Recommendations by Sylvia Wu, regional editor at Decanter

Sylvia Wu (photo below), Regional Editor, Asia and Northern & Eastern Europe participated in the recent Furmint February campaign in the United Kingdom by Wines of Hungary UK, and following a sparkling masterclass she featured an exciting, cool face of Tokaj: the bottle fermented sparkling wines made of Furmint grapes.

Cover photo: Barta staff is enjoying their sparkling Furmint, Vivien Ujvári chief winemaker is on the right.

“Thanks to Tokaj’s moderate-to-cool climate, the white grape can achieve full ripeness while retaining its hall-mark high acidity. This, combined with its relatively neutral flavour and moderate alcohol levels, lays the foundation for quality sparkling wines.” – writes Wu in her article, in which she recommends 8 great sparkling wines. The top 3 wines with 92 points are:

– Barta Furmint 2017
– Sauska Brut NV
– Tokaj Nobilis Brut 2017

Barta is described as “Quince, yellow fruit and citrus blossom on the nose with toasty depth from 36 months of lees ageing. Great mousse and brioche roundness embrace the fruits, with bright green apple acidity (7.7g/l) dancing elegantly on the tip of the tongue. Red apple peel and steamed rice linger on forever. Poised…”

More about Barta Cellar

Read the whole article by Sylvia Wu on Decanter.com