Edes Harmas Late Harvest Tokaji Attila Homonna 2017 500ml 2017

Edes Harmas Late Harvest Tokaji Attila Homonna, 500ml bottle, Natural Dessert Wine, classic Hungarian varieties, Furmint, Harslevelu, sweet, unctuous but in no way cloying, delicate floral aromas with mature stone fruits, superb balance, beautiful. This stunning late harvest wine is Attila’s only sweet wine, he chooses not to make a Royal Tokaj with Puttunyos although he could, instead focusing most of his tiny production on dry versions of the classic grape varieties. But his late harvest wine is by no means an after thought. Superb sweet stones fruits, floral aromas, orange marmalade and more come through on the nose. The palate is sublime, medium bodied, not a sledge hammer dessert wine at all, it would work well with quite light fruit based desserts but also blue cheeses. Don’t think that Tokaj is all about Puttunyos, in fact often the best value is from the lesser known late harvest sweet wines, many of which have added complexity from Botrytis on the berries.

The Tokaj wine region situated on the northeastern part of Hungary at the south – southeastern foothills of the Zemplén Mountain.

This 500-700 m high mountain range protects the vineyards from the cold northern wind, while they are directly exposed to the south, where the great plain starts and gives way to the warm continental air flow. River Bodrog and Hernád are also playing a major climatic role by providing a good balancing effect. The soils are made up of various types of volcanic origin with loess and clay mixed in. Attila Homonna started his tiny wine farm in 1999 in the classic region in Hungary for Furmint and Harslevelu, Tokaj. His three hectares of vines lie in the best sites around the villages of Erdobenye and Olasziszka and are all farmed organically. He specifically searched for old vineyards which were planted with the old clones of Furmint and Hárslevelű. These vines are around 40 - 50 years old and produce small and loose berried bunches which are capable of delivering good complexity and an intense taste. Unlike most producers in the region, Attila focuses on dry wines from Furmint and can be considered one of the best exponents. His wines have weight but finesse, combine minerality, acidity and backbone with depth and body, particularly evident as the wines age.