Grape Guide
Furmint
WhiteFurmint is the leading white grape of Tokaj in north-eastern Hungary, where it carries both botrytised Aszú and, increasingly, structured dry wines. Its thick skins, firm acidity and capacity for noble rot, together with a strong sense of site, explain its standing among Central Europe's most ageworthy whites.
Key characteristics
- Early budding and late ripening, so frost risk in spring and a need for a long autumn
- Loose bunches of medium berries with thick skins
- Prone to botrytis, downy mildew and powdery mildew, but drought tolerant
- Parent-offspring link to Gouais Blanc (probably its offspring) and parent of Hárslevelű
- Four DNA-identical forms in Tokaj: Fehér, Lazafürtű, Piros and Változó
Typical flavors
Major regions
Tokaj (Hungary) · Somló (Hungary) · Podravje (Slovenia, as Šipon) · Međimurje and Moslavina (Croatia) · Rust, Burgenland (Austria) · Tokaj area of Slovakia
Also known as
Fehér Furmint (Tokaj) · Lazafürtű Furmint (Tokaj) · Változó Furmint (Tokaj) · Moslavac or Moslavac Bijeli (Croatia) · Mosler (Austria) · Šipon (Slovenia · northern Croatia) · Som (Transylvania) · Szigeti · Tokay (France) · Zapfner or Zopfner (Germany)
Furmint is a white variety whose acidity is among the firmest of any grown for fine wine, and its wines are typically full in body, with a taut mineral edge and a long finish. Dry examples show green apple, quince and lime, with smoke, flint and a faintly saline note that comes through more clearly as the wine ages. In sweet wines the same acid structure supports flavours of dried apricot, marmalade, honey and tea without letting the sugar turn heavy.
The variety suits both ends of the sweetness scale because the berries are thick-skinned and ripen late, which allows prolonged hang time and a gradual onset of botrytis in warm, misty autumns. Oak barrels of varying sizes and stainless steel are both used, and the grape's fairly neutral aromatic profile lets vineyard, vintage and cellar technique show clearly. Dry bottlings from volcanic slopes around Mád and Tolcsva can age for well over a decade.
Furmint almost certainly arose in the Tokaj area of north-eastern Hungary. The earliest recorded Aszú wine, made in 1571 from the Hétszőlő vineyard, probably contained it. The name first appears in writing in 1611, in a document about a plot in the Gyepű Valley, close to Erdőbénye and roughly 20 km north of Tokaj town. Where the name itself comes from remains unexplained. Tales of Italian settlers, an etymology meaning flower of the hills, or a Friulian soldier bringing the vine home have no support in the evidence, and the variety has never been found in Italy.
DNA profiling reveals a parent and offspring relationship between Furmint and Gouais Blanc. Because Gouais Blanc is documented far earlier and was widely planted across medieval Europe, Furmint is generally regarded as the offspring, which makes it a half-sibling of Chardonnay, Riesling, Gamay Noir and many other varieties. Furmint is also a parent of the rare Swiss variety Plantscher and of Hárslevelű, its usual blending partner in Tokaj; the other parent of Hárslevelű is unknown.
Tokaj preserves four DNA-identical forms of Furmint: Fehér (meaning white), Lazafürtű (meaning loose-bunched), Változó (variable) and Piros (pink-berried). That they exist points to a long history of local selection in the region. Breeders later crossed the variety to create Zéta in Hungary and and, in Italy, Vega, Bussanello and Fubiano.
Furmint buds early and ripens late, so it is exposed to spring frost and needs a long, dry autumn to finish. Bunches are loose, with medium berries and thick skins. Those skins let botrytis develop readily once humidity returns, which makes the grape valuable for Aszú and a hazard in wet vintages. The vine is susceptible to downy and powdery mildew but copes well with drought. Growers prize older selections with small bunches and concentrated fruit, including Madárkás, Holyagos and Fehér Furmint, over high-yielding modern clones, because overcropped Furmint turns neutral and dilute. In Tokaj the vine grows on volcanic soils mixed with loess and clay, on sheltered slopes near the Bodrog and Tisza rivers.
Dry Furmint now accounts for a growing share of quality production. Styles range from lean, unoaked tank-fermented wines with citrus and orchard fruit to richer, barrel-aged single-vineyard bottlings with smoke, ginger and baked apple. Skin contact and amphora-aged versions also exist. The sweet range starts with late-harvest (Késői szüret) and runs through Szamorodni, made from whole bunches containing botrytised berries and either dry or sweet, to Aszú, in which botrytised berries are macerated in must or base wine. Under current Tokaj rules, Aszú must contain at least 120 g/L residual sugar, and the puttonyos grading system is no longer compulsory on labels. Eszencia, the free-run juice from Aszú berries, must reach at least 450 g/L sugar and is fermented extremely slowly to low alcohol; it is rare and long-lived. Furmint is typically blended with Hárslevelű, and sometimes Sárgamuskotály or Zéta, in the sweet wines.
Where it grows
Tokaj, Hungary
The heartland, holding more than 90% of Hungarian plantings (about 4,000 ha nationally in 2006, with later counts nearer 3,600 ha); Furmint is the leading variety of the appellation, ahead of Hárslevelű, with Zéta, Sárgamuskotály, Kövérszőlő and Kabar also permitted. Mád, Tolcsva, Tarcal and Rátka are especially associated with dry wines, and the historic first-growth vineyards include Mézes Mály, Szent Tamás, Nyulászó and Betsek.
Somló, Hungary
A small volcanic hill in the west of the country, where Furmint produces mineral, firm dry wines. Hollóvár is one of the producers working with the variety here.
Slovenia (Šipon)
Mostly in the north-east, in Podravje, with 694 ha recorded in 2009. Wines are normally dry; the producers include Pullus, Jeruzalem Ormož, Dveri-Pax and Puklavec.
Croatia (Moslavac, Šipon)
422 ha in 2008, almost all dry. Near the Slovenian border in Međimurje it goes by Šipon, while in Moslavina, the region lying to the south-east of Zagreb, it is called Moslavac.
Austria and Slovakia
Austrian plantings are very small and concentrated around Rust in Burgenland, where Heidi Schröck makes sweet Ausbruch and Triebaumer also bottles dry wine. Slovakia's Tokaj area, just across the border, produces comparable but typically lighter sweet wines.