Although beside the best-known Tokaj Aszú wines there are also decent late harvest wines, ice wines and even so called winter harvest wines (which were harvested late, during the winter actually but not entirely fulfilling the late harvest nor the ice wine criteria) their number and acceptance is still relatively low and mostly limited to smaller quantities in the Tokaj region. It’s a pitty because they’re often more affordable alternatives to the Aszú wines and I believe that a dessert wine is just as good (or often much better) as a nice cake or ice-cream to end a meal. Moreover, most late harvest wines are much better than a 3-Puttonyos Aszú from the same price range, especially compared to those marketed aggressively in most supermarkets this season of the year.
I hate it when people stand up aggressively for their belief concerning wine, I actually don’t like to talk about wine with people at all but when I occasionally do I tend to fight the preconception of sweet wines must be necessarily rubbish or made for girls (as it’s seen by many in a wine-culturally underdeveloped country like ours).
Some (of the best) wineries don’t make Aszú wines at all in years when the circumstances aren’t ideal and it’s a great buy opportunity since they’re clearing their stock from last year’s late harvest wines to make room for the even larger quantity of the given year. This is how I paid around EUR3 for this Dessewffy Furmint-Hárslevelű late harvest 2005.
Pale yellow with greenish reflections. The nose is frst full of apple compote and notes of ripe tropical fruits but later becomes almost entirely dominated by pineapple. The same aromas carry on through to the palate where they’re supported by abundant, lively acidity which is accentuated at the finish granting very good length to the wine. It’s fresh, relatively light with pineapple-citrus dominance and hints of apple compote and melon and a medicine undertone. You completely forget it’s made of Furmint and Hárslevelű. It’s just a bowl of fruit salade.
Score: 4+, 5-
