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Chateau Pajzos, Tokaji Essencia, 1999 (100ml)

Dessert Wine from Other Hungary, Hungary
$425.00
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Eszencia is the wine Tokaj keeps for itself: the juice that trickles out of botrytis-shriveled berries under nothing but their own weight, with no press involved. This one is a 1999, so it already has a quarter-century of age behind it. The house makes Esszencia only in its very best vintages, and 1999 was one of them. Pajzos-brand wines come from the Pajzos Vineyard in the Zemplén Hills, a slope facing south-southwest at around 200 metres on volcanic andesite tuff. The Zsadány stream on one side and an oak forest on the other bring the autumn humidity that noble rot needs. (A bit of trivia for the table: "pajzs" is Hungarian for shield, a nod to the coat of arms of the vineyard's aristocratic owners.) It's less a glass of wine than a spoonful of something extraordinary: pour small, share it around and take your time.

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Robert Parker

100 points

"The 1999 Tokaji Esszencia was eked out without press over three weeks from aszu berries and aged for two years in Hungarian oak. Bottled in 375 and 500ml, it has a bouquet that rivets you to the spot: marmalade and dried quince, then nutmeg, beeswax and even a scent of hickory. It is very mercurial in the glass. Coming back, there is a touch of fresh rose petals and lavender. The palate is incredibly intense, and it is not the sweetness here that is striking, a modest 460 grams per liter, but the acidity – 19.9 grams per liter. Therefore, it is incredibly fresh and vigorous, almost so that you do not notice that enormous amount of residual slipping down the throat and threatening to overload the senses. It takes some getting used to, but strangely, once inured to that acidity, then it becomes a much easier Esszencia to imbibe. Circa the year 2250, when Earth is a nuclear wasteland, a bottle of the Pajzos 1999 Esszencia will be unearthed and this fabled Tokaji will intoxicate them as much as it did me in a long-forgotten age. You won’t taste anything quite like it all year." —Neal Martin

More about Chateau Pajzos

Château Pajzos was one of the ventures that put Tokaj back on the world's fine-wine map after the fall of communism, and its Eszencia from the early 1990s became one of the most celebrated sweet wines of the modern era.

The estate takes its name from the Pajzos vineyard near Sárospatak, at the northern end of the Tokaj region. In the early 1990s a French investment group led by Jean-Louis Laborde, later the owner of Château Clinet in Pomerol, acquired the vineyard and founded the Pajzos company in 1992, alongside the neighboring Megyer estate, which made more everyday wines; Laborde eventually merged the two. Pajzos has changed hands since, but the focus on Tokaj's classic sweet wines has stayed.

The vineyards are planted mainly to Furmint and Hárslevelű, with some Muscat. The range covers the full Tokaj spectrum, from dry Furmint and late-harvest wines to Szamorodni and Aszú, the wine made by adding botrytis-shriveled berries to a base wine, and at the top, Eszencia: the syrupy free-run juice of those berries, which ferments for years to only a few degrees of alcohol. Expect wines of enormous sweetness lifted by Tokaj's piercing acidity, and almost limitless ageing potential. Serve the Eszencia in very small pours.

Wine Details

  • Grape Variety

    Furmint

  • Vintage

    1999

  • Size

    375ml

  • Style

    Crisp

  • Sweetness

    Sweet

  • Body

    Full Bodied

Flatiron's Take

From the Importer

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Tasting Notes & Food Pairings

Perfect Pairings

Best on its own, sipped a spoonful at a time after dinner. If you want food with it, try seared foie gras, Roquefort or Stilton, a plain apricot or quince tart, or Hungarian walnut pastries like Gerbeaud slice.

Tasting Profile

Expect the most concentrated style Tokaj makes: apricot, orange marmalade, honey and quince, deepening toward caramel, dried fig and tea with age. Typically thick and syrupy, almost spoonable, yet Furmint's piercing acidity keeps it vivid rather than cloying. Think of the richest Sauternes made far denser and sweeter, with a finish that lasts for minutes.

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