Nearly noble grape varieties: Furmint

You may not be familiar with the Furmint grape, unless you’re particularly familiar with Hungary. So why place this obscure variety in a list of nearly noble grapes? In this post we’re going to explore this hidden gem of Eastern Europe, its fame for sweet wines, but ability to make stunning dry and sparkling ones as well. Egészségedre! Or cheers in English!

About the grape

This aromatic grape, which is native to Hungary, is early budding, late ripening and thick skinned. This variety maintains good acidity at all levels of sweetness. It is also susceptible to a type of fungus called Botrytis cinerea which pierces the skin causing the water to evaporate concentrating the flavours. The sweet wines made with this grape benefit from the effect of these concentrated flavours. They also benefit from the distinctive characteristics the fungus itself imparts to the wines.

Why does it deserve its nearly noble status?

• The oldest appellation wine area in the world – Tokaj was designated as a wine appellation in 1737, decades before famous regions such as Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne.
• The wine of kings (and queens) – Louis XIV described Tokaji Aszú as “The king of wines and the wine of kings”, and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen mother had a bottle every year for her birthday aged as old as she was. And she lived to be 101 years old!
• Some of the best and most expensive sweet wines in the world – Eszencia (or Essence of Tokaj) frequently finds it was onto illustrious restaurant menus served on gold or crystal spoons. Expect to pay upwards of $250 for one spoonful. Royal Tokaj bottles have sold for $40,000!
• Versatility – This grape combines the adaptability to different levels of sweetness of a Riesling. But it also has the ability to produce complex, layered wines, capable of aging like Chardonnay. And then it can produce sweet botryitised wines which rival those made in Sauternes using Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.
• Medical benefits – We often hear about the benefits of red wines, but scientific studies show sweet Tokaj Aszu wines have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It also contains natural penicillin. In fact, historically Eszencia (a more concentrated form of sweet wine) was prescribed by physicians.

Profile

The grape can be grown in a variety of different ways, some of which deliberately exposure it to Botrytis cinerea and some of which protect it from infection. As a general rule it usually has:

• High levels of acidity
• Varying levels of sweetness from bone dry to luciously sweet
• Low to medium alcohol
• Light to full body (depending on sweetness level)
• No or low tannin (some skin contact is sometimes used)

Aromas and flavour depend very much on the style.

Dry styles: Lemon, lime, grapefruit, green apple, quince, pears, minerality. Riper version with some stone fruit flavours, occasionally pineapple.

Sparkling styles: Fresh acidity, lemon, lime, green apple, mango, toast, sometimes dry fruit flavours.

Sweet styles: Everything above is possible, plus honey, ginger, apricot, dry fruits, marzipan, smoke, toast, orange peel, marmalade, beeswax, nuttiness, and more!

I find that this grape has a tendency to take on a slightly oxidised flavour of bruised apple fairly quickly, which is not unpleasant, but not to everyone’s taste.

Production

Production in this case is largely limited to Hungary and neighbouring Slovakia and Croatia.

You’ll Furmint if you like…

Riesling, Assyrtiko, Albariño, Sauternes (sweet).

So have I convinced you that this Hungarian grape is a hidden gem? There are, after all, worse ways to take your penicillin! Having tasted an Essence of Tokaj earlier in the year, I can tell you that they layers of flavours just kept coming. And contrary to what a lot of people think, most of the wine in Tokaj is actually dry in style, not sweet.

If you buy a bottle of the sweet stuff, however, it will keep for a long time! If you try a Furmint, whether sweet, dry or anything in between, I’d love to know about it. Do drop me a line. In the meantime, keep exploring this beautiful planet we live on, one glass at a time!