Tokaji Oremus Aszú 3 Puttonyos 2022

Oremus sits in Tokaj-Hegyalja in north-east Hungary, founded in 1993 by the Alvarez family of Vega Sicilia to restore one of the world's historic sweet-wine regions. The wine is made mainly from Furmint with Harslevelu, Sargamuskotaly and Zeta, grown on the volcanic and loess soils of the appellation. Autumn mists rising off the Bodrog and Tisza rivers encourage Botrytis cinerea, the noble rot that shrivels the grapes and concentrates their sugar and acid. These botrytised aszu berries are picked individually by hand and added to a base wine, the 3 puttonyos measure indicating the level of sweetness. Fermentation is slow because the high sugar stresses the yeast, leaving a sweet wine with the bracing acidity Furmint is known for. It then ages 36 months in traditional Goent and Szerednye oak casks followed by 24 months in bottle, the slow oxidative maturation building dried fruit and marmalade complexity. The colour is deep gold. The nose offers apricot, orange marmalade, honey and beeswax, with palate sweetness held in tension by sharp acidity through a long finish. Serve chilled, around 10 degrees. It suits apricot tart, fruit cake and a wedge of Roquefort.