ACCOMPLISH MAGAZINE AUGUST 2023

FOOD & WINE
World’s Most
Expensive Wine
S
ure, good wine
comes at a price,
but $40,000 seems
pretty expensive.
However, Hungarian
winemaker, Royal
Tokaji, says their limited-edition
2008 Essencia Decanter is worth it.
Only 20 examples of this unique
1.5 litre magnum designed by
Hungarian artist, James Carcass,
exist, 18 of which were released
last year.
Essencia 2008 Magnum was
described at launch as “the most
expensive wine in the world”,
and while that claim is difficult
to quantify, the Essencia 2008
Magnum was definitely the most
expensive wine sold in 2019. Each
carafe comes in a black box with a
switch that lights up the bottle and
is specially mouth blown, meaning
no two are the same. Around 11
bottles of have already been sold,
so it is likely that Royal Tokaji will
sell the remaining 7 bottles before
the 2300 wine’s expiry date.
The dessert wines produced
here rely on the botrytis cinerea
mold known as “noble rot”, which
causes the grapes on the vine to
dry out and shrivel up, looking like
brown raisins.
Essencia uses only the best aszú
grapes and is made entirely from
the juice of the aszú berries (other
wines produced in the region have
base wine added to dilute their
sweetness). Tourists can arrange
a private tour of the winery, about
a two-and-a-half-hour drive from
Budapest, to taste it.
“Essencia in itself is a miracle
of nature,” says London-based
Hungarian wine expert Orsi
Szentkiralyi. “It was very labourintensive
and required years of
painstaking work in the cellar…
It has only a few degrees of
alcohol but lots and lots of natural
sweetness. It is so rich that it is
usually served on a spoon rather
than a glass.”
Essencia can only be produced
in years when the climatic
conditions for Botrytis are more
or less perfect. 2008 was a
particularly impressive year. A
bottle of centilitre wine requires
around 20 kilogrammes of grapes
reduced to aszú berries, usually
with an alcohol content of around
3%.
“When we bottle Essencia,
the winemaker always makes the
decision,” says Zoltan Kovacs,
general manager of Royal Tokaj
Winery in the Tokaj district of
Mád… It can take three years,
four years or even after 10 years.
This [2008] Essencia was bottled
after eight years of ageing. This
is a somewhat unusual type
of Essencia, as it has a higher
alcohol content – around 4%.” This
produces a clear and extremely
intense aroma with hints of honey,
apricot and tea, almost unbearably
sweet.
The liquid is so viscous and syrupy
that it is usually drunk by the
spoonful. It’s so mouth-watering
that it’s hard to imagine taking a
few more sips without feeling light-
54
Accomplish Magazine