Wineshark Wine Tasting - Chateau Pajzos

The fall of the communist regime in Hungary had awaken the interest of the great wines of Tokaji. In 1991 a joint venture was formed between Jean-Louis Laborde, Jean-Michel Arcaute and famous winemaking consultant Michel Rolland, aiming to use modern winemaking technology with the traditional methods to recreate the legendary Tokaji of the past, hence establishing Chateau Pajzos.

Jean-Michel was then director of a few estates like Chateau Clinet, La Croix du Casse and Beau Soleil in Pomerol, and Jonqueyres in Bordeaux, as well as the renowned wine merchant GAM AUDY. Jean-Louis, the other major investor, is the current owner, but was in the background only until 1997. He acquired Chateau Clinet in 1998 and then the Megyer Winery / Pinceszet from GAM, before in 2000 securing 100% ownership of Megyer and majority share of Pajzos.

To understand the wines of Chateau Pajzos one must have some knowledge of the Tokaj region. In fact, it was the first denominated wine region in the world, declared in 1737. The area was named a UNESCO World Heritage since 2002, with a total area of 6202 hectares, lying in the north-eastern part of Hungary. The traditional grapes grown are Furmint, Harslevelu, Sargamuskotaly, Koverszolo, Zeta and Kabar, which are also the only varieties allowed in the wines designated Tokaji.

With the grape varieties having a great acid-sugar balance, the region also provides the optimal natural environment for sweet wine production, having the hills and rivers to create high humidity for the development of Botrytis cinerea. The volcanic soils and the process of ageing in local oak further provide the distinctive aromas to the wines.

In the 16^th century the Tokaji wines had become the favour of the royal Hungarian court, and later on entered the dining rooms of many ruling families of Europe. There was once a saying that Louis XIV regarded it as ‘king of wines’.

There are several different wine styles, with the dry wines made from pressing of destemmed clusters of healthy, perfectly ripe or shrivelled berries with or without skin contact depending on the winemaker, and then aged in stainless steel or for up to several years in oak barrels.

The late harvest wines include normal and botrytized (aszu) berries pressed together, and then ferment in stainless steel, followed by ageing of several months in steel or oak. A special type called Szamorodni are made from clusters containing botrytized berries without individually selecting the aszu ones, pressed all berries together and matured in oak barrel for at least one year and another year in bottle before release.

The Aszu wines are made by soaking the individually and hand-picked aszu berries in high extract base wine or must for 12 to 36 hours, and then aged for at least three years before sale. Before 2013 it must be barrel-aged for two years and in bottle for one, but since 2013 the split is half and half between barrel and bottle.

If you wonder what the Puttonyos number mean, traditionally it refers to the number of basket (called ‘puttony’) of aszu berries added to one Gonci barrel to make the wine. The number (3 to 6) nowadays denotes the sugar content of the wine, that can be between 60-180 g/l. Aszu esszencia is the equivalent of a wine with sugar higher than 6 puttonyos, or 180 g/l.

The pinnacle is Esszencia which are only made in the best vintage, with the aszu berries resting in vats, allowing the pure juice to be pressed only from the weight of the berries themselves (free-run juice). This is certainly the most exclusive product of the Tokaji region, with minimal alcohol and several hundred grams of sugar per litre.  

Currently Chateau Pajzos has 87 hectares of vineyards of which 54 are producing. The majority of Harslevelu was planted in the 1970s, and there are recent replanting taking place between 2000 to 2004, and these were brought into harvests beginning 2007.

More details of this exceptional 1993 Chateau Pajzos Esszencia: it is the first Esszencia to be made in the world since 1947, and the time needed to extract the free-run juice alone had taken more than three years, before the juice was fermented and matured separately (60% stainless steel and 40% oak barrels) for four years, then blended and bottled. The sugar content was at an unbelievable 565 g/l, much higher than that of a German TBA!  

And because only the aszu berries are used to make this wine, the yield is very low, with the best vintage a hectare can produce at most 100-300 kg of aszu berries only. For example, in the 1993 vintage there were about 2500 litre made, equivalent to 5000 bottles of 500ml. No wonder the price for each bottle was very high.

The wine is deep brown in colour, very thick and having a syrupy texture upon pouring. The nose is phenomenal, with amazing intensity and complexity, showing notes of lemon and orange peel, raisin and fig, cooked pineapple, apricot, coffee, caramel and toffee. Sipping it brought an electrifying sensation to the palate, with the high acidity balancing perfectly the extreme sweetness on a coating mouthfeel. The intense flavours continue to permeate the mouth for a long while after swallowing. Even though the wine is already 25 years old, there is still freshness and good vibrancy, which can easily continue to be aged for 20-30 years and beyond.