The 1999 Tokaji Esszencia was eked out without press over three weeks from aszu berries and aged for two years in Hungarian oak. Bottled in 375 and 500ml, it has a bouquet that rivets you to the spot: marmalade and dried quince, then nutmeg, beeswax and even a scent of hickory. It is very mercurial in the glass. Coming back, there is a touch of fresh rose petals and lavender. The palate is incredibly intense, and it is not the sweetness here that is striking, a modest 460 grams per liter, but the acidity – 19.9 grams per liter. Therefore, it is incredibly fresh and vigorous, almost so that you do not notice that enormous amount of residual slipping down the throat and threatening to overload the senses. It takes some getting used to, but strangely, once inured to that acidity, then it becomes a much easier Esszencia to imbibe. Circa the year 2250, when Earth is a nuclear wasteland, a bottle of the Pajzos 1999 Esszencia will be unearthed and this fabled Tokaji will intoxicate them as much as it did me in a long-forgotten age. You won’t taste anything quite like it all year. Drink now-2150+.
– eRobertParker.com, Dec 2013
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