As we just said, there is a lot more innovation and risk-taking going on in Tokaj than some would have you believe. Today's second example comes from one of the most tradition-minded producers in the region, Royal Tokaji. Last weekend we had an opportunity to taste several recent Royal wines from both bottle and barrel at the firm's Mád winery. To be honest, we are not huge fans of Royal's style, which tends to result in wines that are too stark and woody (and expensive) for our taste. Which is why we were most eager to try their two less traditional late-harvest offerings.

Most intriguing - at first - was the Ats Cuvée, named for winemaker Károly Ats, and which has received a fair amount of praise, in part because of its aggressive pricing. (The Ats leaves the winery at around Ft 1,500 for a 500 ml bottle, in line with comparable wines from Australia and other mega-efficient regions.) But what we actually ended up taking home was a case of the 2003 Late Harvest Sárgamuskotály.

This, we must warn, is not a wine for everyone. Some may find it a bit too candy-like on the nose, or otherwise simply not like Muscat Ottonel in this much concentration. But for the price (around Ft 4,500 at the winery and probably 30% more on the shelf) it is an excellent alternative to the now-increasingly dear traditional aszús from Royal and other top Tokaj producers. Perhaps because of the limited production - as we recall, this vintage only resulted in 13,000 1,200 or so bottles - the Sárgamuskotály doesn't even show up on the company's website. But that's just another reason to go pick up some of the cases that we don't manage to grab first.

UPDATE: Apologies to everyone for getting the number of bottles wrong - but this just means that you should snap up whatever of this wine you can find.