Furmint from Hungary - the best from a recent tasting
Plus some Bulgarian curios
It’s been a few weeks since I last published a newsletter, owing mostly to the fact I’ve been busy doing my day job. The Cheltenham Festival racing fixture, which took place in the second week of March, is the busiest four days of the year for racing journalists, so wine writing had to take a back seat, including last week when I was a too worn out to think about any content.
It has made me wonder how other Substackers have the time to publish regularly – in some cases at a rate of more than once a week. It takes determination and an excellent work ethic. Hopefully my newsletters will now start to arrive with more frequency.
I’ve been meaning for a while to write up a furmint tasting I attended in February, and at last I’m finally getting my act together. Organised by Wines of Hungary UK, the event showcased both sweet and dry wines, as well as a few sparklers.
Furmint is Hungary’s signature white variety but has struggled to establish a large following away from the delicious and often premium-priced sweet wine tokaji. I have found in the past that dry furmint can be a bit thin and too acidic – especially when purchased at budget price levels – lacking the distinct flavour profile of sauvignon blanc or riesling. However, the variety comes into its own when it undergoes some secondary winemaking and is a relatively good-value alternative to white burgundy. Below is a selection from the range of wines I tasted (all wines from the Tokaj region of Hungary):
Sparkling
There wasn’t much sparkling on show. Of the two I tasted I preferred Tokaj-Hetszolo’s Sparkling Furmint 2021, which was made in the traditional method and aged for 24 months on its lees. Despite its ageing it was on the light side (abv just 11.5%) and resembled a cremant rather than a champagne. It retails for £18.50 at The Good Wine Shop and this is about the right price point for what you get.
Dry
Oremus’s Mandolus is a benchmark quality dry furmint and relatively easy to get hold of in the UK. The 2022 was the vintage available for tasting, and like other vintages it had great texture after barrel-fermentation and 70 per cent of the wine is aged in 136-litre barrels for three months. Green and stone fruit with oak influence coming through. High acidity gives great balance. Retails for £25 at strictlywine.co.uk, and worth buying at that price.
At a similar price point, Royal Tokaji’s Mezes Maly 2021 was also decent. Ten-month maturation in oak, this was more satisfying than the producer’s entry-selection Vineyard Selection Furmint, with more rounded, peachy fruit. It retails for £26.95 at Cellar Door Wines in St Albans (can be purchased online).
Zsirai’s Kozephegy Furmint 2022 has a unique flavour profile with nuttiness and slightly oxidative with a flinty, minerally backbone. Kozephegy is one of the most north-westerly vineyards in the region of Mad, and its cooler surroundings result in higher acidity and delayed ripening. Jascots, which distributes to on-trade outlets, import Zsirai’s wines and stock the 2018 vintage.
Szamorodni
A rough translation of this category of wine equates to ‘as it comes’ – because the grape bunches used for the wine contain both botrytised and non-botrytised fruit, unlike sweet Tokaji Aszu (see below), the grapes for which are botrytised.
Can be made in a sweet and dry style, the latter rare these days but Royal Tokaji was showcasing its 2016 By Appointment Issue no. #12 Mezes Maly Dry Szamorodni, which was excellent with caramel and nutty flavours.
Dry szamorodni is aged under flor, a film of yeast allowed to develop on top of the liquid which results in the wine exhibiting bready, nutty flavours. Fino and Manzanilla sherry as well as some dry whites in the Jura (such as Vine Jaune), are also aged under flor, but the biological ageing differs in each region.
The flor is lighter in Tokaj than in Jerez and Sanlucar de Barrameda (where Manzanilla is made) and the humid conditions in Tokaj results in alcohol levels lowering over time, whereas in the Jura alcohol levels increase by one or two per cent. The Mezes Maly Szamorodni now has an abv of 12.5%, but before maturation it had an abv of 16%. It retails for around £40 for a 50cl bottle direct from the producer.
Tokaji Aszu
Sweet wine made from botrytised (aszu) grapes, and it’s what the Tokaj region is most famous for. My favourite was Disznoko’s 6 Puttonyos 2016, which displayed intense flavours of orange peel, dried apricot and spice and was beautifully balanced by high acidity. Not cheap at around £100 for a 50cl bottle. A relative value option is the Patricius Tokaji Noble Late Harvest ‘Katinka’ 2021, which has a mineral finish to complement the sweetness. A half bottle retails for £22.95 at nywines.co.uk. The Patricius 6 Puttonyos 2017 (£55 50cl, greatwine.co.uk) is also delicious and just 10.5% abv.
Flight 45 – Bulgarian curios
I attended a Bulgarian tasting earlier this month. Unfortunately the country is struggling to achieve a foothold in UK market these days, but it has some fantastic indigenous varieties that are worth checking out.
Katarzyna Estate Rubin, 2022, Thracian Lowlands (£26, danubewines.co.uk)
Rubin is a cross between nebbiolo and syrah. Aged for ten months in French oak, pronounced pepper and spice. Katarzyna also makes an entry level rubin, ‘Cheval de Katarzyna’ which retails for £13.50 from Danube Wines.
Libera Estate Orange Keratsuda, 2022, Thracian Lowlands (£19.50, theoldcellar.com)
Keratsuda is a rare white variety seen to great effect here. Skin contact for 45 days, enough to give complexity with peach, apricot and some dried fruit, but without overt phenolics.
Burgozone Collection Thomas Gamza Single Vineyard 2022, Danubian Plain (£23.99, bansteadvintners.co.uk)
Gamza is a variety that gives refreshing red and ripe fruit – not dissimilar to gamay but with a peppery and spicy edge. Light-bodied with a lingering finish.
Thanks for introducing us to unusual Hungarian and Bulgarian varieties. I guess I could just by Jancis' book. But seeking them out in the wild is more fun.
Just wanted to say I hear you on the day job! It's hard (especially when your regular work also involves writing) to find the time and motivation to do wine writing in your free moments. I'm trying to post once a week (I've missed a few) and in general I'm trying to remember that not every week requires a dissertation-length article. Sometimes a few quick thoughts will suffice (and may even be welcomed by the time-pressed reader).