William Penn Life, 2017 (52. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2017-01-01 / 1. szám

{jgfjl Tibor s Take with Tibor Check, Jr.

The 25th year gift

JANUARY IS A COLD and snowy month for many of us. For those living north of the Mason-Dixon Line, the season can be a longer struggle. Living in DC, a citizen has to deal with lesser amounts of snow and prolonged cold temperatures compared to WPA members in the snow belt of the Great Lakes. Each winter season, the DC area gets four or five snow accumulations that merit shoveling or plowing. The temps generally hover 10 degrees above or below the freezing point. But sometimes, a cold, rainy day of 40 degrees can feel more frigid than a dry 20-degree day.

I learned early on that a nice glass of Tokaji Aszú offers a respite from winter's chill. I became familiar with this particular wine when the adults would enjoy a bottle or two at holiday celebrations at my nagyapa's. Their Tokaji preference was for either 4, 5 or 6 puttonyos. For those of you who may not know, Tokaji Aszú is one of the most celebrated sweet wines in the world. Puttony is a Hungarian term for a grape harvesting basket, which indicated the number of baskets of Aszú grapes used to make a particular barrel of wine. The term has come to indicate the level of sweetness in the wine, with 3 being the least sweet and 6 being very sweet. There are two categories above 6. Aszú Esszencia, which is sweeter yet, and the Holy Grail of all Tokaji, the Esszencia, made entirely from Aszú grapes.

Recently, I joined a wine tasting group that meets informally at either an upscale beverage shoppe or at the home of one of the participants. Each of us is responsible for bringing a bottle for sampling. There usually is a theme, and I try to bring something that comes from Hungary.

For Christmas, Monika and I decided to invite the group to our townhome, and since we were the

hosts, it was our prerogative to name the theme. I originally was going to have a Hungarian wine night but realized my wine-loving counterparts would have a difficult time finding a bottle from Magyarország, since I've learned that Hungarians greedily keep most of their bor (wine) for themselves.

So, we decided to host a "dessert wine night."

Our guests brought German, French and American varieties. There was sherry, sauternes, riesling, beerenauslese, ice wine and, of course, our Tokaji Aszú #6. We provided a variety of foods for pairing, such as Pick Salami, dobos törte, pogácsa, fresh pears and apples, chocolate and cheese.

As the night progressed, we shared our tasting notes, and one member asked me where I acquired the Tokaji and what it cost ($65). He was puzzled as to why the Aszú would be twice the price as the Niagara Ice Wine he had provided, especially since both are harvested in sub-freezing temperatures.

Essentially, ice wine comes from grapes that have sat on the vine and are only picked when the temperature has stayed below freezing for several days. Once harvested, the juice from the grapes is extracted by huge wine presses.

In comparison, Aszú is the result of fungus that invades the skin of the fruit causing the water inside to escape while the sugar remains. This natural occurring process is called "botrytis" or "noble rot" and is one of the most labor-intensive methods of winemaking. The amount of noble rot rendered each year is dependent upon many factors that are controlled by Mother Nature. Each individual grape is selected and hand picked. Oftentimes, only a few botrytised grapes are collected from an entire bunch.

The process only gets more complicated from that point on. I could write several more pages about the

Point to Ponder....

Hungarian television commercials are much different compared to those we see in the States. Over the years, the Zwack-Unicum family of distilleries has produced some iconic spots offering an eclectic repertoire of messages that essentially sell ideas and not their products. The ads have addressed a full spectrum of subjects: some have been funny while others have been sad, sentimental or even patriotic. Many of these messages have been archived for viewing via YouTube.

For the 2016 Christmas season, a special family-oriented commercial aired and found immediate international popularity. When watching it for the first time, you will not know it is a Zwack production until the very end as there are no spoken words, just pleasant background music. I suggest a Google search to watch this fantastic message of multiple generations sharing a special Christmas moment. Scroll down the list of various websites until the YouTube address is found, as there are many European sites offering web-surfers the same commercial, but the download time is much longer. - Tibor

6 0 January 2017 0 WILLIAM PENN LIFE