WTN - 1995 Megyer Tokaji: Then and Now

I thought I was out of this, but I happened upon one more bottle. It was showing much better this time, and was really a great wine, one of the best I've had for a while. First the original, then the new note:

1995 Chateau Megyer Tokaji Aszú 4 Puttonyos - Hungary, Hegyalja, Tokaji (12/29/2006)
Hazy notes. This was my last bottle of a great QPR Tokaji. Lovely thick texture, but well balanced on the M-F bodied palate. Lots of things going on here, with tropical fruit notes, tobacco, and limes. Should last a while yet. (A-)

1995 Chateau Megyer Tokaji Aszú 4 Puttonyos - Hungary, Hegyalja, Tokaji (4/22/2007)
I discovered one more bottle in my celler. Copper and orange in colour, with a fascinating nose of limes, orange, honey, herbs and tobacco. No hint of oxidation: very rich and creamy on the full bodied, smooth palate. Tastes almost like a orange creamsicle dipped in honey, with some freshly sqeeezed lime dripped on top. Quite a lovely wine, powerful, yet beautifully balanced and complex. Even better, this modern styled Tokaji was a great QPR. Outstanding wine! (A)

Hi John,
Just this last Saturday my wine group did a Hungarian wine tasting. The host and speaker gave a great presentation on the history of winemaking in the region, and the methods and techniques used to produce Tokaji. Being an amateur winemaking the process used to produce the sweet wines the region is famous for intrigued me.
A Tokaji Aszu 4 puttonyos wine
100,000 grams of Tokaji Aszu-paste added to 136 Liters of Tokaji base wine, that’s like adding 735.3 grams of sugar per liter of base wine. Surely as the Tokaji Aszu-paste is added to the base wine a “second” fermentation commences but depending upon the alcohol percentage of the base wine, a large amount of the sugar in the Tokaji Aszu-paste remains unfermented.

Salute

Megyer is one of the best values in Tokaji. They consistently make great wine (and are somehow tied to Chateau Clinet in Bordeaux). I think though, that the math is off a bit. Each Puttony is equal to 20-25 kg of paste added to 136 liters (1 gonci) of base wine. The strength of the base wine combined with the sweetness of the grapes used to make the paste varies from year to year, but the minimum legal sugar in grams per litre for 4 puttonyos is 90. 735.3 grams of sugar/litre couldn't be reached. Even Esszencia (NOTE: NOT Aszu Esszencia, which is 7-12 puttonyos and at minimum 180 g/l) is around 250 g/l. A large amount of sugar in many Aszu wines is never fermented, even after decades.

Thanks for the clarification Bill. So the 20 to 25 Kg does not represent the actual weight of the Tokaij Aszu-paste but the weight of the grapes (skins, pits, sugar, and whatever little water remains) picked berry by berry (effected by noble rot) which is used to produce the paste. This makes much more sense.

Salute