2017 is the Year of Furmint

2017 is the Year of Furmint

Furmint is a white wine grape indigenous to Hungary. Traditionally, Furmint has been used to make a sweet wine called Tokaj, named after that region of Hungary where the wine is made.

To make Tokaj, the grapes are allowed to develop a fungus called Botrytis, otherwise known as “noble rot." The Botrytis causes the grape juice to have a very distinct honey-like flavor and aroma. As a new generation of winemakers in Hungary began experimenting with the non-Botrytis-affected grapes, they found it produced a great dry wine with high acidity and distinct minerality.

Realizing the potential of dry Furmint wines, the Hungarian wine industry has started to undertake efforts to modernize their winemaking methods in order to compete on the world stage. To do this, the Hungarian government and tourism board have invested in marketing efforts to raise this visibility of Hungarian wines around the world. The Hungarian government declared 2017 to be the “Year of Furmint."  While the year might be almost over, it's not too late to discover this refreshing wine.  It is sure to be showing up in more restaurants and specialty wine shops, like City Vino, in the future. 

Furmint is considered a “neutral” grape, like Chardonnay. A “neutral” grape can be used to produce numerous different styles of wine, and the flavors are largely driven by where it is grown and how the wine is made. The clay-and-silt soil in Hungary’s wine growing regions sits on top of an ancient volcanic bed, and this translates into a distinctive minerality in the wine. The Evolucio Furmint is dry and crisp with grapefruit, lemon and lime flavors.     

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