2005 Tokaji

2005 Royal Tokaji, Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos, Hungary

The second wine of our evening. King of wines, wine of kings. Right. Another sweet wine drunk far too young, but I was proving a point - sweet wines belong on the dinner table, with food. Simply relegating them with dessert does them a disservice...who wants to drink a sweet wine with a sweet dessert? The one that is less sweet will lose, horribly. With our Chinese cuisine, this wine married just beautifully.

Look at the colour - deep and luminous, shining and bright. The bouquet is just extraordinary, with ripe apricots singing on top of the most amazing rusticity. Just mushrooms and earth character - this is going to develop so well with some bottle age. The excitement follows on the palate, perfectly balanced, elements integrated, viscous and full with a lovely stream of acidity on the blooming finish. Supple and long, at once also being fresh and lively.

This is an extraordinary wine. With food, stunning. I think I proved my point.

DF