Last year's AszúDay (December 10) was a little different from the previous ones. A Hungarian-developed, handmade wine glass has been created, which shows a completely new, elegant, sophisticated face of one of the best sweet wines in the world, Tokaj's most unique treasure, the aszú. ASZÚGLASS was revealed!
A Hungarian top glass for top Hungarian wine!
"Only the highest quality glass can be worthy of one of the most beautiful wines in the world." says Gergely Ripka, wine expert and author of the international award-winning TokajGuide, who spent a year preparing the project, which was accompanied by professional consultation. The most beautiful element of this story is that here in Hungary, the main partner, Halimba Crystal, which deals exclusively with hand-made glasses, in premium quality (mostly for foreign markets), was open for this project, that presents the uniqueness of Tokaj as we have never been able to taste before!
Let's open aszú more often!
"Selling sweet wines is a challenge all over the world, but an exclusive tasting experience given by a worthy glass can also change this trend. This miracle can be experienced not only in fine dining restaurants, but also at home with a bottle of wonderful aszú wine and with a perfect glass in hand" - says the project manager, who invited producers of the Tokaj wine region and also added a master sommelier and a wine instructor to the development team, in order to ensure that the appropriate glass shape can "crystallize" by the end of the process. The main goal of the project was to raise the interest for Tokaj sweet wine both here and abroad, and encourage people to open it on any special occasion, not just during Christmas!
The result of a complex team-work
"I myself have experimented a lot of different glasses with aszú in recent years. In several rounds, we selected those shapes that are definitely not suitable for aszú, then in two rounds
we selected the perfect one from among the already existing and then from completely new
types; we challenged them with several wines: both old and young 5 and 6 puttonyos. During the final test in August, not only the small staff of 7 people, but also many producers of the wine region in Tokaj, a total of 40 professionals (including MWs, MS, producers, wine writers, etc.) checked the 5 nominated glasses with no less than 30 aszú, so their scores are all included in the selected product as well.” - says Ripka. This glass can only be successful if we think of it as a shared value! The industrial design trademark protection of the new glass is taken care of by the Tokaj Wine Region Community Council.
The glass was launched on December 8, in Tarcal, with the support of the Hungarian Wine Marketing Agency. This glass is unlike any other. With ASZÚGLASS, the main goal is to strengthen the consumption of aszú: both products are the exciting peak of human performance in the world of wines. - When it comes to sweet wines, there is nothing else like aszú, and this new glass also comes from a very special place. - Halimba's capacities are tied up years in advance with foreign orders, but they also blow the wine glasses of many well-known foreign companies. Anyone who picks up this glass will immediately feel that new horizons are opening up in terms of wine tasting experiences, even compared to what we have received from aszú so far: a few drops of a luxurious feeling of life. According to the tests, the shape of the glass, in addition to its graceful appearance, also brings out the maximum in aroma and taste from all kinds of sweet Tokaj wines, not only from aszú. Lucky consumers can already meet this unique experience in the first restaurants, wineries and wine shops, but the glass can be ordered on the Halimba webshop too.
