Highlights: Balassa Szent Tamás Furmint 2019 Tokaji, Hungary
Furmint is an ancient grape with at least 450 years of history. Hungary has most of it, with almost 4000 hectares, and as well as being used to make the famous sweet wines of Tokaji, in recent years there’s been a lot of interest in dry Furmints, like this great example.
Balassa Szent Tamás Furmint 2019 Tokaji, Hungary
13.5% alcohol. This is a really intense expression of Furmint with lovely lime and lemon aromas as well as some lemon peel and marmalade character, and even a hint of apricot. In the mouth, the keen acidity provides a backbone, and the lemon and lime characters dominate, although there are some richer apricot characters in the mix too. Really intense and concentrated, and this should age beautifully with all these dense flavours and the high acidity. It’s interesting that this has, to use a sound analogy, lots of bass, little mid, and lots of treble. Lovely stuff with a crystalline finish. Develops nicely for three days after opening, suggesting this could have a long life. 95/100 (£37 Best of Hungary)
