My eldest daughter turned 18 yesterday. After a rather involved process of assigning weights to different aspect of our favorite restaurants (location, price, food service, ambience, corkage etc.) we finally settled on Lemuria for the family dinner. There will be other celebrations later in the week for her friends. We had some good wines such as a Schloss Lieser Riesling Kabinett 2009, a Chilean red called Calicanto, and a Dr. Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Kabinett 2009 but undoubtedly the star wine of the night was the Chateau Pajzos Tokaji Esszencia 1993, same vintage as my daughter.
Clear shining bronze. Honestly, the nose wasn't all that complex. I suppose the volatile aromas had a hard time escaping from the viscous fluid, especially since the alcohol was only 4.5%. There was a general organic, faintly forest floor aroma but other than that not much else. I was really the only wine geek at the table but everyone said it looked and flowed like maple syrup. Exceedingly sweet and honeyed but with a streak of acidity a mile wide. It was remarkably fresh and in perfect balance. For all intents and purposes it was more of a concentrated grape syrup I suppose than a wine as the alcohol was virtually impossible to detect. Incredibly rich, mouthfilling and viscous with an oily texture. The wine was bursting with flavors. On the complexity scale, this went to 11or even 12. Caramel, smoke, honey, raisins, apricots, candied orange peel, marmalade, candied pineapple, sweet spices and so much more I can't even begin to describe. This was so intense it easily overpowered the bitterness of my espresso. The length is just incredible. After the 1888 Para Port, easily my most incredible wine experience.
I had a 500 ml bottle and I was afraid we wouldn't have enough for the 14 people at the table. I insisted on doing the pouring myself to control the portions. In fact, it was more than enough and even the smallest sip was enough to give you everything the wine had to offer. I even gave a glass to Marina, the restaurant owner and left a glass for her husband Klaus as well and still had enough left over for maybe 6 glasses. I took home the remainder to enjoy over the next few days.
I also brought a single cask Dalmore Single Malt Whisly vintage 1993 but after the Tokaji, we decided to crack the whisky another time.