Erzsébet Pince

At A Glance

Field: Detail
Home: Tokaj
Focus: Single vineyard dry wines and Tokaji Aszú
Main grapes: Furmint and Hárslevelű
Signature wines: Estate Furmint, Király dűlő and Zafír Dűlő
Defining feature: Small lot wines from low yielding vineyards using sustainable and organic viticultural practices

The Producer

At Bem út 16 in Tokaj, Erzsébet Pince is a family winery founded by Erzsébet Prácser, whom the estate describes as one of Tokaj's first female winemakers. In 1989, Erzsébet and her husband bought a cellar on Bem Street in the historic centre of Tokaj to establish their family business.

The Prácser family, father, mother, daughter and son, runs the estate, which produces around 1,000 cases annually. Its first bottled vintage was 1993. Miklós Prácser Junior has been the winemaker since 2008, after studying viticulture and winemaking at the University of Mosonmagyaróvár and working in the United States, Argentina and Holland.

The wines are made in small lots from low yielding vineyards. The house focuses on single vineyard dry wines and Tokaji Aszú, Tokaj's classic natural botrytis wine.

Place

The vineyards lie across the communes of Tokaj, Tarcal, Bodrogkeresztúr and Mád, with Tokaj's indigenous grape varieties planted in several crus. The range therefore draws from more than one local vineyard area while remaining within the Tokaj landscape.

Király is a south and southwest facing Mád grand cru planted to Furmint. A grand cru is a classified vineyard site, so Király names a particular place on the bottle rather than a broad commune blend. The wine made from it is a single vineyard dry wine.

Wines

Estate Furmint is the broad dry white of the range, made from Furmint grown in several vineyards. It is 100% Furmint, with 7.6 g/l residual sugar, 7.2 g/l titratable acidity and 13% alcohol. The wine ferments in barrel and receives six to eight months of barrel ageing. The producer describes it as a rich Tokaj dry Furmint with marked character. Estate Furmint 2018 showed ripe fruit, light floral aromas, medium fullness, some fatness, minerality and length.

The named vineyard wines narrow the address. Király dűlő is a single vineyard dry wine from 100% Furmint, with strong acidity, low pH and pronounced minerality. Zafír Dűlő 2020 is a dry Tokaj white composed of 90% Furmint and 10% Hárslevelű. It has sweet spice and honey aromas, a full harmonious aromatic palate and a sour note on the finish.

Tokaji Aszú remains part of the house focus alongside the dry wines, giving the range both single vineyard whites and Tokaj's classic botrytised style.

Final Word

Erzsébet Pince combines family winemaking in Tokaj with a range that moves from multi vineyard Estate Furmint to named dry wines from Király and Zafír, alongside Tokaji Aszú.

At A Glance

The Producer

Place

Wines

Final Word

Sources

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