02 February 2022 / Dániel Ercsey
First of all, it’s worth clarifying that Furmint, although its name often appears on wine bottle labels, is a grape variety and as such, its origins are lost in the mists of time. Some say it originated in Italy and was brought by Italian-speaking settlers who arrived in the Kingdom of Hungary at the invitation of the Árpád kings after the Tartar invasion. Among them, of course, were vine growers too. However, it cannot be denied that on the one hand, in the Tokaj region you can find two villages, Olaszliszka and Bodrogolasi, which preserve the memory of these former settlers in their names (the Hungarian word for Italian is olasz), while on the other, the name Tállya probably comes from the French word taille, meaning ‘pruning’, so it is only sure that some kind of romance-language speakers settled in Tokaj. Probably they weren’t Italians, and it’s by no means certain that they came from Italy. On the other hand, there are also settlements in what was at the time the Kingdom of Hungary, in the Serem region, which have preserved the word olasz in their name, and there is, or was, Furmint there. Thirdly, just to complete the chaos, there is no written mention of Furmint in these places. It only appeared in Erdőbenye in Tokaj in the 1600s, while it is mentioned as early as the 1200s in Sopron, although it was called Zapfner by the upstanding local Germans.
Vines in the Tokaj wine region
Others say that it is native to the Tokaj region, which is contradicted by the fact that it was not mentioned until the 1600s, although it does reinforce the theory that this is where the greatest genetic diversity of the variety occurs in the world. Still others say that the cradle of Furmint was in the Serem, where it first spread westwards to the present-day Croatian-Slovenian border, then northwards to the area around Lake Fertő and the northern shore of Lake Balaton, where it is known as Szigeti, before turning eastwards again towards Tokaj, the main region where it is produced today.
Whatever the truth may be, nowadays the Austrians no longer make their ‘Rusti Aszú’ from Furmint, you can only find a few examples of Furmint in Serem, and the emphasis is rather on Olaszrizling at the Balaton, so we can safely say that today’s most important region for Furmint is Tokaj. Of course, you can find Furmint in Croatia, where it is called Moslavac or more often Pusipel, in Slovenia, where it is known as Sipon, and a little in Austria under the name Zapfner. However, the main thing the world is paying attention to is Furmint from Tokaj.
Let’s toast with a glass of Tokaji Furmint on the first day of February!
The other mistake probably comes from here. Most people still think that Tokaji Furmint is SWEET! Although, of course, it is true that the Furmint berries in the wine region have been selected over the centuries to make Aszú – and let’s not forget how wonderful Tokaji Aszú wines are – there has also always been a dry wine as an everyday drink too. Since the early 2000s, the attention of producers has turned to oak-aged, full-bodied dry Furmint, often single vineyard wines, which are now pretty much the most expensive dry white wines in Hungary.
Whatever the case, today is definitely the day to celebrate with Furmint of a thousand faces. Whether light or full-bodied, let’s say like Tokaj, sweet, or dry, sparkling or pét-nat, let’s toast today to perhaps the most famous Hungarian grape variety and the winemakers who make wine from it! Cheers to Furmint!
