Tokaji Aszú
(Outstanding)
A light white wine from
Tokaj PDO
Summary
Extremely low yields of hand-harvested (via successive passes/tries) and both heavily sorted and heavily botrytis affected (aszu) grapes are used in a maceration, rather than a direct fermentation due to their extremely high sugar concentration.
- Producers select a base for the maceration. This can be grape must made of crushed healthier fruit, which will be fermented later. It can also be a finished wine; in which case the alcohol helps extract more aromas and flavors. Finally, the base can be actively fermenting must, where the heat, motion and increasing alcohol provide the most extracted style.
- Similarly, producers may choose to crush the aszu berries, which leads to easier extraction but increases the risk of any bitterness from damaged seeds, or the grapes may be kept whole but will required more agitation. In either case these berries will be macerated for up to 60 hours in a base.
- After draining and pressing, fermentation will begin or continue (if based on must) using cultured yeast, for reliability due to the high sugar concentration, in neutral vessels (stainless steel or large oak). Fermentation may cease due to high alcohol levels or may be stopped via chilling, racking and filtering. Wines will be matured at least 18 months in oak, before bottling in 500mL bottles.