With a sister and brother-in-law living in Budapest, we have a natural love of all things Hungarian….even Unicom, the herbal bitters.  More recently we have discovered Royal Tokaji, a wonderful dessert wine that goes equally well with foie and cheese.

We were amazed to discover that the Royal Tokaji vineyard (as a label) has only been around since the early 90’s.  Its roots are firmly set in the traditions of the Tokaji region, an area of Hungary that borders Slovakia.

The Aszú is the famous sweet caramel colored wine that we will now know as Tokaji.  The original meaning of the word Aszú is dried.  This is associated with grapes that are left to wither on the vine much like the French sweet wine production.

This wine needs to be served very cold- and whilst it has a wonderful smooth flavor (as well as an almost syrupy coating to the palate), it had some subtle vanilla citrus notes that made it the perfect accompaniment to both our cheese plate and the sweet dessert we were serving.  It has a very low alcohol content (compared to many wines), but it should not be missed.