touch of ripe canned peaches; I just would like a little more definition and focus. The palate is very well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, lightly spiced and showing a little more cohesion than the aromatics. I love the finish, which offers tangy Seville orange marmalade, quince and just a pinch of sea salt. I would give this a couple of years for the nose to coalesce.

The 2008 Tokaji Aszú Betsek 6-Puttonyos is another fabulous 2008 to add to the Royal Tokaji Company’s roster. The nose is as clean as a whistle: beautifully delineated with candied orange peel, honeysuckle and resinous scents, the latter becoming more accentuated with about 20 minutes aeration. The palate is underpinned by the razor-sharp acidity that lends this Tokaji so much freshness and vitality. It is a feisty little thing like the 2007, but the 2008 displays even better control and focus....

The 2007 Essencia is the fifth made in the modern era, and it continues to defy the definition of wine. It gloops onto the spoon, the best way to consume this astonishing elixir. The palate electrifies the senses with almost overwhelming sweetness of apricot, Japanese plum and marmalade, while the acidity miraculously keeps everything on an even keel – not easy to do with a payload of 560gm/L residual sugar! Profound and probably destined to last for eternity. You can even drive home afterwards thanks to the 1.65% alcohol. Tasted at a private dinner in Hong Kong.

Rather than an essence of fruit, this reads as the evocation of a place—a patch of black volcanic soil southeast of the Szt. Tamás vineyard. It’s incredibly savory for a wine with so much residual sugar, more pumpkin than peach in flavor with a dark, earthy smokiness. The broad beeswax texture and black pepper–cardamom spice place it with roast goose and spiced fruit stuffing.

The 2008 Tokaji Mézes Mály 6-Puttonyos has a seductive nose of unadulterated orange zest, mango and passion fruit aromas that display exquisite delineation. The viscous palate offers impressive balance and wonderful purity, and the judicious oxidative edge on the finish takes it up another level. Impressive.

Royal Tokaji focuses most of its energy on aszú wines—a sweet style on which the region has based its fame. However, they’ve been working on dry wines for more than a decade; their flagship dry bottling, now called The Oddity, is regularly one of the region’s best. This rarer bottling, from the iron rich Szt. Tamas vineyard, shows how well furmint can age when it’s grown and harvested carefully: It’s a riveting wine, the apple and peach notes full and firm, girded with an earthy, volcanic-rock warmth. It lasts, emanating a warm, lively energy, and was still going strong...

Bright orange-gold. Smells lighter and livelier than the Betsek, offering fruitier aromas of peach and apricot. Then fresh, high-pitched and tight on the palate, with lively acidity framing and lifting the flavors of orange zest, apricot and spices. Finishes youthful, silky and long. Like the Betsek, this is a blend of furmint, Hárslevelü and yellow Muscat.

An opulent version, featuring a thick texture moderated by vivid acidity. Powerful, showing drive to the apricot, peach, vanilla and butterscotch flavors. Well-balanced, with a long finish. 213 cases made.

This 100% Hungarian dry Furmint has aromas of white flowers, peach and ripe apricot. In the mouth, it is well balanced with flavors of peach, lemon zest and fresh apricot, and it has a crisp, pleasantly tart finish.