Royal Tokaji

Tokaj, Hungary

Royal Tokaji was established in 1990, when a group of vineyard owners and the wine writer Hugh Johnson formed an alliance and began the painstaking work of restoring Tokaj and the vineyards to their formal, regal glory.

During the communist era, the vineyard lands were confiscated by the government and formed into communist cooperatives focused on maximizing quantity, not quality. The post -communism restoration work has taken decades but the ensuing results have allowed the chance to rediscover a historic wine celebrated by kings with a legacy that goes back much further than Bordeaux or Burgundy.

Royal Tokaji has quickly become one of the most important wineries in Tokaj. From the outset, they focused on producing single vineyard wines, made from the first growth vineyards of Mezes Maly, Nyulaszo, St Tamas and Betsek. Rich, complex and sumptuous, Hugh famously described Tokaj as "a wine that would make angels sing out loud in praise".

Today, the winery's focus is on the region's dry styles as much as sweet, using indigenous variety Furmint to create these finely balanced wines. Just like their sweet counterparts, the dry wines have a crisp acidity, complexity and a long finish.