Summer 2013, World of Fine Wine Magazine, #40
Our Alana-Tokaj Aszúeszencia 2006 received the highest averaged score and the highest absolute score in the entire Tokaji tasting by World of Fine Wine Magazine! The tasting panel reviewed top Tokaji releases from the last 15 years, including all of the top producers.
Mark Savage MW, 19 of 20 points, the highest absolute score in the tasting:
"… Lovely freshness in the fruit and extreme originality. Concentration of both flavor and acidity combine for an original and remarkable result."
Andrew Jefford, 17 points:
"Rich gold in color. Delicate, refined, elegant; lots of fine, light leafy notes—the forest in spring rather than in autumn … Poised and pristine, promising great things. Lusciously sweet and elegant, with great intensity and length, depth and finesse. The orchard fruits are now decked out with slightly more luscious, fresher summer fruits: rich peach and nectarine, pineapple and yellow plum. Despite its amplitude, a very fresh finish. Graceful and enchanting, though one for the cellar rather than the table just now."
Our Alana-Tokaj Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2005 received 18 points, the second highest score by Andrew Jefford at the tasting:
"Deep, full, burnished gold. This is another wine in which a little Muscat seems to play an aromatic role: it’s tangy and citrusy, with a little lupin, lavender, and broom flower in it. The longer the wine sits in the glass, the more forthcoming this floral spectrum of aromas seems to be. On the palate, this is very concentrated and dense, with a splendid spectrum of fruit and flower notes: russet apple, Cox’s orange Pippin, lemon, pineapple, peach, and more of that faint lavender and broom, too.
Stunningly fruity, ripe acidity; great elegance and finesse; a remarkably pure, pristine, and finely detailed Tokaji. There are hours of meditative discussion for Tokaji-philes here, and it’s another wine that, I admit, I am taking a little surreptitious sip of as I taste!"