Winemaker Notes

Essencia is the world’s most concentrated essence of its ripest grapes, it is the ’liquid gold’ that very slowly oozes from a pile of aszú grapes raisined by botrytis and climatic conditions.

In 2016 we had a mild and dry winter with no serious frosts. This was followed by a long spring, with lovely, warm days but cool, almost chilly nights. The flowering season was unusually long resulting in uneven fruit set in many vineyards and across all grape varieties. From the middle of August, the botrytis began to spread all over the region and highly affected the grapes. By summer time we were quietly confident of an ideal harvest, straightforward with high quality – but July and August brought intermittent rain and hail, reducing the crop and encouraging botrytis.

Pairing Notes