The month February has been dedicated to Furmint grape variety for nearly 15 years. The idea came from Dániel Kézdy wine expert and soon it spread all over the country, restaurants and wine bars greeted the intitiative to put this versatile, exciting, indigenous variety in the limelight. Nowadays Furmint February – and also Furmind Day on 1st February – is celebrated in several countries, even overseas.

Date and time: 2nd February, 16.00–22.00
Venue: Hagyományok Háza / Hungarian Heritage House, Budapest, Corvin square 8, Hungary
Press registration is here
Tickets: 17 900 HUF (around 45 euros) until 31 January, 25 000 HUF (around 63–64 euros) after 31 January and at the venue
Buy your ticket here
Exhibitors:
Around 100 exhibitors are expected, at the moment of writing this post 79 exhibitors are confirmed.
Most of the wineries come from Tokaj, for example Barta Winery, Béres Vineyards, Holdvölgy, Patricius Winery, Préselő Winery and Guesthouse, Sauska and Zsirai Winery.
Visitors can also taste Furmint wines from different wine regions of Hungary, like Borbély Family Winery from Badacsony, Steigler Cellar from Sopron or Tornai Winery from Somló.

Furmint from the west end

Tokaj is undoubtedly the No1 Furmint region of Hungary, while Steigler Cellar grows Furmint on the other side of the country, in Sopron – with fabulous results. Steigler Furmint 2020 won gold medal at Berliner Wine Trophy after the gold medal of the 2019 vintage. 2020 also received silver medal (with 90 points) at Decanter World Wine Award 2022: “Quince, red apples, and a note of Pepsi cola with some spice, bacon, and oak notes. A crisp, driven acidity provides energy.“
Now vintage 2021 is the latest release. The Furmint grapes for the wine came from the mica-schiest soiled, fully organic Steiger vineyard. The selected berries fermented in large oak barrel and matured on the fine lees for 8 months. Do not miss to taste it!

Steigler Furmint 2021

More about Steigler Cellar

Béres Quince ‘Pálinka’ from Erdőbénye, Tokaj

Once upon a time there was a young girl, who enchanted the invading Turkish rulers and saved many local souls with her wit and courage. Béres Vineyard and Winery dedicated a wine to this girl Magita, but now we would like to recommend a spirit from Erdőbénye, a 40% distilled drink made of 100% pure quince from the 1.8 hectare quince orchard of Béres.

In the northern hemisphere February is still cold winter, thus, as we say in Hungary: we need “liquid winter coat”. Well, ‘pálinka’, the Hungarian protected origin spirit made of 100% pure fruit is the best solution.

“Tropical fruits on the nose accompanied by notes of citrus and pear. The palate starts with the tartness coming from the peel of quince, but it is complemented with the delicious flesh of the fruit. Oily, silky structure and long, long finish.”

Find Béres Quince Pálinka vintage 2018 here (in Hungarian, but the rest of the website is in English as well)

More about Béres Vineyard and Winery

Furmint wines are available with discount in February!

Béres wines are available in several countries. If you can’t find an importer near your home, you can order Béres wines from Winelovers Webshop. They ship to every European country.

1st February – Zoom Furmint feast from British Columbia to the world

Barb Wild (Good Wine Gal) is a renowned wine expert based in British Columbia, Canada. This year she has a lovely gift for winelovers created together with Alison Kent (The Home Kitchen). “We have a list of 37 World Wine Days and we are turning 12 of them into online gatherings.” One of the first gatherings celebrates Furmint, the flagship variety of Hungary. Barb and Alison invites everyone to join the Zoom happening on Feb 1 2022 at 7 pm (PST). “The Zoom call we have organized is dedicated to sipping and sharing Furmint. There is no charge. This is a free event and open to anyone who loves wine, learning and meeting other winelovers.” They will be recording the session and sharing it on social media and posting it on YouTube.

Download the wine calendar and join Furmint February Zoom event

Find your Furmint in British Columbia, Canada

BC Liquor Board does not have a wide selection of Furmint wines, but we can find one by Samuel Tinon, a French man living in Tokaj and making great wine with his wife, and Tokaji Furmint Dry 2019 by Chateau Dereszla, an estate with some of the oldest vineyards in Tokaj wine region. (Imported by Enoteca Bacco Importers of Fine Wines & Spirits.)

“A dry and fragrant white, this wine is made from Furmint, the same variety that yields Dereszla’s Tokaji Aszu. The nose is very aromatic with a refreshing and structured palate of juicy pear, spicy apricot and lovely minerality. Enjoy this with grilled fish, fresh salads or as a patio sipper.”

Find the wine here for 16.99 CD

Some more Furmint wines in Ontario, Canada

More about Chateau Dereszla

More about Barb Wild (below), the Good Wine Gal

“Avoid alliterations, always” says a funny collection of rules for writers. Well, it might be cheap to make use of the identical initials, but still, it sounds good. So yes, February is the month of Furmint grape, and it begins with Furmint Day, a day which is now recognized from Australia to Greece.

Why am I mentioning Greece?

Because I am honoured to write about Furmint for a great wine website called Unraveling Wine, run by a Greek wine writer, Anna Maria Kambourakis Kokologiannakis. As we reported earlier, she collected all the wine days in a useful calendar, and she is following up with a detailed description of each celebrated grape variety. The wise format of the article is created by Anna Maria, and I was happy to adjust the content to this smart scheme.
So please, go to Unraveling Wine to read about the story and the characteristics of Furmint – and of course, enjoy a glass of Furmint or more today and on any day of February.

Furmint Day on Unraveling Wine

 

How to start the first Monday of the year? Well, jumping into work is one option. Making some plans for the new year seems to be a nicer and smoother way to start new year. A Greek wine blogger, Anna Maria Kambourakis Kokologiannakis did the job for you! She collected the most important wine days of the year. Unlike several American webpages listing wine holidays, Anna Maria’s version is more complete. Absolutely complete does not exist, but Anna Maria’s calendar is the closest to it, because she was not lazy to ask the #winelover community.

Therefore three days with more or less Hungarian relation are also included!

– 1 February – Furmint Day. Furmint is grown in several countries, but the initiative to celebrate the grape comes from Hungary, where Furmint is the flagship white grape.

– 4 December – International Cabernet Franc Day. Well, Cabernet Franc is obviously an international grape variety. The idea to dedicate a day to it came from California, still we have a lot to do with Cab Franc. The variety “has found its home in Villány”, thus Villányi Franc is one of our most precious red wines.

– 10 December – Aszú Day. Tokaji Aszú is unique, it can only be produced in Tokaj wine region (including the Slovakian part), so yes, it is our day!

Hungarianwines.eu wishes you a very happy new year full of great wines!

Check out Anna Maria’s Complete List of Wine Days

More about Tokaji Aszú and other Tokaj styles

More about Grand Tokaj – the largest producer of Tokaj wine region