Wine Spectator’s advice for the new year: try Dry Tokaj Furmint and Tokaji Aszú!

January 11, 2017

Wine Spectator’s advice for the new year: try Dry Tokaj Furmint and Tokaji Aszú!

Matt Kramer is a renowned winewriter and contributing editor of the American wine magazine, Wine Spectator, he has been writing about wine since 1976. ‘An intellectual guerrilla among wine writers’ – said Hugh Johnson about him. He has just created a witty list of wines with the initial to persuade wine lovers to leave the beaten path and try new wines. If not always, at least every second week of the year. Great idea, we can only agree: the wine world is so colourful, you cannot be so patriotic to drink the same wine all the time.

Matt Kramer

Matt Kramer’s list is really worth trying, and what we like the most about this list is that out of the 25 wines there are 2 Hungarian wines. The first:

Dry Tokaj Furmint: A new dry white in wine history, created in centuries-old Tokaj for the first time in the 1990s. Don’t miss it.

Yes! Nowadays all the great Tokaj producers have a portfolio of dry wines besides the world famous dessert wines. Here you are three instant suggestions:

Zsirai Tokaji Furmint, 2015

Béres Tokaji Lőcse Furmint, 2013

Patricius Tokaji Furmint Dry, 2015

And the second suggestion of Matt Kramer concerning Hungary:

6 Puttonyos Tokaj: If you want to try one of the world’s most seductive sweet wines, this is it. And be sure to sip some while watching what is arguably the greatest wine and dog movie ever made, Dean Spanley (starring Sam Neill and Peter O’Toole).

Here is the trailer of the above mentioned movie where Sam Neill is sniffing Tokaji Aszú with heavenly pleasure.

Tokaji Aszú is undoubtedly a wonder of the world. The aszú grapes (affected by botrytis) are hand picked, macerated in must, fermenting must or base wine. Aszú wines should be aged for at least 2 years of which 18 months should be barrel aging. The wines are sold 5 or 6 ‘puttonyos’ based on the sugar content, but according to the latest regulation, the word and number of puttony can be left out.
Nowadays sweet wines are not favoured as much because of the high sugar content, however a good Tokaji Aszú is so well balanced, the acidity is so high, that tasting it you could never guess the exact sugar content.

Try these and you will agree: