2009 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Tokaji Essencia

BY NEAL MARTIN | AUGUST 15, 2022

Hail, hail the wonderment of Essencia! Drop-by-drop, by mere pressure of gravity alone upon heavily-botrytised aszú grapes, a dribble of ultra-sweet, unctuous nectar so extreme that it challenges the definition of wine ekes out. Despite the absurd level of sugar (details below), the wine dances on the tongue thanks to its phenomenally high acidity: a pachyderm pirouetting on a high wire. The Royal Tokaji Company is soon releasing their 2009 Tokaji Essencia. It is the company’s eighth release, following in the footsteps of 1993, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2008. This bottle of Essencia was tasted over a 48-hour period. In fact, it went on a “mini-tour” so that I could share it with anyone I encountered in that period: my brother in Chiswick and my cousin down in Brighton, my next-door-neighbour and a dozen or so attendees at a La Paulée-style Burgundy lunch. One confessed that they thought they would never have the chance to taste this fabled wine.