Furmint February

Thanks to a small, dedicated group of Tokaj enthusiasts, the ’Furmint Febrary’ project has been active since 2010, and in February everything is about one of the most popular and versatile Hungarian grape varieties, the Furmint. Restaurants, merchants and professionals talk about and focus on the Furmint variety all over the country and even abroad.

Numerous small tastings and larger events are held on the Furmint theme, not only in Hungary but also in a growing number of countries around the world.

According to the latest research, Furmint is the most widespread grape variety in the Hegyalja region (60%), with many local sub-varieties. From dry to sweet aszú wines, it is capable of expressing a wide range of wine styles. In dry wines, it is generally neutral in character, with a strong acidity and the ability to show the characteristics of the terroir, with fruitiness presenting itself mostly as a quince character. The name of the variety first appears in 1611 in the minutes of a visit to the Reformed church in Erdőbénye.

Furmint is often associated with Tokaji aszú, as most of this famous sweet wine is made from Furmint grapes. Aszú is the most unique wine speciality of Tokaj. The essential condition for the grapes to botritise is the fog that descends on the vines from the rivers in the area on cool autumn mornings. What is grey mould on the unripe berries is noble rot on the ripe berries. This fungus makes little holes in the skins of the berries, through which they lose all of their water content and concentrate their sugars. These very dark and very dry berries are sorted by hand and processed separately in the vineyard, in a traditional and very unique way, and thus the Aszú-making process is one of the most expensive wine-making processes in the world. Traditionally, the grapes were harvested in 26- to 28-litre punnets or baskets („puttony”), hence the traditional classification of the Aszú wines by the number of „puttony”. The extremely high sugar content obtained by macerating the aszú berries is one of the reasons why the Aszú does not start to re-ferment during its long ageing.

Winehub Wine Centre is preparing a very special and exclusive wine tasting for Furmint February this year, in collaboration with Steigler Cellars from Sopron. The vertical Furmint tasting will offer the opportunity to discover all the winery’s Furmint wines to date. It will include 5 vintages from between 2019 and 2023 and apart from the 2023, these will be the very last bottles remaining from these back-vintages.