Wine · Terminology

Aszú

Hungary's great sweet wine — botrytised berries kneaded into a base wine and measured in puttonyos.

Aszú is the sweet wine of Tokaj in north-east Hungary, and one of the oldest classified wine styles in the world — its vineyards were ranked in 1737, well before Bordeaux's.

Its method is unique. Botrytised berries (aszú berries) are picked individually, mashed into a paste, and added to a base wine or must made from healthy grapes of the same vintage. The mixture macerates for a day or two, is pressed, and then ferments slowly and ages in cask. The result is deep amber, viscous, and built on Furmint's ferocious acidity.

In practice

  • Grapes: Furmint, Hárslevelű, Sárga Muskotály and a few others.
  • Sweetness was historically measured in puttonyos — the 25 kg hods of aszú berries added per barrel (136 L gönci).
  • Since the 2013 vintage, the legal minimum is 120 g/L residual sugar (formerly 5 puttonyos); labels below 5 puttonyos were abolished.
  • Minimum ageing is 18 months in oak, and most producers go far longer.

Where you'll meet it

The Tokaj family

Wine What it is
Tokaji Aszú Aszú-berry paste macerated into base wine; 120 g/L+ sugar; 18 months oak
Eszencia Free-run juice from the aszú berries alone; 450 g/L+ sugar; barely ferments
Szamorodni Whole bunches, botrytised and healthy together — édes (sweet) or száraz (dry, flor-aged)
Fordítás / Máslás Wines made by re-macerating or re-fermenting aszú pressings — increasingly rare
Dry Furmint The region's modern success story: mineral, high-acid, unsweetened

Why the acidity matters

Furmint retains extraordinary acidity even at extreme ripeness, which is what lets Aszú carry 150–200 g/L of sugar without cloying. The classic profile — dried apricot, orange marmalade, honey, walnut and a saline, almost savoury finish — is a direct product of that tension, plus long oxidative cask ageing.

Great Aszú is effectively immortal. Bottles from the 19th century are still traded and still drinkable.

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