Furmint

Tokaji's noble grape; high-acid, citrusy, age-worthy.

Furmint is the principal grape of Tokaj in northeastern Hungary, used both for the famed Tokaji Aszú dessert wines (where Botrytis cinerea concentrates the berries) and increasingly for serious dry whites. The grape's high acidity supports both styles; dry Furmint shows lemon, beeswax, and a mineral note from volcanic soils, with significant aging potential. Furmint also appears in Slovenia (where it is Šipon) and Croatia. The dry-Furmint movement is a 21st-century development.