One of the benefits of working at a fine dining restaurant is the opportunity to taste some of the greatest wines in the world. Granted, not every guest is willing to share that $1100 bottle of La Tâche with you, but occasionally they do want to share in the joy of fabulous wine. Last week we got a chance to try Royal Tokaji Essencia 2003. It comes in a neat wooden box with this shiny golden label – a prelude to the precious golden nectar that is hiding inside. The box contains the bottle and a crystal spoon, which they used back in the 18th and 19th century to sip from this delicate wine. The Essencia 2003 comes with a price tag of $699 (retail) for a 375ml bottle. Nevertheless (or maybe because of this…) it has sold out everywhere.

Essencia is the richest and rarest of all Hungarian Tokaji wines. Grapes are left on the vine to dry them out in order to concentrate all the sugars. This is why Tokaji Aszu is called a late harvest wine. In addition, this creates the opportunity to become infected with botrytis cinerea, the so called noble rot, which adds an unparalleled complexity and nuttiness to the final wine. The juice from these grapes are left from 6 to 8 years to complete their fermentation to less than 3% alcohol. The sugar must is so concentrated that Essencia can reach up to 85% residual sugar!