In an email today, Sam's advertises a 2000 5 Putts Tokaji from a
producer named Henye for $27/500 mL. Anyone ever heard of this producer
or can offer any comments about him/her? (poke, poke... Ian?)

Mark Lipton

"Mark Lipton" inquired of the group.....

> In an email today, Sam's advertises a 2000 5 Putts Tokaji from a producer
> named Henye for $27/500 mL. Anyone ever heard of this producer or can
> offer any comments about him/her?

> (poke, poke... Ian?)

Mark,

I am very worried about M. Hoare - I swear he has not got over the shock of
His Lordship eating him out of house and home!!!!!

Amazingly, Chateau Henye Tokaji 5 Putts is being offered in Auckland at
roughly the equivalent price (via a very small importer to whose mailing
list I subscribe) with the following explanation.

"Chateau Henye which is owned by the French winemaking d'Aulan family (who
own Chteau Sansonnet in Ste-Emilion), was launched in 1997 in partnership
with the late Bordeaux vintner Jean-Michel Arcaute. [Chteau Clinet; Chteau
Jonqueyres; Chteau La Croix du Casse.]

This partnership also set up AltaVista, a relatively big operation in
Argentina

Chteau Henye is located in the premium producing areas of Tokay, between
the vineyards described as Grand Crus [ABs Note - is there such a
classication in Tokaji?]

Following the privatisation of the warehouses that arose after the fall of
the communist regime in Hungary, the d'Aulan family (along with others) set
up operations to recover the prestige of the mythical wines of Tokay,
combining tradition with the most modern enological techniques."

[Note - nothing about the actual wine!!!!]

--

hth

--

st.helier

Salut/Hi Mark Lipton,

le/on Wed, 16 Nov 2005 19:21:31 -0500, tu disais/you said:-

>In an email today, Sam's advertises a 2000 5 Putts Tokaji from a
>producer named Henye for $27/500 mL. Anyone ever heard of this producer
>or can offer any comments about him/her? (poke, poke... Ian?)

I don't know of a producer called "Henye" though there is a 1st growth
vineyard of that name, Királyudvár has holdings there. BTW, I spent an
interesting ½ hour wandering round their website yesterday.

(http://www.kiralyudvar.com)

The price is pretty low, though.

Have a look at Binney's web site - I think they may be able to give you a
price for comparison that would be valid in IL.


http://www.binnys.com

--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

Ian Hoare wrote:

> I don't know of a producer called "Henye" though there is a 1st growth
> vineyard of that name, Királyudvár has holdings there. BTW, I spent an
> interesting ½ hour wandering round their website yesterday.

Thanks for the information, Ian and Andrew. From St. H.'s post, you can
see that the property is "Ch. Henye" and is owned by some Bordelais.
Anyone familiar with the reputation of Ch. Sansonnet in St.-Emilion? I
can at least use that as some indicator of what to expect here...

Mark Lipton

p.s. Ian, thanks for the link to Binny's -- I wasn't familiar to them.

Mark Lipton wrote:
> In an email today, Sam's advertises a 2000 5 Putts Tokaji from a
> producer named Henye for $27/500 mL. Anyone ever heard of this producer
> or can offer any comments about him/her? (poke, poke... Ian?)

I have not seen any tasting notes for Henye. It was not mentioned in
Decanter's supplement on Hungary published this year either. And they
included tasting notes for a few wines not available in the UK. In
general, the 2000 vintage was given a 5-star out of 5 rating-
"immensely rich, supple wines, but without the freshness of the 1990s".

Most of Decanter's recommended aszu wines were 6 Puttonyos - a few were
5. Most were the 1999 and 2000 vintages. The producers were Disznoko,
Janos Arvay, Kiralyudvar, Royal Tokaji, Szepsy, Crown Estates Szarvas,
Dobogo, Oremus, and Chateau Pajzos. Most were priced at 24 - 40 Pounds
in the UK. The 6P Szepsy 2000 was 89 Pounds for 40cl(I am just quoting
the size Decanter gave). Decanter picked out Istvan Szepsy, a native
Hungarian, as being perhaps the best current producer of Tokaji, and
this is reflected in the price of his wines. His family has been making
wine since the 16th century.

wrote:

> I have not seen any tasting notes for Henye. It was not mentioned in
> Decanter's supplement on Hungary published this year either. And they
> included tasting notes for a few wines not available in the UK. In
> general, the 2000 vintage was given a 5-star out of 5 rating-
> "immensely rich, supple wines, but without the freshness of the 1990s".
>
> Most of Decanter's recommended aszu wines were 6 Puttonyos - a few were
> 5. Most were the 1999 and 2000 vintages. The producers were Disznoko,
> Janos Arvay, Kiralyudvar, Royal Tokaji, Szepsy, Crown Estates Szarvas,
> Dobogo, Oremus, and Chateau Pajzos. Most were priced at 24 - 40 Pounds
> in the UK. The 6P Szepsy 2000 was 89 Pounds for 40cl(I am just quoting
> the size Decanter gave). Decanter picked out Istvan Szepsy, a native
> Hungarian, as being perhaps the best current producer of Tokaji, and
> this is reflected in the price of his wines. His family has been making
> wine since the 16th century.
>

Thanks for the info, C.W. FWIW, the Szepsy recommendation is spot on: I
had the great fortune of trying one, courtesy of Ian Hoare (the '96 6
putts, IIRC), a few years ago and it was everything it was supposed to
be and more. As my only Tokaji to date, it was quite the entreé.

Mark Lipton

> Anyone familiar with the reputation of Ch. Sansonnet in St.-Emilion? I
> can at least use that as some indicator of what to expect here...
>
> Mark Lipton

It was owned for several generations by the Robin family until 1999
when it succumbed to part of the new wave of outsiders buying into the
Jurisdiction and was bought by the Marquis d'Aulan - of
Pieper-Heidsieck. I have not drunk anything made under the new
ownership but I suspect that simply because good Saint Emilion was, at
least until 1999, made here, and should still be being made, it will
probabaly provide little help on this question. Large group drinks
manufacturers will, after all have different people making and al the
other conditiosn will be very different. People will perhaps have to
judge by the wider reputation of the group, not simply this one
chateau which has recently changed hands so recently.


Timothy Hartley