This year's 'great Tokaj wine auction' fetched 68,000 euros and proved a showcase for the emerging trend towards dry white wines in the region.
Over 80 % of the wines offered at the great Tokaj wine auction were sold, bringing the total to €68,000 for the event, held by the Confrérie de Tokaj in the city of Tokaj, north-east Hungary, on 23 April.
This year’s sale was marked for the increased presence of dry wines in a traditional sweet wine region.
The 2015 Tokaj vintage was outstanding for dry wines and allowed the 19 producers to offer 14 lots out of 27 of single vineyards, all sold and showing the potential of the volcanic terroir, according to critics.
Sweet wine production has been in decline in recent years. Since 2008, only the 2013 harvest gave botrytis grapes in generous quantity.
Most of the Tokaj auction wines were sold in barrels – or half barrels – and a blind tasting gives the opportunity to judge before bidding. This year, for the first time, some bottle lots from earlier vintages were also offered.
Manuel Peyrondet, best sommelier of France 2008, was the biggest buyer with four lots – equivalent to 800 bottles – and including wines from three dry, single vineyards from Mád, and a 2013 Aszú Collection from Disznókő.
These wines will be offered to the members of his wine club, Chais d’Oeuvre, created in Paris in 2012 and shortly due to open in London.
The auction also included a charity lot, a selection of 14 Tokaji Aszú wines offered by the Mád Circle producers for the benefit of Grgic Vina, a Croatian winery which was devastated by fire in 2015.
The next great Tokaj wine auction will be held on 22 April 2017.
