2023 Furmint Tarczal

The Furmint grape brings a ton of malic acid to the party regardless of soil, farming or cellar. However, it takes a particularly unique form in the high porosity lime rich loess soils overlying the volcanic dacite and rhyolite bedrock at Kikelet. Post fermentation, this acidity is characterized by a citric quality backed up by ripe fruit and the tell-tale salt and smoke of Tokaj. As such, this also requires a little more time in barrel (6 months) and equally important, an extra year in bottle versus Hárslevelű. With little to no botrytis in this vintage, the extra year in bottle adds some needed weight and texture as well. This walks the often elusive thin line of crowd pleasing, but also extremely special to those well versed in high quality dry Tokaj. As for the “Tarczal” name, she uses this older now defunct spelling for her village of Tarcal In other words, she’s able to use the village name without the paperwork and bureaucratic hassle.