2015 Királyudvar Furmint Tokaji Sec- Hungary, Tokaji (9/18/2019)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over a couple hours on Day 1; TN from Day 1 –
BODY: maize color of medium depth; medium-light bodied.
TASTE: zesty; high acidity; sweet Nose, but dry on the palate; hint of sandalwood; noticeable peach on the finish; seems it would age well. Will buy again, both for immediate consumption as well as short-to-medium term ageing. Gut impression score: 91 – 92.
I’ve been a fan of this wine for many years. It shows up as the strong value play on wine lists with some regularity, and is so food friendly that it’s almost always a good choice.
Agree with both of you. Stellar value and really intriguing wine with a lot of complexity that it’s rare to get at this price. The only things comparable to me are some of the dry chenins you can find in the Loire in places like Saumur. The oldest i have is 2013–not long enough to really tell how it ages.
A little - I’ve had two or three bottles at about 10 years old. While they were fine, they tasted a little tired and dried out. I would stick with 4-5 years age.
It’s hit or miss. The first ones were made by Isvtán Szepsy and Demeter Zoltán. Both have since left. The wines may not have been the the wines either of them would have preferred to make, but they were hired hands. Lots of gossip back then. However, there were some problems with the early bottles regarding sulfur. Some of the bottles oxidized very badly. Out of a case, you could end up with twelve different wines. The vineyards also seemed to have fallen into disrepair a few years ago. The winery seems to have straightened things out now and from what I’ve heard, the wines are back on track, although I haven’t had one for a couple years. But that is why Sarah is correct regarding the age.
As to aging, based on other wines from the region, remember that the whole idea of a still wine from Tokaj is still fairly recent. They’ve only been made because the market for sweet wines isn’t that big. But the dry wines do seem to age somewhat like Chenin Blanc, picking up more grassy notes. Some of them are pretty austere in their youth and they don’t seem to lose that acidity. We have a few sitting around for testing purposes. I don’t have the Királyudvar though.
He bought the Hungarian winery and worked with Szepsy to rehab it. A few years later he bought Huet and as far as I know, Szepsy was also involved there, but they left the French team pretty much intact, at least initially. Then they supposedly pressured the French to concentrate more on their dry wines and less on the sweet. I don’t know that first hand but that’s reportedly why Pinguet left the domaine. In any event, his daughter is running Huet now and the very few times I met her she was charming and passionate about the wines. The wines from the two regions may have some similarities but I think it’s more the fact that they’re working with grapes that can be very lean and acidic and they’re focusing their wine making around that character.
I have one bottle of the 1999 Királyudvar Furmint Tokaji Lapis left. I’ve tried this 5 times over the years with the last being about 5 years ago. My impression on aging is to consume within 5-7 years. I’m fairly sure that my last bottle will show poorly.
If you have a chance, you should try the Szepsy Uragya, Szepsy Szent Tamas and Demeter Zoltán Veres dry furmints. All of these dry furmints are excellent.
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