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Wine Tasting Adventure

2018 Dobogó, Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos - Liberty

£49.99 GBP
£49.99 GBP

Dobogó is a small, family-run winery comprising five hectares of vineyards in the heart of Tokaj, near the famous village of Mád. The winery is owned by Izabella Zwack and winemaker Attila Domokos, who share a vision for creating fresh, vibrant, exciting expressions of Tokaji, both in the ‘aszú’ and drier styles, while remaining faithful to Tokaj’s historic reputation for excellence.

Their vineyards, planted with Furmint, Hárslevelű and Muscat Lunel on soils of volcanic origin, are farmed with biodynamic principles. Spur pruning is also used to restrict yields. Dobogó’s different vineyard sites, including the 30-year-old Betsek and Szent Tamás vineyards, are all classified as ‘First Growth’.

Dobogó are best known for their botrytised Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos and ‘Mylitta’ Noble Late Harvest, a younger, vibrant wine with around 120 grammes per litre residual sugar. Their dry Furmint is extraordinarily expressive and offers a superb value alternative to white Burgundy. It is defined by notes of peach and pear fruit, with a solid backbone of acidity. `Úrágya` is a single-vineyard dry Furmint sourced from vines planted in the early 2000s. It is only made in the very best vintages, revealing the superb potential of the grape. Aged for 10-12 months in 300-litre Hungarian oak casks (50% new), the resulting wine is richly textured with alluring smoky mineral and vanilla notes, complemented by pear and nectarine aromas.

Dobogó only produce 6 Puttonyos Tokaj Aszú in the best vintages. Tokaj Aszú is made from grapes affected by "noble rot", a form of botrytis which dehydrates the grapes and concentrates the sugars, aromas and acidity. The grapes are grown in the 31 year old Dobogó Pincészet, First-Growth vineyards in the volcanic subregion of Mád and Tállya. The vineyards are planted with 60% Furmint, 30% Hárslevelu and 10% Muscat Lunel.

After a cool spring, the summer months were temperate and balanced with a sufficient quantity of rainfall, creating the perfect environment for botrytis to develop in the vineyard. A long, warm autumn allowed for a high quality and quantity of Aszú berries at harvest.

The Aszú grapes were carefully hand-picked in stages, exclusively selecting grapes of the highest quality. On arrival at the winery, the berries were transferred to a sweet base wine for one night to macerate, in a ratio of one kilogram of Aszú grapes to one litre of base wine. Following the fermentation process, the Aszú berries were pressed and the wine was then transferred to large oak barrels for up to three years prior to bottling. Once bottled, the wine spent a further three years in Dobogó’s cellar before release.

This Tokaji is deep gold in colour and wonderfully expressive on the nose with notes of dates, mangoes and apricots. On the palate, there are flavours of grapefruit and honey with a great mineral acidity balancing the intense sweetness. A truly superb example of why Tokaj is one of the world's great sweet wines.