“Wow!” was my one-word tasting note when I initially sipped this remarkable dry Furmint from Hungary. The Tokaji region is best known for its delicious sweet wines, but that’s changing thanks to producers like Balassa Bor. Intense, stony and lightly wooded, this jauntily named white has citrus, fresh dough and aniseed flavours, wonderful purity and focus and racy, palate-cleansing acidity.
Country: Hungary
2017 Taste the Difference Royal Tokaji Dry Furmint, Tokaj
( £8.25, down from £10, 12.5%, Sainsbury's )Furmint is one of the world’s greatest white grapes, although very few people are familiar with it. They might have heard of – or even tasted – a sweet Tokaji (the wine is spelled with an i, the region without) – but dry versions of the grape are harder to track down. So well done Sainsbury’s for listing this taut, racy, stony example with fine texture, citrus and white pepper flavours and a long, refreshing finish.
How the other half drinks
by Matt Walls
Is there a quicker way to get to know someone than by flicking through their music collection or browsing their bookshelves? Both feel like a little glimpse into their soul....
Tokaj’s silver lining
by Wojciech Bońkowski MW
The Tokaj wine region organised its second wine auction recently. Modelled on the Hospices de Beaune, it featured unique lots of dry and sweet wines offered by the 136-litre barrel,...
2007 Disznókö, 5 Puttonyos, Tokaji Aszú, Tokaj
( £25.60, 12.5%, Waitrose )Superb Tokay from one of the best, modern-style producers in this most traditional of sweet wine regions. This is still a very young wine, even at six years old, with the acidity you expect from Furmint. It’s bitingly fresh, but the appley tartness is balanced by pear and honeyed sweetness, with hints of white flowers and remarkable concentration and length. One to buy now and hold on to for a decade.
A ferment about Furmint
by Matt Walls
To be sung to the tune of ‘Start Wearing Purple’ by Gogol Bordello: “Start drinking Furmint drinking Furmint, Start drinking Furmint for me now, All your sanity – and wits...